Clint Eastwood picks J. Edgar Hoover for new biopic

[HMG] – When one national icon takes on another we’re in for some fun. This time Clint Eastwood, whose skills at directing such stars as Angeline Jolie have already won him four Oscars, will examine the legacy of J. Edgar Hoover.

Now drafting the project with that equally skillful director, Ron Howard, 79-year old Clint has hired Dustin Lance Black, the same man whose skills with a typewriter drove Sean Penn to an Oscar.

And Clint’s source material is too rich to believe — Born in Washington D.C on January 1st 1895, John  Edgar Hoover was one of the founders of the FBI, and maintained a stranglehold on his place as its Director from the day it began in 1935 until his own death thirty-seven years later.

In that time the man even those who knew him describe as a borderline-paranoid, right-wing megalomaniac abused this unchallenged position to harass political activists, use illegal wiretaps to spy on the famous, and intimidate, suppress and publicly discredit anyone who disagreed with or delayed him in what he saw as his mission to keep us all safe.

Meanwhile, numerous books have since floated very viable claim that the man was both a closet homosexual and an addicted cross-dresser.

THR reports the new movie is now coming together at the studios of Warners — the same folk who hired Hoover as a consultant for their 1959 movie. “The FBI Story” – which was, unsurprisingly, dismissed as a whitewash.

There’s no date for release, or even a cast yet, but with a subject like Hoover you can bet the media will be all over this film.

We’ll bring you updates as more news arrives…