New York Magazine is reporting
that legendary actor-director Clinton Eastwood is pursuing Joaquin
Phoenix to play FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's alleged lover in an
upcoming biopic.
Leonardo DiCaprio has said he is
considering playing the film's lead.
If true, Phoenix would play the role of
Clyde Tolson, Hoover's alleged lover. The two men worked closely –
Tolson landed the plum post of associate director after only 3 years
at the agency – and socialized together, but vehemently denied
claims they were in a romantic relationship. Tolson inherited
Hoover's estate and his grave rests yards from Hoover's in the
Congressional Cemetery.
Other evidence that Hoover was gay
includes the fact that many of his closest friends were closeted men.
Rumors that Hoover was a crossdresser persist to this day.
Speaking to reporters in June, DiCaprio
said the film was about the “secret life” of Hoover, such as his
involvement in the Vietnam war, and the lives of Martin Luther King
and President John F. Kennedy.
When asked if he'll be wearing a dress,
DiCaprio answered: “Not as of yet. No, we haven't done the fitting
for those. So, I don't think so.”
The screenplay is being written by
openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won a 2008 Oscar for
Milk, the Gus Van Sant biopic about Harvey Milk, the first
openly gay politician to be elected in the United States.