LEONARDO DiCAPRIO VIES FOR BEST ACTOR WITH “J. EDGAR”

Coming off Christopher Nolan's explosive blockbuster “Inception,” Leonardo DiCaprio now makes his first-ever Clint Eastwood-directed film with Warner Bros.' controversial drama “J. Edgar.” For his riveting portrayal of J. Edgar Hoover, DiCaprio has been nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a favorite to earn the same honor at the Oscars.

             A towering figure in American history, J. Edgar Hoover devoted himself to public service, essentially putting aside any personal relationships he might have wanted to have for what he considered to be the greater good. As one who served to gain authority as well as the public’s adoration, he saw his opportunity to achieve both by positioning himself as a supreme crime-fighting figure, a hero of the populace.

             “Hoover was incredibly ambitious as a young man,” says DiCaprio, who took on the character that would take him from a man in his twenties to one at 77. “He was highly motivated to succeed in Washington, primarily due to his mother’s expectations of him. His father had failed to become a major political figure, and Annie Hoover wanted her son to carry the family name to great fame and fortune, with little or no regard for what else Edgar might have needed for himself. He became this stoic, bulldog enforcer who had to keep his personal life very personal. He became all about secrets.”

             With so little known about the man’s inner life, DiCaprio did vast amounts of research in order to create a fully realized Hoover on screen. “It was a terrific challenge to breathe life into this person, because he was such a mystery,” he says. “I did find that he was very manipulative and very charming; he could charm anyone in the room but at the same time intimidate them. He liked the spotlight, but he concentrated so much on work that it defined much of who he was, his morals, the decisions that he made on really every level. I hesitate to use the word priest because J. Edgar Hoover was no priest, but he certainly looked at the FBI as his church.”

             “Leo is a total professional, he comes completely prepared,” Eastwood says. “From the start, I could see he’d done all of his homework, thought a lot about what he had to do, and was interested in my take on things. I was really impressed by his focus, and I think it translated into the character.”

             The actor was thrilled to be working with the legendary director. “Clint’s process is impeccable because he trusts his own instincts, he trusts his gut. There’s a beautiful simplicity to the way he works; he has one vision, which made it easier to do my job. He’s really like a corner man. It was like going into the ring and having your coach there, backing you up. And I think that confidence and support are evident on the screen.”

             DiCaprio concludes, “I think what allowed me to really get a real sense of Hoover I was portraying was that, at its heart, ours is a story about the person inside. Lots of stories have been told about the man, but I feel that his relationships with [close friend] Clyde Tolson, [secretary] Helen Gandy and his mother really forged who he was for the entirety of his life and career. That was what compelled me to go to work every day, and it’s what I hope will intrigue people as they watch the movie.”

              “J. Edgar” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

ARMIE HAMMER IN J. EDGAR

He received universal acclaim for portraying the Winklevoss twins in 2010's “The Social Network.” Now, Armie Hammer follows-up that success with a dramatic turn in Warner Bros.' new, controversial biopic, “J. Edgar” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Clint Eastwood. Hammer plays Clyde Tolson, J. Edgar Hoover's closest colleague and constant companion – a performance for which he recently got nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Screen Actors Guild.

             Trust was vital to the legendary Hoover – director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years -- though he bestowed his trust on only a few individuals over the course of his lifetime, those few he felt were truly loyal to him. In order to paint a complete portrait of the man, it was critical to the filmmakers to capture those key relationships that helped reflect and reveal who he was, beginning with his friend, Clyde Tolson.

Hammer says that, “Clyde was always dutifully by the Director’s side, literally his right-hand man. That was just the way they operated.”

             Armie was terrific as Tolson,” Grazer states. “He was so polished in the part and brought a very subtle but tangible energy to the role, and he had a very natural rapport with Leo.”

             Though there was not nearly as much information to be found about Tolson as there was Hoover, Hammer dug deep to learn about his character. “I hired a professional researcher, and she helped me find everything that’s out there on Tolson, even his junior high school year book,” he says. “According to some of the old FBI guys he was very observant, often the smartest man in the room. He was nicknamed ‘the human computer’ because he had a photographic memory. So even apart from any attraction there might have been, it’s easy to see why Hoover would rely on him so heavily.”

Hammer is emerging as one of Hollywood’s most promising young actors. His performance as the Winklevoss twins in the award-winning film “The Social Network” garnered him critical praise and positioned him as one of Hollywood’s breakouts of the year. Hammer was nominated Most Promising Performer by the Chicago Film Critics Association, and awarded Best Supporting Actor by the Toronto Film Critics Association. The film received a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination for Best Ensemble as well as Best Picture at the Golden Globes, and eight Academy Award® nominations, of which it won three.

In 2012, Hammer will begin production on “The Lone Ranger,” in the title role, alongside Johnny Depp and under the direction of Gore Verbinski.

             Opening January 25, 2012 across the Philippines, “J. Edgar” was produced under the banners of Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

CLINT EASTWOOD UNVEILS LATEST MASTERWORK – “J. EDGAR”

Eastwood and DiCaprio

J. Edgar Hoover, the subject of Warner Bros.' new drama “J. Edgar” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was a complex and compelling figure who captivated America and whose legacy is still felt in the halls of the FBI building named for him. He was the catalyst for modern forensics and created a system of federal laws that transformed the U.S. in a multitude of ways that remain relevant today. Both feared and revered, the man was a dichotomy whose public and private lives would spark rumor and innuendo, but, thanks to his eternal secrecy, the question of who he really was remains largely speculative to this day.

             Director Clint Eastwood, who grew up during his reign, was intrigued by the chance to explore Hoover on film. “Hoover was a top cop, or a top ‘G-Man,’ as they called them in those days, but I didn’t really know much about him. He kept a high profile—he was seen with movie actors and famous writers at social gatherings and what have you—but he was an enigma in many ways.”

