THR’s RiskyBizBlog reports that Robert Redford will direct The Conspirator, a film about Mary Surratt, said to be an accomplice of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. While this movie is a far cry from Steven Spielberg’s intended biopic about the President, nonetheless it is a bit surprising to hear about another major director taking on a project so close to Lincoln when Spielberg isn’t yet able to get his own financed.

You might have read about Surratt in Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln’s Killer, by James Swanson, but this isn’t an adaptation of that book. (There is another film project, by HBO and Walden Media, that might adapt that directly.) James Solomon wrote this script, and while the article doesn’t mention his sources, chances are the screenplay is drawn at least in part from Kate Clifford Lawson’s book The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln. Previous to Lincoln’s assassination, Surratt’s son John had conspired to kidnap the President. Despite her protestation of innocence, Mary Surrat was arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln’s assassination and was sentenced to death; she is said to be the first woman executed by the United States Federal Government.

THR doesn’t mention who might play Mary Surratt, but says that James McAvoy (who’s having a good night, with another announcement) is high in the running for a lead male role in the film. He could play John Surrat, who was 21 at the time of the assassination, or one of the other men Mary Surrat was said to have provided arms to on the night of the killing. Even better, I’d love to see him as Booth.

Redford has also been set to direct Against All Enemies, based on Richard Clarke’s book about the recent Bush administration’s intelligence woes, but THR notes that project’s future is uncertain. Whichever goes first will be Redford’s follow-up to the truly awful Lions For Lambs, which at least had one of the better uses of Tom Cruise in recent memory.

I admire Volkswagen for their support of independent film over the past decade. If you attend a regional or big time film festival, you’re likely to see them listed as a sponsor on the big screen before each film. In the past, we’ve featured some of their “See Film Differently” television spots which featured film fanatics sharing their vastly different interpretations of classic movies (if you haven’t seen those, check them out now). VW has produced a new set of “See Film Differently” ads, directed by Seth Gordon, the filmmaker behind The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters. These new spots showcase a group of people, each highly inspired by the movies, who testify about the power of film. You might have seen the one of Dudeism, which was virally circulating the interwebs last week. But after the jump we have all three. Dudeism: A way of life derived from watching The Big Lebowski. Pure Imagination: A young man under the spell of Willy Wonka.