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SYNOPSIS
In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (ROBIN WRIGHT), 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (TOBY KEBBELL), 26, and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks.
Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken (JAMES McAVOY), a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son, John (JOHNNY SIMMONS). As the nation turns against her, Surratt is forced to rely on Aiken to uncover the truth and save her life.
A riveting thriller, The Conspirator tells a powerful and true story about America then and now.
The film is directed by Robert Redford from a script by James D. Solomon .
A SHOCKING ACT OF VIOLENCE
The Conspirator explores the national reaction to Lincoln's assassination in the aftermath of what was, at the time, the most shocking murder in U.S. History. Director Robert Redford, states, "The film deals with the harsh efforts to keep the political polarization of the time from worsening. The country was deeply divided, not just North and South, but also between those in government who wanted to place post-war punishments and restrictions on the defeated South that would cause suffering and resentment among the Confederates and those, like Lincoln, who wanted a more moderate, conciliatory reconstruction."
Producer Brian Falk says he and The American Film Company were intrigued by Booth's misguided efforts "to decapitate the federal government. This is one of those stories that everybody thinks they know, but it really is a story that nobody knows. Everybody understands that Abraham Lincoln was killed by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. What they don't know is that it's part of this much larger, more complex conspiracy."
The Conspirator tells the story of Mary Surratt who was the only woman charged in the conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln. The conspirators, including Mary's son, John, met at her boardinghouse and some of them roomed there. Had they discussed the assassination during those meetings? Did Mary know? Did she conspire with them?
Even today, we don't know. The scriptwriter, James Solomon, is sure the prosecution thought she was guilty. "There's no question in my mind that Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, and Joseph Holt, the Judge Advocate General thought she was guilty and there's no question in my mind that her defense lawyer, Frederick Aiken, thought she was innocent. Perhaps the truth is somewhere between both points of view and I think that's sort of where I would like it to be, because the ambiguity is the most truthful."
The film's director, Robert Redford, elaborates, "The Conspirator concerns more than one conspiracy. There was the assassination, of course, but there was also a conspiracy of political expediency." Stanton, as Secretary of War and one of Lincoln's closest advisors, was a powerful force in government. While the others in the administration were stunned and in mourning, and with Secretary of State Seward gravely injured, Stanton took control of investigating the crime and prosecuting the conspirators.
As Redford observes, "Everyone knew the recent surrender ending the war represented a tenuous peace, at best. The assassination was a direct threat to that peace . . . Stanton quickly dealt with this threat by devising an immediate, final and cathartic solution. He took shortcuts to do that and was able to persuade legal and military leaders to support his efforts." Stanton's efforts took the form of a quick military tribunal and immediate execution. Clearly, he was intending to publicly avenge Lincoln's death, make the Union more secure, and move the nation beyond this tragic event.
THE EMOTIONAL CORE
Behind the conspiracies and the political machinations, according to Solomon, beats the emotional heart of the film: the story of a mother and a son. "Here is a mother in a desperate situation essentially abandoned by her son. Another young man steps in and becomes a surrogate son to this mother. He stays and fights to the very end while her own son doesn't come to defend or rescue her."
That surrogate son is Frederick Aiken, a young, decorated Union war hero just beginning his career as an attorney. He reluctantly represents Mary and comes to passionately fight for her within a system bent on executing Mary Surratt, and her co-defendants.
"In The Conspirator," Redford says, "events trigger an emotional struggle in both Mary and Aiken that challenge their conceptions of duty, honor and loyalty. How they respond to those challenges creates this compelling story."
Solomon agrees, "It's a story about allegiances and loyalties and divided loyalties." Aiken, a Union captain with an allegiance to Lincoln and the northern cause for which he fought valiantly, works with Reverdy Johnson (TOM WILKINSON), a southern senator and attorney who was forced, like all southerners, to take a hated loyalty oath after the war. Aiken admires his mentor and understands his duty as a lawyer, but struggles at first with his own distaste for the alleged assassins. As he delves further into Mary's case, he finds his loyalties further divided andsuffers the disapproval of the community and his closest friends. He meets his match in Mary, a mother holding fast her allegiance to her family and, perhaps, the southern cause.
