The Abraham Lincoln biopic will be directed by Spielberg, who took home the Oscar for both "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," and features a screenplay by Kushner, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Angels in America.

According to Dreamworks, the film "will focus on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War."

Strathairn has signed on to play William Seward, who served as Lincoln's Secretary of State. As previously announced, Day-Lewis will play the title role, and Field will play his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and John Hawkes are set to co-star.

Filming will begin this fall in Virginia. Kathleen Kennedy and Spielberg produce the film that is aiming to arrive in theatres in late 2012.

Strathairn has been seen on Broadway in The Three Sisters, Dance of Death, Salome and Einstein and the Polar Bear. The actor won an Emmy Award for his work in HBO's "Temple Grandin."