14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier reports indicated that Joaquin Phoenix was in the running to star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood’s “Hoover,” detailing the controversial life of the former FBI director, and especially his relationship to protégé and alleged lover Clyde Tolson. He’s now out of the picture.
Billed at the time a match made in method acting heaven, the collaboration between Phoenix and DiCaprio has fallen through – but there’s no reason to despair because a replacement has already been found.
Fans of “The Social Network” should be happy to learn that Armie Hammer, who played both Winklevoss brothers in the film, is now attached to the biopic as Tolson, E! Online reports.
Official confirmation has not yet been made but the e-zine reports the collaboration is a done deal – moreover, it has also learned that there will be enough scenes with the two leads kissing.
“Armie Hammer, who suited up as both Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, has been cast as J. Edgar Hoover’s protégé and rumored love interest in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming biopic, J. Edgar, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the hard-charging FBI boss,” E! says.
“Hammer, 24, plays Clyde Tolson, who was associate director of the FBI under Hoover – and is now buried near him in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.” says the same report.
The e-zine notes that, to this day, Hoover’s orientation remains subject of conversation, despite the fact that he personally denied being more than a happy husband and pater familias.
While the film will also tackle this issue, it won’t do to such an extent as to make it all about this, a well informed source says for E!.
“There is just smooching, no bedroom scenes,” the insider dishes. In other words, the film will offer an answer to all those questions about the FBI boss.
Production on “Hoover” is scheduled to kick off in 2011. DiCaprio will also produce and star in another movie of the type, based on the book “Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination,” which should arrive in 2013.