Props From the Conspirator April 30, 2011

Hollywood meets history in Springfield as props from the new historical drama 'The Conspirator,' produced and directed by Robert Redford, will be displayed in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The film about the trial of a woman accused of being part of the planning for the Lincoln assassination opens in theaters April 15, the 146th anniversary of Lincoln's death. It stars Robin Wright as Mary Surratt, the woman on trial; James McAvoy as her attorney; and Kevin Kline as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The Presidential Museum will display a recreation of 'The Conspirator' hanging scene at the Old Arsenal Penitentiary, complete with six reproduction artifacts used in making the film: The pistol and spurs used by John Wilkes Booth (actor Toby Kebbell); a saber worn by a general on the military commission that judged Mrs. Surratt; two sets of manacles and two sets of ball and chain, all made of composite plastic for actor comfort; and two prisoners' hoods.