Perfect casting? Photos of Lincoln actors and their real-life counterparts

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln (AP)

Steven Spielberg's much-anticipated, weighty Abraham Lincoln biopic is due for release in January, and it's a safe bet it will be the most realistic Lincoln film released in the last 12 months - the other one was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Until now, however, we didn't appreciate quite how realistic.

Slate have helpfully dipped into the Library of Congress's photo archive to compare Spielberg's casting choices with their real historical counterparts and the results are uncanny. No doubt prosthetics played the part, but still, if actor Jared Harris isn't some distant relative Ulysses S. Grant, then Independent Voices will eat it's 19th century replica stovepipe hat.