FINDING HISTORY
The Conspirator is The American Film Company's first feature. Joe Ricketts, the founder of Ameritrade and whose family owns the Chicago Cubs, established the company in 2008 to produce engaging, historically accurate films from America's storied past. "Real life is often more compelling than fiction," says Ricketts.
From Solomon's perspective, "This movie came about because Joe Ricketts created The American Film Company." TAFC doesn't treat historical stories like distant relics. "TAFC knows these stories have tremendous relevancy and resonance with the present," adds Solomon.
Remarks Falk, "The script for The Conspirator had been around Hollywood for a long time. Someone had seen it and thought we should read it. I honestly felt it was probably the single best unproduced script I had ever read."
In fact, Solomon began researching and writing The Conspirator in 1993. "When I first started my script 18 years ago, just about everyone I showed it to was surprised: that the Lincoln assassination was part of larger conspiracy, that there had been multiple attacks that night, hundreds rounded up, a military trial of the assassins, including a woman likely bring tried for her son's crimes. 'Fascinating story,' they'd say to me. 'But what's it have to do with the present?' After September 2001, I rarely heard that again…"
This is just the kind of story TAFC was created to make. Webster Stone, the third member of The American Film Company's executive team, notes that the company will continue to choose from a wide range of historical stories and they plan to explore diverse areas and eras. Falk agrees, stating, "I think that it's not just that truth is stranger than fiction. I think in a lot of ways truth is better than fiction."
A QUICK START
The American Film Company knew this project was going to need a very special director. "It required somebody passionate about history and the American story," says Falk. "We thought there was little opportunity to even reach out to a director of Robert Redford's caliber, but true to how compelling and interesting this story is, Bob read it and responded so positively that it set in motion the plan to get this film made." In fact, Redford only took four days to read the script and request a meeting.
"The American Film Company came to me because of my experience with the kind of filmmaking they wanted to do." Not just as an actor in films like All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, but also as the director of Quiz Show and producer of The Motorcycle Diaries and A Civil Action, Redford found The American Film Company to be a natural pairing "History is a source of great stories that often seem to relate to where we are today," says Redford, "Even more interesting, once you immerse yourself in a bit of history, you find the accepted narrative isn't always the real story. There is usually another story beneath the one you've been told or the one you think you know."
In early 2009, with Redford on board, everyone wanted to get right to work. Though it was already spring, Redford wanted to try to finish the film before the end of the year. Jeremiah Samuels heard about the movie at the end of July. He read it quickly and just as quickly committed to it. "It's such an incredible piece of material and even though we had a really short amount of time, I said I'd love to do it." One day at Redford's Wildwood Entertainment office, Executive Producer Samuels remembers Redford asking him if he thought the schedule was feasible. "Bob said to me, 'Do you think you can get this movie together in the time that we've got?' and I said I was pretty sure we could, but told him we can't make any false steps. From that moment on, we've been in a dead run and it's been a blur."
"Everybody in the room saw no reason to delay," remembers Falk, "We didn't have everyone on the cast in place when we started, but we were able to play the odds a bit because everybody was so passionate about this project." Still, he adds, "the biggest challenge was setting up a period piece in the short amount of time we had to recreate a world that no longer exists."
