While critics have praised Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in the the new Steven Spielberg biopic of the best loved US president, the strained, high-pitched voice the actor uses in the film has been heavily criticized.
In "Lincoln," the actor gives the 16th president a "high-pitched, wavering tone" that is like the voice of Mr Burns from "The Simpsons," reports the Telegraph.
Time magazine’s critic said that Day-Lewis speaks in a “thin, reedy” voice, while CBS News said the his voice was “scratchy and not what audiences had come to expect."
Film fans also discussed the 55-year-old actor's vocal choices via Twitter.
“I've always imagined Lincoln’s voice as deep and resonant to match his place in history,” said one.
“This Abraham Lincoln you’re making a movie on - please, choose someone with a stronger voice,” Tweeted another.
Other comments included: "Is it me or does Abe Lincoln sound a lot like Mr Burns?" and “I refuse to believe that’s how he sounded.”
Lincoln has been portrayed by actors such as Gregory Peck, Hal Holbrook and Jason Robards, but they always used a stentorian tone.
However, Day-Lewis is known for delving deep into the roles he plays. He spent a year researching the role and remained in character throughout filming. Co-star Sally Field said he even sent text messages in the style of Lincoln.
The Oscar-winning actor said the voice materialized "in my mind's ear."
He added, "If I hear a voice, I tend to believe that I hear it for good reason.”
After working on the voice in private he sent a recording to Spielberg in an envelope marked with a skull and crossbones.
The director recalled: “It was like Mission: Impossible - I didn’t know what was going to explode first, the envelope or me.
“I turned on the tape recorder and I have to say, without hesitation, that my eyes welled up. Abraham Lincoln was talking to me.”
Day-Lewis' vocal portrayal is probably more accurate than his acting predecessors according to Harold Holzer, a Lincoln scholar. He told CBS News: “Lincoln died long before audio recording was possible so we have no hints about what he really sounded like, except the reminiscences of his contemporaries.
“The most frequent things we read are that he had a nasal, high voice that somehow miraculously floated over large crowds.”
Holzer called Day-Lewis’s performance “extraordinary."
“I wish we could have someone come back from the 1860s and say, ‘That’s the guy.'"
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Towngate | Nov 14, 2012, 06:43 PM EST
If Stephen and Daniel say he spoke like that, who are we to argue! There is no reason why Abe should have not sounded unlike most Americanians do today. ~~~ Can't wait to see (and hear) it.
luxefaire | Nov 11, 2012, 05:04 PM EST
it was a dirty dusty time - some men of power rode on horseback, military men, while the very powerful rode in buggies, and most people walked. no electricity, nor sanitation to speak of. big wild country. the slaves were just leaving the stone age, and the euro-types were not all that far ahead of them intellectually or spiritually, they had ballistic technology and that was their edge, their justification for conquest. lincoln was under great pressure by world financial powers to get back on track, to get all the dux in a row as it were, to become CIVILIZED for Gods sake, because among other things, andrew jackson had severely upset world bankings progress. the new world order has been a long time in the making, afterall. it was during the civil war that the federal government consolidated power in a big way, creating the greenback, among many other things. the treadmill to oblivion, the debt making currency, where it allllll gets stolen at the end, all the money made by and for, finds its way to israel, or some other god forsaken place. well, as all this seems periodic, so are the andrew jacksons, no?
Eschetic | Nov 11, 2012, 02:16 PM EST
Bravo, "Rtuk"! The historical sources are overwhelming that Lincoln did, in fact< have a thin, rather higher than expected for a man of his craggy eminence voice - but his effect on an audience was mesmerizing. It was a combination of the visuals and the content. When you listened to the accessible ("modern" in an age of rhetorical declamation) stories and analogies, you were swept up by them. I'm not sure Daniel Day Lewis perfectly captures the Lincoln documented in Doris Kearns Goodwin's superb "Team Of Rivals," the final chapters of which Lewis' LINCOLN film is based on, but if there is a HISTORICAL problem, it is not with the voice recreated.
carrickcourt | Nov 11, 2012, 09:37 AM EST
I love the description of Lincoln in the Daily Standard (Bridgeport, CT) newspaper of 12 Mar 1860 (Monday Evening). Lincoln had spoken in Washington Hall in Bridgeport, CT on 10 March 1860 (Saturday): "Mr. Lincoln was introduced and received with great demonstrations of applause. He spoke for about two hours to the most attentive audience that we ever saw at any political meeting. There was little or nothing of the usual hubbub on such occasions-the conversations moving, &. The speaker, and his theme, seemed to absorb the entire attention. And yet very few people could call Mr. L. an eloquent speaker. His personal appearance is not very prepossessing and he does not appear to have 'sacrificed to the graces'. A Kentuckian by birth, he is of tall, bony, angular, big jointed figure with a great, towering head and a very expressive countenance. His eyes satisfies you at once that there is a brain-intellectual POWER in the man and this is the secret of his success."
Rtuk | Nov 11, 2012, 09:24 AM EST
Sorry, complainers of Daniel Day- Lewis' higher pitched Lincoln voice. His version is historically accurate. Newspapers of the time described Lincoln's voice during his speeches as "high and sometimes squeaky." I'm a Civil War era buff. I'll take historic accuracy over Hollywood makeovers. Can't wait to see this movie. I hope Obama sees it, then maybe he'll learn how to bring Congress and the Presidency together, just like Lincoln does in this film