Leonardo DiCaprio In Talks For Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar Hoover Biopic
Leonardo DiCapriois eyeing the lead role in the proposed biopic of original FBI directorJ. Edgar Hoover. The project is being written byMilkscribeDustin Lance BlackwithClint Eastwoodattached to direct, andBrian Grazeron board to produce. This would be DiCaprio’s first collaboration with Eastwood. According toDeadline, DiCaprio is in “early talks” to play the role".
Black wrote the screenplay for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer at Imagine Entertainment under the auspices of a deal with Universal, but that studio put the film into turnaround. The film is now set-up at Warner Bros (when Eastwood came on board, what else did you expect to happen?), and production is gearing up to begin later this year.
Here is some background fromRuss Ficher’s original reporton the project:
Much more substantiated is the fact that Hoover would wield elements of the FBI and other federal energy to control and subvert the civil rights of those he considered enemies and dangers to democracy. He would compile information about the sexual preferences of some subjects, and reportedly used it to discredit them. Regardless of the truth behind the gay/cross-dressing rumor (an image that may have bloomed simply as a way to use Hoover’s own smear campaigns against him) there’s a lot of material in Hoover’s story that would make it of interest to Dustin Lance Black. I love the idea of him drafting this script.
Hoover has been on screen several times before, most recently as played by Billy Crudup inPublic Enemies. None of the screen portrayals of Hoover, however, hold a candle to the one written by James Ellroy inAmerican Tabloid,The Cold Six ThousandandBlood’s A Rover. I don’t know that Ellroy’s version of the man is true to life, but he writes him magnificently nonetheless. Channelled by Ellroy’s pen, Hoover is a spider at the center of a massive web of information, always pulling strings and letting out slack to manipulate politics and culture. But he is tragically flawed by shortsighted arrogance. I’d be wild about seeing Ellroy’s Hoover on screen, but I have faith that Black can come up with his own compelling presentation.