PRODUCING HISTORY
Even with little time for preparation, the team was committed to making the picture as historically accurate as possible. The starting place was James Solomon's well-researched script. Solomon gave the production an advantage, having come to screenwriting from a career as a journalist. The Conspirator is his first feature film script. "I tend to do extensive research and reporting," he says. Read more
THE RIGHT COLOR
The color tone and palette was integral to their vision of placing the action in the past. The film begins in a profusion of color as Washington celebrates Victory Day. "There were flags everywhere," says Ivanov, "everything was primary colors." As the assassination attempts are made, we see the rich and sumptuous colors of Ford's Theatre, Seward's home and the hotel where Johnson lived. "We wanted," she says, "to show this rich palette and then slowly drain all color away" as the story moved to the prison and the trial and the gallows where more somber tones would prevail. Read more
DRESSING THE PART
From gala celebrations at the Century Club to the claustrophobic jail cell and the hot, close courtroom, costume designer Louise Frogley knew immediately what she wanted to do in order to blend the costumes with the color palette. With just a few weeks of prep, "we weren't able to make costumes." Costume supervisor Richard Schoen chimes in, "We couldn't shop for fabrics." .Read more
SETTING THE SCENE
Everyone appreciated the southern hospitality of shooting in Savannah, Georgia. Although General Sherman burned Atlanta during the civil war, he spared Savannah, so the city retains much of the federal architecture of the period and was a good match for 1865 Washington. Samuels says, "It gave us the greatest amount of uninterrupted period architecture." And Falk points out "the people of Savannah understand that the minor annoyances of a film crew are temporary, so they've been great."
They found all they needed here, including military locations, with Civil War-era Fort Pulaski stepping in for Washington's Arsenal Penitentiary. Only Ford's Theater had to be built. "Savannah's a lovely, vibrant artistic community," observes Ivanov, "They've really embraced us and have gone out of their way to help us." Read more
SLIPPING INTO THE PAST
McAvoy's own historical research gave him insight into the issues raised by The Conspirator. "I was pleased that James has such a knack for and interest in history. I think it made his character more accessible to him," says Redford. McAvoy even spent time researching Aiken, but was disappointed to find little available. "There isn't a picture of the guy in existence and there is barely a paragraph's worth of information about him," says McAvoy. Fortunately, when it came to answering questions about the characters or events, the filmmaker and actors were able to tap into the expertise of The American Film Company's consulting historians. Read more
ROBERT REDFORD (Director/Producer) is somewhat of an anomaly in the entertainment industry. Though he has been world-famous for more than 30 years, he remains a highly private individual. He is an ardent conservationist and environmentalist, a man who stands for social responsibility and political involvement and an artist and businessman who is a staunch supporter of uncompromised creative expression. His passion remains to make films of substance and social/cultural relevance, as well as to encourage others to express themselves through the arts.
Redford landed his first Broadway starring role in Sunday in New York, followed by Little Moon of Alban and Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, directed by Mike Nichols. From that point on, Redford had to struggle, like any actor, but "not too hard." His first movie role was in War Hunt, in which Sydney Pollack, the man who would become a friend and frequently his director, played a bit part. He reprised the role of newlywed Paul Bratter in the film version of Barefoot in the Park, opposite Jane Fonda, for which he received praise from critics and audiences. His early film work includes Inside Daisy Clover, with Natalie Wood, The Chase, This Property is Condemned, Tell Them Willie Boy is Here and Situation Hopeless, But Not Serious among others.
In 1969, Redford and Paul Newman teamed to star in the Western, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Directed by George Roy Hill, the film became an instant classic and firmly established Redford as one of the industry's top leading men. He, Newman and Hill later reunited for The Sting, which won seven Oscars®, including Best Picture, in addition to bringing Redford his Best Actor nomination.
He has since built a distinguished acting career, starring in such notable feature films as Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby, Three Days of the Condor, The Great Waldo Pepper, Brubaker, A Bridge Too Far, The Natural, Out of Africa, Legal Eagles, Sneakers, Indecent Proposal and Up Close and Personal, among others. In 2001, he starred in Spy Game and The Last Castle. In 2004, Redford was seen in The Clearing, and in 2005, An Unfinished Life.
Redford has starred in several films produced by his own Wildwood Enterprises, which he founded in 1968. His acting and producing credits under the Wildwood banner include Downhill Racer, The Candidate, The Electric Horseman, and All the President's Men, which earned seven Oscar® nominations including Best Picture.
