But is it something that happened for real to a real person?
I'm not sure if it's real person or not. Probably, but only someone who was really up on their Lincoln-era House of Reprsentative members. So if you don't know the character, you don't necessarily know what they are going to do in the course of the story. Which I didn't, so I appreciated not knowing what that character was going to do, and thought others might feel the same way.
I'm not judging you, Frank, or even asking about your motivation--I'm asking about the movie.
Oh, sorry ita !. I guess I'm not really sure what you want to know, then. If you want to know whether you want to know the spoiler or not, I'm not sure what else to say that I didn't say in the "why" of why I spoiler-fonted.
Also, we're in the middle of day-of-release testing - which is going well...NOT! - so I'm basically doing drive-by catch-ups and posts and am a bit distracted. If my tone sounded defensive, it's sounded that way about everything today.
Just trying to work out what in a biopic makes a spoiler--and you've answered. Choice of events was one, and choice of satellite characters is another.
In general, you mention spoilers for Lincoln as a punchline (cf (ha!) the episode of Happily Divorced that Colin is in (also spoils The Hobbit)) not a precaution. So I was treating it like a precaution and trying to get more details.
It was also the casting of this character as well. I figured Spader had been mentioned enough to not count, and Lee Pace's characater's position is obvious from his first moment on screen, plus we'd talked about him being in the movie already. This other one was a total surprise to me.
Just so I know the pulse of the room--are we considering casting a spoiler, or just in this case where the character even appearing is a spoiler?
I think it was only spoilery in conjunction with the other part I said. I don't think the actor's appearence on screen would have indicated what direction the character was going to go in or that just knowing they were in it would have given anything away, though either might have set certain expectations.
To clarify, I don't think knowing an actor in a movie is spoilery unless they are already known to be a particular character which usually means a sequel.
Haven't seen the movie, but the idea that there is a spoiler for anything in a biopic about the most chronicled President in history is intriguing.
the idea that there is a spoiler for anything in a biopic about the most chronicled President in history is intriguing.
I think you can have spoilers for a biopic in the same way you can have spoilers for an adaptation - knowing what the real history is doesn't mean you know exactly what version of the story will wind up onscreen. There were many MANY people avoiding Hobbit spoilers (even if they'd read the book) since they didn't want to know what was changed/left out/where the movie ended in relation to the book, etc.
What Jess said. That was exactly my thinking in white-fonting what I did.