Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln has been nominated for 10 Bafta awards, including best film and leading actor for former Kent schoolboy Daniel Day-Lewis. Lesley Bellew went on the Lincoln trail to understand why Day-Lewis became so deeply moved by his character.

It took Steven Spielberg more than 10 years to research his latest film Lincoln - by that time Liam Neeson felt he would be too old for the lead role.

Former Sevenoaks School pupil Daniel Day-Lewis was the only other actor Spielberg would consider to play the 16th US president, so once the contract was signed he had some serious catching up to do.

He moved to Richmond, Virginia, to immerse himself in the role of Abraham Lincoln.

Richmond became the capital of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. The region saw many bloody battles and Day-Lewis found an echo of the past on every corner of this historic town.

Sporting a beard for the role, Day-Lewis got into character by walking alongside the James River where Lincoln and his son Tad had arrived by boat the day after Richmond had fallen to the Union Army, on April 3, 1865.

Day-Lewis followed Lincoln’s route up to the White House of the Confederacy, in the centre of Richmond. It was from here his defeated rival, Jefferson Davis, had fled south.

The 55-year-old actor spent hours alone in the study where Lincoln had sat at his rival’s desk, contemplating how the president must have felt at that time – exhausted but knowing victory was surely in reach.

During the Civil War, the American president had struggled with the carnage on the battlefields and the fight within his cabinet over his decision to emancipate slaves.

He was weary but unwavering in his beliefs - the man who had been born in a log cabin had come a long way and had no intention of turning back.

Day-Lewis was to learn that when the 6ft 4in president walked through Richmond, African-Americans surrounded him, bowing and thanking him for their freedom.

Lincoln told them: “Kneel only to God and thank him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy.”

Lincoln had passed the Shockoe district where tobacco warehouses were used as stores by day but by night doubled as slave auction houses.

The actor began to understand the strength Lincoln had needed to pass the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery. Richmond had been the largest slave trading centre on the East side of America, where thousands of men, women and children were transported from the African state of Benin via Liverpool, to supply plantations in the Deep South.

Tourists today can visit the Reconciliation Memorial on a Slave Trail route alongside the James River.

By the end of filming Day-Lewis was deeply moved. He said of Lincoln: “I never, ever felt that depth of love for another human being that I never met.”

Lincoln’s next stop during his visit to Richmond was to the Virginia State Capitol.

This government building, the first public property in the New World to resemble a Roman classical temple, was taken over by Spielberg’s team and transformed to represent The White House, in Washington.

Roads were closed to avoid traffic noise during filming and the town began to feel the Hollywood factor as Sally Field, who played Lincoln’s wife Mary, moved into the five-star Jefferson Hotel and Day-Lewis became a regular at The Hill Café at the top of Church Hill, where he rented a property.

He also frequented the Can Can Brasserie, on a smart 1950s shopping parade in Cary Street and Arcadia restaurant in Shockoe Bottom.

It was here he was pictured, sporting his Lincoln beard, on the front page of the New York Post after a customer had recognised the A-list customer.

He became so immersed in his character he even begain to tweet in the role of Lincoln.

In fact, residents soon caught the Lincoln bug and hundreds of men grew beards so they could work as extras on the film set.

Spielberg was delighted with the locals’ response and the setting.

He said: “Virginia’s rich historic legacy, coupled with the remarkable period architecture in Richmond and Petersburg, made central Virginia the ideal location for this production.”

No filming took place in Washington, but a Lincoln tour would not be complete without sightseeing in the Capitol city.

An ‘Assassination’ walking tour (which rather gives away the story) starts opposite The White House and winds through the city to Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln received a bullet in the head.

The theatre closed for almost a century but has been refurbished with an education centre and museum alongside. Here you can see the 44-caliber gun that was used by John Wilkes Booth to kill the president, plus various ghoulish artefacts including pieces of the rope used to hang Booth’s gang.

Lincoln’s top hat is in National Museum of American History and in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Hall of Presidents, his portrait by George P.A. Healy takes centre stage - but a night-time bike ride around the city’s illuminated memorials really brings home what Lincoln means to America.

Stand on the steps of the cavernous Lincoln Memorial, where almost 50 years ago Dr Martin Luther King Jnr delivered his ‘I have a Dream’ speech and four years ago Barack Obama made his inaugural ‘We are One’ address to the nation, and you will understand why Daniel Day-Lewis was so moved by the president who gave his life for liberty.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln is by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Spielberg bought the film rights to the book before it was published and used it for the basis of the film.

Lesley Bellew was a guest of the Capital region:www.capitalregionusa.co.uk