A while back, speculation was that Leonardo DiCaprio might be up for the lead in Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar Hoover biopic. Well, fire up the Oscar machine, because the rumors are true, as confirmed by Deadline today, DiCaprio will be playing the FBI founder for sure.
“He going to spread his wings,” one of my studio sources tells me now that Leonardo DiCaprio is set to play J Edgar Hoover in the still untitled biopic.
Imagine had been developing the Dustin Lance Black script for over a year before showing it to Universal, where the reaction was negative. But then Grazer got the screenplay to pal Clint (they did The Changeling and have had a personal relationship ever since), the two men met about it in mid-February, and the film has been on the fast track at Warner Bros.
So it sounds like the film has run into a few snags so far, but now that it’s got both Eastwood and DiCaprio attached, it’s probably going to be smooth sailing. I have to say, it is nice to see DiCaprio separate from Scorsese for an epic film like this, though I’m sure he’ll be back in his Frank Sinatra movie in no time.
It’s one of those times where you just know that Oscar nominations will rain down from the sky for a movie like this. It’s like when I first saw even the poster for THE DEPARTED. One look at it and “yup, Best Picture.” I’m seeing at least a few potential statues here already.
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