In addition to his prominence as an actor, Redford won a Directors Guild of America Award, a Golden Globe® Award and the Academy Award® for Best Director for his feature film directorial debut on the emotionally shattering family drama, Ordinary People. He went on to both direct and produce The Milagro Beanfield War and A River Runs Through It, for which he received a Best Director Golden Globe® nomination; and earned dual Oscar® nominations for Best Picture and Best Director and a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Director in 1994 for helming Quiz Show. Previous to The Conspirator, Redford's most recent work was on Lions for Lambs, in which he acts, produces and directs. It was released in November 2007.
For television, Redford recently executive produced the first American episode of the PBS series, MYSTERY! Based on Tony Hillerman's novel, "Skinwalkers," the script was written by Jamie Redford and directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals) and stars Adam Beach (Smoke Signals) and Wes Studi (Dances With Wolves) as Native American detectives Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police. MYSTERY: Skinwalkers premiered in November 2002. Previously, he executive produced the telefilm Grand Avenue which aired on HBO in 1996.
A large part of Redford's life is his Sundance Institute (named for the outlaw he played in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), which he founded in 1981. The Sundance Institute is dedicated to the support and development of emerging screenwriters and directors of vision, and to the national and international exhibition of new independent cinema. Their highly acclaimed Screenwriting, Directing, Playwrite and Producing Labs take place at the Sundance Village mountain retreat in Utah, founded by Redford in 1969.
The Sundance Film Festival is a program of the Institute and is internationally recognized as the single most important showcase of independent cinema. Sundance Channel, a further extension of the Sundance Institute's mission and dedication to independent filmmakers, brings television viewers engaging feature films, shorts, documentaries, world cinema and animation, shown uncut and with no commercials. Through its original programs, Sundance Channel connects viewers with filmmakers, the creative process, and the world of independent film. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture between Robert Redford, Showtime Networks Inc., and Universal Studios.
Redford founded the Sundance Catalog in 1989 to support both the Sundance Institute and fine artists and their work. It has grown into one of the country's preeminent specialty catalogs over the past decade. Redford further expanded the Sundance brand with the launch of Sundance Cinemas circuit in 2006 with two locations currently open in Madison, Wisconsin and San Francisco and others to roll out over the next 5 years.
In February 1996, Redford received the Screen Actors Guild's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring his enduring contributions to film. In March 2002, he received an Honorary Academy Award, recognizing his achievements as "actor, director, producer and creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere."
In addition to his work as an actor, director and producer, Robert Redford has been a noted environmentalist and activist since the early 1970s and has served for almost 30 years as a Trustee of the Board the Natural Resources Defense Council. Redford has been involved with many pieces of environmental legislation including the Clean Air Act (1974-75), The Energy Conservation and Production Act (1974-76) and the National Energy Policy Act (1989).
JAMES SOLOMON (Screenwriter) The Conspirator is the first feature length screenplay of Solomon's to be produced.
In 1994, Solomon and a former classmate at the American Film Institute, Gregory Bernstein, stumbled upon a trial transcript of the Lincoln conspirators. Like many, they were unaware there had been a conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln let alone a trial. More than fifteen years and countless drafts later, Solomon's screenplay came to the attention of his childhood hero, Robert Redford, whose The Sting was the first "grown-up" movie Solomon was allowed to see and whose All The President's Men inspired the then eleven year old to become a journalist.
He worked as a reporter for United Press International based in Hong Kong and later for two magazines in Australia. After graduating from Harvard College and AFI, where he was a directing fellow, Solomon "gofer-ed" for Oscar® winning director Barry Levinson on Avalon and then on Arne Glimcher's directorial debut, The Mambo Kings. Solomon's first produced script was an episode of 100 Centre Street, which was directed by another childhood hero, Sidney Lumet. This led to writing stints on television series including the Emmy® winning The Practice.
Solomon is often drawn to projects requiring intensive research and/or reporting. He was a writer/executive producer of the acclaimed ESPN limited series The Bronx Is Burning, starring John Turturro and Oliver Platt, about the 1977 New York Yankees and its city in turmoil.
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