While Robert Redford is fast moving ahead with his planned film about the assassination of former US President Lincoln, it seems as though he wasn't the first to come up with the idea.

Hollywood veteran Steven Spielberg is also planning a Lincoln film, but has ran into some financial and location problems in the past.

"We are very happy that Redford will be doing this Lincoln movie. It is completely different from what our DreamWorks Lincoln movie will be, and we believe that it will add to the commercial potential of our film. Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible," he said in a recent interview.

Spielberg's Lincoln film was reportedly going to focus on the president's anguish over the length and toll of the Civil War, but the script is being revised by Tony Kushner. In the meantime, Spielberg is busy working on his "reimagining" of 'Harvey', which might star Robert Downey Jr.