According to Deadline, ‘Inception’ star Leonardo DiCaprio is in “early talks” to play the role” of the original FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover in a script penned by Oscar winning, Dustin Lance Black (‘Milk’).
The film which is to be directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Brian Grazer (‘8 Mile’ & ‘A Beautiful Mind’) originally through Imagine Entertainment but now through Warner Bros. is due to enter production later this year.
Black, who is currently in post-production for his picture, ‘What’s Wrong with Virginia’, a drama he wrote and directed starring Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris and is due for release at some point this year will follow up by writing, ‘Hoover’. Pajiba reports that the film will cover the career of the FBI Director (most recently portrayed by Billy Crudup in ‘Public Enemies’) from 1935 when the organisation was founded till his death in 1972.
2008’s ‘Milk’ starred Sean Penn and was directed by Gus van Sant. The Academy Award Nominated biographical film was based on the life of gay rights political activist, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. It was this film that got people interested in Dustin Lance Black and despite writing for HBO’s ‘Big Love’, ‘Milk’ got him noticed.
Black, in particular is interested in representing gay culture, and allowing gay men and women to come out and be safe in their communities. Some claim in Hoover’s history that he was a cross-dresser and a closest homosexual- and I am sure this is the angle that Black will be interested in covering. Historically, the use, by the FBI, of people’s sexual orientation was used to discredit them and therefore it appears despite what may be fact or fiction, there is plenty of material for Black.
Personally, I cannot wait for this picture. With such great names like DiCaprio looking at the role, Eastwood directing (which promises a gritty view mixed with beautiful cinematography) and Black writing, it is interesting to note Hollywood’s upcoming awareness to sexual orientation and that people today are more accepting than ever before.