             Therefore, when the screenplay for “J. Edgar” crossed his desk, the filmmaker says, “I was already curious, especially about how the screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black, had approached it. It was really a character study. I liked the story a lot.”

             “This is a story about relationships,” Eastwood says, “intimate interactions between Hoover and everyone around him, from those closest to him—Clyde Tolson, Helen Gandy, his mother—all the way to Robert Kennedy and other well known political figures, even presidents. If it had just been a biopic, I don’t think I would have wanted to do it. I like relationship pictures, I like exploring why people do or did certain things in their lives.”

             “Coming off of ‘Milk,’ Hoover was someone I really wanted to investigate,” writer Black states. “To me, he seemed the very opposite of Milk: a man with tremendous political power, but intensely closeted when it came to his personal life.”

             The project came to Black through veteran producer Brian Grazer, who had worked with Eastwood once before and was eager to do so again. “I wanted to do a movie about J. Edgar Hoover—not a documentary, but an actual feature film,” he relates. “I was interested in the power and corruption that existed in his world, much of it of his own making, in spite of his being such a dedicated patriot.”

             Black and Grazer settled on a few key points on which to center the film, including the Lindbergh kidnapping and the formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

             “I really wondered how this man, who started out with the best of intentions and went on to create the FBI and bring down some of the country’s most iconic gangsters, became so paranoid and, by some accounts, diabolical,” Grazer says.

             Black notes, “My initial research labeled him either a hero to the nation, to whom we owe everything in terms of our protection and safety, or a villain who did things in an underhanded manner and was a terror to the country. It all seemed so extreme; I thought the truth had to lie somewhere in between.”

             Grazer agreed with that conclusion, and with the writer’s idea to “present it from an internal point of view, from Hoover’s own psyche, letting him tell the story as he remembers it,” the producer says.

             “J. Edgar” begins in the mid-1970s, when Hoover is nearing the end of his life and his time as Director of the FBI. Wanting to preserve everything he’s built, he begins dictating his memoirs, reflecting back on his early days as a man in his early twenties, when he first began working with what was then simply the Bureau of Investigation.

             “I think he was interested in his place in history,” Eastwood surmises, “but probably prone to some exaggeration. There are proven moments where he fudged his stories a bit to make himself look a little better.”

             “Early on in his career, solving the Lindbergh case and capturing outlaws like John Dillinger helped Hoover to fashion the G-Man image in the eyes of the general public,” Leonardo DiCaprio adds. “There were comic books about them, they were on cereal boxes, engaging America’s youth. It was all part of his publicity campaign to turn government into a force that was helping your family and keeping your children safe.”

             Whether or not Hoover was ever able to feel the country was safe or that positive changes were on the horizon, is still a question.

             “I think even as an old man, J. Edgar Hoover was still so obsessed with communism that he didn’t recognize things were changing for the better during the Civil Rights Movement,” the actor goes on. “He saw it as an uprising that had the potential to become something more destructive. That’s when he lost his footing. That’s when he failed to see the real future of our country.”

             Opening January 25 across the Philippines, “J. Edgar” was produced under the banners of Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

SNEAK PEEK: “J. EDGAR”

Oscar® winner Clint Eastwood directs Academy Award® nominee Leonardo DiCaprio in Warner Bros.' critically acclaimed drama “J. Edgar” from a screenplay by Oscar® winner Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”).

             During his lifetime, J. Edgar Hoover would rise to be the most powerful man in America. As head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years, he would stop at nothing to protect his country. Through eight presidents and three wars, Hoover waged battle against threats both real and perceived, often bending the rules to keep his countrymen safe. His methods were at once ruthless and heroic, with the admiration of the world his most coveted, if ever elusive, prize.

             Hoover was a man who placed great value on secrets—particularly those of others—and was not afraid to use that information to exert authority over the leading figures in the nation. Understanding that knowledge is power and fear poses opportunity, he used both to gain unprecedented influence and to build a reputation that was both formidable and untouchable.

             He was as guarded in his private life as he was in his public one, allowing only a small and protective inner circle into his confidence. His closest colleague, Clyde Tolson, was also his constant companion. His secretary, Helen Gandy, who was perhaps most privy to Hoover’s designs, remained loyal to the end…and beyond. Only Hoover’s mother, who served as his inspiration and his conscience, would leave him, her passing truly crushing to the son who forever sought her love and approval.

             As seen through the eyes of Hoover himself, “J. Edgar” explores the personal and public life and relationships of a man who could distort the truth as easily as he upheld it during a life devoted to his own idea of justice, often swayed by the darker side of power.

             “J. Edgar” also stars Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts (“21 Grams”) as Helen Gandy, Hoover’s longtime secretary; Armie Hammer (“The Social Network”) as Hoover’s protégé Clyde Tolson; Josh Lucas (“The Lincoln Lawyer”) as the legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh, whose son’s kidnapping changes the public profile of the F.B.I.; and Oscar® winner Judi Dench (“Shakespeare in Love”) as Hoover’s over-protective mother, Annie Hoover.

             “J. Edgar” was produced by Eastwood, Oscar® winner Brian Grazer (“A Beautiful Mind,” “Frost/Nixon”) and Oscar® nominee Robert Lorenz (“Letters from Iwo Jima,” “Mystic River”), with Tim Moore and Erica Huggins serving as executive producers.

             Behind the scenes, Eastwood reunited with his longtime collaborators, including director of photography Tom Stern, production designer James J. Murakami, editors Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach, and costume designer Deborah Hopper. Eastwood composed the score for the film.

             Opening January 25, 2012  across the Philippines, “J. Edgar” was produced under the banners of Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.