Liam Neeson has dropped out of playing former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in a new biopic because he is past his "sell-by date" - but has accepted a role as Lyndon B. Johnson instead.
The Schindler's List star, 58, was set to renew his Oscar-winning partnership with Steven Spielberg for a movie charting the life of the assassinated American leader.
The project, which Spielberg first mentioned to Neeson in 2005, has taken so long to prepare, the actor has now dropped out because he is too old for the role.
But he still has the chance to play a former leader of the free world - he's accepted a role as 36th U.S. President Johnson in a biopic of murdered civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
Neeson tells British morning show GMTV, "I'm not actually (playing Lincoln now). I was attached to it for a while, but it's now...
"I'm past my sell-by date. But I am going to play L.B. Johnson in a movie about Martin Luther King."
Neeson is in the big budget blockbuster this week with The A-Team as he leads Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley and Quinton Jackson in the remake of the popular TV show.
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