DVD News

Venture behind the true story with The Conspirator on Blu-ray

By Patrick Luce Aug 15, 2011, 12:20 GMT

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell), 26, and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous backdrop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), a ...more

The President was killed … and the truth was buried. Robert Redford directs an all-star cast including James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson and more as Lionsgate debuts The Conspirator on Blu-ray and DVD.

M&C’s getting in on the conspiracy by giving away five of the Blu-ray editions of the film along with The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln by Kate Clifford Larson paperback book and The Conspirator promotional Soundtrack CD.

Oscar-winning director Robert Redford (Best Director, Ordinary People, 1980) gives viewers a front-row seat in the thrilling courtroom battle waged against Mary Surratt (Golden Globe nominee Robin Wright), the only female charged in the murder of President Abraham Lincoln.

The film costars Golden Globe nominee James McAvoy as the attorney who reluctantly takes on Surratt’s defense, and who becomes her biggest ally as government forces align to bring her down.

Featuring an all-star supporting cast including Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda), Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Evan Rachel Wood (HBO’s “True Blood”), Justin Long (Going the Distance) and two-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, Lionsgate presents The Conspirator in a deluxe Blu-ray Disc that contains in-depth special features - including a feature-length documentary about the plot to kill Lincoln, interviews with the cast and crew plus numerous featurettes that look at the making of the film and the true story it captures. 

The Blu-ray version of the film also includes a video commentary (instead of the audio commentary) with Robert Redford and image galleries.
 
In the wake of the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, a country mourns its leader, and eight people are charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President and Secretary of State. The lone woman accused, Mary Surratt (Wright), owns the boarding house where the attack was planned.

Faced with a certain death, Surratt’s only hope comes in the form of a newly minted lawyer and Union war hero, Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), who reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal.

As the courtroom trial unfolds, Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her son (Johnny Simmons, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World).

Video commentary with Director Robert Redford
“The Conspirator: The Plot to Kill Lincoln” – feature-length documentary
Introduction to the American Film Company
“Making of” featurette- Interviews with Cast and Crew
Introduction to the History Behind the Film featurette
Production Design featurette
Costume Design featurette
Props and Special Effects featurette
“The Conspiracy” featurette
“Mary Surratt’s Catholicism” featurette
Military Trial featurette
“Frederick Aiken: Defense Lawyer” featurette
“Mary Surratt: Guilty or Innocent” featurette
“Sentence and Execution” featurette
Photo galleries

Visit the DVD database for more information.

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CLICK HERE to enter to win a Blu-ray edition of The Conspirator, The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln paperback book, and The Conspirator promotional Soundtrack CD.