The latest in news is that Leonardo DiCaprio will be teaming up with director Clint Eastwood to portray famed FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, in a film titled, oddly enough, Hoover.
To be honest, the biopic is one of those kind of films that I could do without majority of the time. While there is the occasion where one actually turns out to be a fantastic film, i.e. Schindler's List or The Aviator, it just seems that most of them were never intriguing enough to begin with. This is where all the problems lie in regards to the biopic, is the fact that unless you have a true life story like Oskar Schindler, Frank Abagnale, Jr., or Howard Hughes, you really can't dramatize it without the film coming across as cheesy or melodramatic. Also, what makes all of the great biopics in the history of the cinema work, is that majority of them told stories about little known incidents that most either didn't know occurred (Frank Abagnale, Jr., Oskar Schindler), or they were about larger than life people who had a secret past (Howard Hughes).
While J. Edgar Hoover did some big things way back in the day, does he really fall into either of those two categories? I'm just worried this film will turn out to be a touch stale, but I still like Leo a ton.
Uhhh, sorry christian, but I gotta head butt you on this one. Hoover was a very fractured guy and he's had a biopic due for a long time. Sure, many might know him for how he ruled the FBI and used the US constitution as something more akin to toilet paper but he was far more. He held absolute control over the FBI for about 40 years despite more recent revelations that he was a very closeted homosexual, something that has only been revealed in the last ten years or so. The fact that this man controlled presidents and all sorts of politicians and celebrities under his thumb the way he did while obviously repressing some very serious inner feelings goes a long way in explaining how repression and power don't mix. What's even more fascinating is how no one caught on to the fact that he was gay. In the 1930s through the 1950s it was completed possible for gay men to live "normal" appearing lives despite the fact of their hidden and forbidden side. Hoover is a classic historical villain but with flaws that make him very human. I think it's really cool that an A list actor wants to tackle such a hard persona to portray. I am eagerly awaiting what that might look like.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that. That is very interesting, though I wonder if his estate would let them make a film from that angle? I don't know, but that could be very interesting. Thanks for pointing that out. Regardless, biopics are just so common it's hard to get excited for one with even an inkling of a potentially good story.
ReplyDeletetrue that.
ReplyDelete