The Steven Spielberg-directed Lincoln made a surprise world premiere at the New York Film Festival on Monday October 8 evening, Deadline said.

It has been one of the wildcards in the Oscar conversation, with the nomination buzz for the picture and Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones louder now than ever.

Afterwards was a Q&A with screenwriter Tony Kushner and director Steven Spielberg (moderated by outgoing NYFF festival director Richard Pena). Kushner said that he tried to find the movie by covering various parts of Lincoln’s life but ending up with an endless supply of script pages. So he finally decided to narrow the focus to the seminal last months of Lincoln’s life. That revelation came while Kushner walked picket lines during the writers strike.

He still wrote 500 pages before he and Spielberg found a way to cut the script down to a somewhat manageable 200. Spielberg said he was glad his movie will come out after the presidential election (the film bows November 14) so it won’t get kicked around like a political football. Spielberg said his film wasn’t completely finished, but it was close enough to screen tonight.