TO transform himself into an aging J. Edgar Hoover, Leonardo DiCaprio sat for hours at a time while makeup artists gave him liver spots, yellow teeth and big, bulbous love handles. He spends a good chunk of Clint Eastwood’s film “J. Edgar” that way, sweating and sneering in the unforgiving lighting of F.B.I. headquarters.Read the rest here.
The part also meant memorizing endless monologues that needed to be delivered with Hoover’s own breakneck cadence. Additionally Mr. DiCaprio, who typically comes accessorized with a supermodel girlfriend in real life, had to wrestle aggressively with a man and then kiss him.
Oh, and wear a dress.
Faced with a role with demands like that, most superstar actors, even those eager to catch the attention of Oscar voters, would have turned and run. Look unhandsome and unheroic? Too big a risk, even with Mr. Eastwood at the wheel. But Mr. DiCaprio, at least the post-“Titanic” one, has made a career of highly risky choices, and somehow it keeps paying off not only on the awards circuit — he has been nominated for three Academy Awards — but at the box office as well.
“When I can’t immediately define the character, and there’s an element of mystery to it and still a lot to be explored, that’s when I say yes,” the 36-year-old Mr. DiCaprio said in an interview last week on a patio at the Bel Air Hotel here. “I like those kinds of complicated characters. I just do.”
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Inserting the cross-dressing nonsense is beyond irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I agree. There is quite a bit of evidence, albeit circumstantial, that Hoover was homosexual (as opposed to 'gay' which he most definitely was not). If he was, he quite properly kept his personal life to himself but it would still be fair game for a biographical film. I rarely see movies in theaters anymore but I have to admit this one is tempting me.
ReplyDeleteJohn, there's no credible evidence of cross-dressing, period. My complaint was very specific. As to speculation about his deviant sexuality, I'd say that nothing has risen above the level of a suspicion.
ReplyDeleteI'm tempted to see it, too. I've heard that, as a young crime-fighter, he had quite a pair.