Steven Spielberg's forthcoming epic, Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the Republican President, hits cinemas on November 9, 2012, with plenty of Oscars buzz surrounding its release. However, the legendary filmmaker insists the timing of the movie was unintentional and that it has nothing to do with current politics.

American voters will head out to vote for either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney on Tuesday (November 6, 2012), though Spielberg said the film was ready to go into production years ago. Speaking at the film's junket, the director was quoted by E! Online as saying "We were ready to make it in the Bush administration. People say, 'Oh, you made it because what's happening in politics today! It has nothing to do with the current politics. It has nothing to do with holding a mirror up to the way we conduct our business on Capitol Hill today. This was meant to be a Lincoln portrait, if you will. I think anytime is the right time for a really compelling story." It's a fair point, especially in terms of awards' season, when big budget political biopics are pretty much guaranteed to score somewhere along the line. Take last year's fairly poor The Iron Lady. Critics hated it, Meryl Streep won an Oscar.

Daniel Day Lewis is the current odds' on favorite to win Best Actor for a third time, though critics lauded Lincoln as Spielberg's finest work in years, meaning there could be plenty more gongs heading Abe's way come February.