Leonardo DiCaprio’s tendency to play iconic roles has become more of a trademark than a neat trick. Over the years, he has starred in some of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, showing his range as an actor through roles like Jack in Titanic and The Wolf of Wall Street in Martin Scorsese’s classic.
Although most of his works receive attention in the highest regard, in the flashing lights of science-fiction and character acting, some works get lost. In 2011, he starred in Clint Eastwood’s biopic of J. Edgar Hoover. The film covered several controversial subjects surrounding the life of the former director of the FBI.
During an interview, the cast and crew of the project talked about one specific aspect that left a lot of elements unconfirmed; Hoover’s love life.
Clint Eastwood’s Brave Choice in Leonardo DiCaprio’s J. Edgar
J. Edgar was quite a brave film for writer, Dustin Lance Black and director, Clint Eastwood to make. The film tried to go into great detail about the life of a man whose main goal was to keep details of his personal and professional life secret. Many aspects were kept under wraps and protected by the FBI, with the best example being the rumors of Hoover using injections, as revealed by Black in an interview with THR.
The FBI had a problem with that in the script. Clint wanted to know about it. But it was not uncommon at the time to have a little amphetamine-vitamin boost.
While Eastwood met a wall when it came to this aspect of his film, there were several things that the movie managed to execute that were daring, to say the least. One such thing was the question of Hoover’s romantic life. In the film, there is one distinct scene when Hoover’s character and his close friend, Clyde Tolson, have a heated fistfight that ends with their lips on each other.
While the movie did not insinuate anything or present the question of Hoover’s personality as concretely gay, many have been curious about what Eastwood thinks about the question. During the same interview, he talked about his thoughts on the matter, and they are quite interesting.
Best Friends or Lovers?
Clint Eastwood was quite cautious with his phrasing when he began to answer the question that had been in the minds of everyone who had seen J. Edgar. He started by mentioning that there was no official confirmation that J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson were involved with each other.
Whether he was gay remains to be seen. But [he and Clyde Tolson] were inseparable buddies. Was that because he didn’t trust anybody else or was it a love story? I think they had a great affection; whether it was gay or not, I don’t know.
While this was something he emphasized, Eastwood mentioned that there was also no denying that the pair shared a unique bond. He then began to ponder the nature of their bond. Considering the fact that they were in a profession of secrets, it could be that they found trust in each other and decided to stick with each other rather than be betrayed by someone they did not know.
Leonardo DiCaprio also added to the conversation, pointing out that both of them had their lives intertwined for almost as long as they were alive. They lived together, had meals together, and Hoover put everything he had in Tolson’s name after his passing.
What you cannot doubt is that Clyde Tolson and he had a relationship that spanned most of their life; they lived with each other, had lunch and dinner, and [Hoover] left everything to Clyde. Unarguably, they were partners in some sense.
The actor clarified that, although he was not emphasizing a potential homosexual explanation for their closeness, he did believe that they were partners in some way or another.