Today's Film News: Liam Neeson for President!

By Katey Rich

Liam Neeson is a patient man, and it seems to have paid off. Steven Spielberg's biopic about Abraham Lincoln is finally getting off the ground, with Neeson set to portray the 16th President. Spielberg will film his installment of The Adventures of Tin Tin this fall (Peter Jackson will direct the next one) and get started on Lincoln in the spring, reports Variety. Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay for the long-awaited project, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals. Oscar forecasters are currently frantically reshuffling their predictions for the 2010 awards.

The arms race of tax incentives is finally hitting the home of the movies, California; Governor Schwarzenegger is urging the state legislature to establish heftier tax breaks for movie productions, now that New York State has beefed up its offerings to 35% of total costs. Variety reports that a collection of California politicians have pushed for tax incentives since 1998, all while other states like New York, Connecticut and New Mexico have increased incentives and drawn productions away from the West Coast. The issue recently came back to the forefront when the production for TV's "Ugly Betty" decided to move to New York, where the show is set.

Well, romantic comedies have surely been based on flimsier premises: DreamWorks has picked up a spec script titled Shared Fare, about a couple who meet when they split cab fare. Apparently it's based on a true story that happened to Langley Perer, an executive with Benderspink, the company in charge of production. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Brian Robbins (Norbit) is considering directing.

And finally, the only way to one-up a romantic comedy based on a flimsy premise is to report on another comedy based on the most absurd and complex premise ever dreamed up. Hot Tub Time Machine will be pretty much exactly what it sounds like, about four reformed womanizers who travel back to their glory days thanks to a time-jumping hot tub. The Hollywood Reporter has this choice quote from MGM executive Cale Boyter, in case the whole thing didn't seem silly enough: "We're always looking for ways to stand out from the rest of the pack in today's crowded marketplace, and what better way than to combine hot tub debauchery and the complications of time travel." It's a time-honored combination that truly can't lose.