Movie Stills from "The Conspirator"

Here is another bit of Civil War movie news. The first set of photos from Robert Redford's anticipated film The Conspirator have been released. The film, which depicts the aftermath and trials of the Lincoln assassination, is set for release this fall for Oscar Season. Above, actor Toby Kebbell plays John Wilkes Booth, though the movie is more about those who may have aided the character. The murder of Lincoln is shown mainly through quick, impressionistic images. "I see the whole beginning of the film as a vortex of images and the key facts you need to know," Redford says. Photos courtesy of USA Today.

Robert Redford directs the execution scene in his new movie The Conspirator. He says he wouldn't have made the movie "if it had just been about Lincoln. (Documentarian) Ken Burns did a great job with the Civil War, and so many stories and films have been shown about the assassination," Redford says. "What we don't know is the story I wanted to tell." This was filmed at Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Georgia.

Redford directs James McAvoy as attorney Frederick Aiken, a Union soldier reluctantly representing a Southern woman accused of plotting to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. For history buffs, the movie dives into the country's efforts to find justice after one of the most devastating incidents in American history.

James McAvoy's soldier-turned-lawyer in this conspiracy case finds himself in the uncomfortable position of defying the Union after nearly dying for it. "He barely survived the war. He was very heroic and won medals for bravery in the field, and comes back and wants to go back into law, and right away he's pulled into this case because no one else will defend this woman," Redford says.

Alexis Bledel co-stars in The Conspirator as the fiancee of attorney Frederick Aiken. She resents his efforts to give a good-faith defense of a Confederate sympathizer, threatening the stability of their relationship.

Robin Wright plays Mary Surratt opposite McAvoy as her reluctant attorney. Her boarding house was where some of the assassination plot was planned, and she was the lone woman prosecuted in the case, facing the gallows. In the film, her attorney believes the trial is just an effort to bring her fugitive son out of hiding. This film has much potential and I personally am looking forward to seeing it.