Director Steven Spielberg is planning a biopic of former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln to tie in with the 200th anniversary of his birth, reports said Monday, according to AFP. The iconic director revealed he would produce the film about Lincoln’s life, expected to start shooting in 2009.

As Spielberg has just finished filming “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and confirmed that he will next job will be to direct animated film “Tintin”, it appears he will be directing the next to films back-to-back well into 2009. “I want to start ‘Lincoln’ in early 2009, because it’s Lincoln’s 200th anniversary,” Steven Spielberg explained.

The Civil War epic will star Liam Neeson, who agreed to play the fallen president three years ago. After that, Spielberg will choose between “Chicago Seven” or the top-secret sci-fi tale “Interstellar.”

In a career that spans almost four decades, Spielberg's films have touched many themes and genres. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, three of his films, “Jaws”, “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park” became the highest grossing films for their time.

Spielberg’s early movies were seen as the archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films started addressing such historical issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war, and terrorism.