Leonardo DiCaprio signs on to ‘Hoover’
'Shutter Island' and 'Titanic' star Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on play infamous FBI creator J. Edgar Hoover in the new biopic from Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood.
DiCaprio has been linked to the role for ages, and the film will chronicle the life of Hoover who was a founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and its director from 1935 until his death in 1972. He's usually credited with making the FBI the juggernaut law-enforcement agency it is today, and with instituting key developments like central fingerprinting and forensic laboratories. In later years, however, it came to light that Hoover himself wasn't averse to breaking the law in the name of enforcing it, and the Bureau under his jurisdiction had an unpleasant air of the secret police about it, amassing secret files on political leaders and harassing dissidents and dissenters. Post-Hoover, each directorship of the FBI has been limited to ten years.
on political leaders and harassing dissidents and dissenters. Post-Hoover, each directorship of the FBI has been limited to ten years.
Such a rich vein of material should mean that Eastwood and DiCaprio (something of an expert in playing troubled characters) should be able to fashion a rather decent film when they start filming next year. If anything, we can assume that the portrayal might be a little better than Bob Hoskin’s rather camp turn as the FBI director in Oliver Stone’s JFK.
Eastwood is another impressive director for DiCaprio to add to his collector's set, alongside Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott and Sam Mendes. Eastwood is producing with Brian Grazer (the two met on Changeling) and Rob Lorenz, and the film is being fast-tracked at Warners and begins shooting in the last half of the year.