Sally Field Fought for the Role of Mary Todd Lincoln | Oprah's Next Chapter | Oprah Winfrey Network

[Music] you and Stephen and Daniel de Lewis who incarnated Lincoln I every time I I've never seen anything that I can't remember being moved so yeah when did you first hear about it I I I was tracking it um because in as an actor I kind of always felt that Mary Todd would be somebody for me I always felt it and when I saw steveen someplace I let him know I would really be a good Mary you know and um so out of the blue once in 2005 I was somewhere and he came to me and said would you be mared and I went oh my God oh my God oh gosh oh you called it in you called it of course I'll do this of course of course of course and then when I got in the car that afternoon or whatever it was after I was leaving the little voice said uhuh that's not going to happen that's not going to happen Sally that's not going to happen accept it now it's never going to happen in 2005 you still had that little voice I always have that voice that voice I've learned so much about that voice it's such an important part of who I am but I did a constant sort of negotiation with the voice telling me all right keep keep on the horse but just know that it ain't going to happen um then when Daniel came on board I went oh crap this seriously isn't going to happen now and I felt that because of many things Lincoln was 10 years older than Mary um I also Lincoln was 10 years older older than Mary and I'm 10 years older than Daniel okay so um I knew that would be part of the problem but but also honestly I knew part of the problem would be me I was doing television at the time Sally earned her third Emy on the hit show brothers and sisters for Five Seasons she played Nora the matriarch of the Walker family thought well I'm doing television I'm not I'm not I'm not of worth anymore you know I'm not doing I'm not doing film I've lost position in that and I understand and part of me was backing away and becoming my own self-fulfilling prophecy so Steven called me serendipitously and said S I really just don't see you with Daniel at all I found myself saying well you're wrong to Steven to Steven Spielberg yes the one yeah most powerful Inwood you're wrong I have to tell you you're wrong I'm not going away without a fight and my little hands are going and I said I can't let you do it I won't let you walk away and he's going but you know it's going to be harsh lighting and and you know I know you're worried about the age Stephen I would say I know you're worried about it and rightfully so but I'm guaranteeing you he said look nobody wants to wear Prosthetics we want it to be completely natural I said I won't wear Prosthetics Daniel won't wear Prosthetics and I won't look older than him and Steph is a very loving generous man and he said I don't think it's right but I'm going to test you the the hair and makeup I I didn't want to do it unless it was done the whole nine yards and went down into not even a proper place to shoot but good enough in the floor of the screening room in amlin and I did my audition for Color Purple down there in amlin did so it's the same place you see he does the same thing so I knew I knew when I did it that I could just feel it in my bones and next day he called and said isn't going to work s isn't going to work and I think St I thought he was just going to cry I he felt so bad so then the good news is I didn't kill myself that day that I lived because he called back the next day go because that's a long that's a that's that was a long day yeah and um Stephen said you know I talked to Daniel I went oh oh really um and he said no Daniel wants to meet you and Daniel flew into Los Angeles for a day from Ireland from Ireland wow and I just knew in the feeling of it as he walked across the room and I said Mr Lincoln and he said mother and that's what they called each other and it it was like magic and I got in my car and drove home when I got home my cell phone rang and it was Steven and Daniel together that said will you be Mary I could wait yeah I did m that's when I knew she was mine and uh and I had not let her [Music] go

Channel: OWN

Views: 129,767

Keywords: oprah winfrey network, own network, oprah, oprah winfrey, oprah's next chapter, next chapter, interview, Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Studios, Oprah's Next Chapter, #nextchapter, rihanna interview, kim kardashian interview, oprah next chapter, Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Network YouTube, Iyanla Fix My Life, full episodes, Super Soul Sunday, Oprah Winfrey Show, Iyanla Vanzant, Oprah Life Class, Lindsay Lohan, how-to, season, episode

Id: 8Sj210QF0zA

Length: 4min 46sec (286 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 04 2012