Walton Talks Justified Season 3, Working with Daniel Day-Lewis on Lincoln, G.I. Joe and More

Walton-Goggins.com: Walton Talks Justified Season 3, Working with Daniel Day-Lewis on Lincoln, G.I. Joe and More

What’s it like to work on Lincoln with someone like Daniel Day Lewis, who lives in the character that he’s playing?

GOGGINS: There are so many actors that approach the work that way, from Forest Whitaker to Ed Harris to [Robert] Duvall to Chris Cooper. They’re everywhere. On a lot of people’s lists, Daniel is probably the best actor of his generation, and two subsequent generations. He’s that specific. What it does for me is it reminds me of how important this is. It’s nice to have that daily, almost minute-by-minute, reminder. This isn’t just a story about Lincoln. We’re not just doing another story about Lincoln. This is Steven Spielberg doing a story about one of the most flawed men, who is also one of the greatest men, and certainly one of the greatest presidents we’ve ever had, and feeling the weight that he was under and what was going on in this country. It was the schism that forever changed this country. So, when you have an actor that approaches the work that way, you show up to work every day with your fucking A-game.

Who are you playing in the film?

GOGGINS: I play a congressman whose real name is Wells Hutchins, and he was a Democrat out of Ohio. The movie is about a lot of different things. It’s about Lincoln, and it’s about his relationship with his cabinet, but it’s also a story about the passage of the 13th Amendment. In order to pass the 13th Amendment, Lincoln needed a certain amount of Democratic congressmen to vote for it, or it wouldn’t have been bipartisan, and he needed the 13th Amendment to pass. So, I play a pivotal role in that part of the story.