Sally Field will star as Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of the 16th president of the United States, in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis has already been cast to play the president.

Spielberg and DreamWorks co-chairman and CEO Stacey Snider announced the casting Wednesday.

"I'm excited to be working with Sally for the first time," Spielberg said of the two-time Oscar winner. "I've admired her films, and she has always been my first choice to portray all the fragility and complexity that was Mary Todd Lincoln."

The film, which centers on the political clashes between Lincoln and the officers of his cabinet, is based on the book Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which has been adapted for the screen by Tony Kushner. It will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Spielberg.

Filming is expected to begin in the fall for release in fourth-quarter 2012 through Disney's Touchstone label.

Field, who currently stars in the ABC series Brothers & Sisters, for which she won an Emmy in 2007, has long been attached to the project.