Alex Carlson
One of the big question marks that still remains in the upcoming Awards season is Clint Eastwood’s biopic J. Edgar. Since it avoided every Fall festival, the film has not been seen by anybody and only limited photos have appeared online thus far. That changes today as a full-length trailer for the film has been released on Apple Trailers revealing an ambitious looking effort from Eastwood and his star-studded crew.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as J. Edgar Hoover, the nation’s first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who became infamous for his ruthless pursuance of justice and questionable personal habits. Based on the trailer the film seems to span J. Edgar’s entire lifetime with most of the focus in the early days of the FBI. It also has a strong emphasis on his intense personal relationship with his partner Clyde Tolson. Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Ed Westwood, and Dame Judi Dench also star. The screenplay is written by Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black.
Eastwood really seems to pull out all of the stops for this one with beautiful looking art direction, solid make-up work, and a voice-disguising accent from DiCaprio. The film is definitely Oscar bait, but will the Academy bite? We will have to find out. Check out the trailer below and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments!
J. Edgar will be released in the U.S. on November 9, 2011.
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:01 pm
I actually like how its looking so far, of course since its going to be taking up a lot of Hoover’s life a lot could be lost, but so far it doesn’t look so bad.
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:28 pm
I’ll admit that I like the trailer, despite the fact that it overstays its welcome. The music, art direction, and tone all look to make it classy period piece. But I have not enjoyed any of Eastwood’s late works other than ‘Letters From Iwo Jima.’
And the critically warm-received ‘Invictus’ failed to hit with the academy in a year of ten without a 5% rule. So I think it’s a bit of a wild card.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 6:33 am
it looks really good, i hope Clint Eastwood gets a nod this time.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 6:36 am
“J. Edgar” – starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Josh Lucas and Judi Dench.
http://i52.tinypic.com/2ecowsn.jpg
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 9:39 am
Letters From Iwo Jima was a late career masterpiece from Clint, this looks more in the vein of old veterans trying to say something meaningful about human nature with a glossy biopic of a 20th century figure. It reminds me of Scorsese and The Aviator, a dreadful career nadir for the old man. I fear Clint is going down the same dubious path (If Changeling, Invictus and Hereafter is anything to go by, his star power is surely waning)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 11:46 am
Michael Fassbender has better chances for Bafta award, but talking about Oscars there’ll be very intense category for leading actor. My predictions:
Leonardo di Caprio – “J. Edgar”
Michael Fassbender – “Shame”
George Clooney – “The Descendants”
Ryan Gosling – “Drive”
Gary Oldman – “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Who knows who should win?
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:45 pm
@mads – I think his star power has been fading for quite a while now. I consider his work over the last decade to be pretty overrated. Even his well-received films like ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Mystic River’ were not that high on my list.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 2:08 pm
It looks good! as Conan would say. This is the movie I’m counting on most to be great this year.
@mads For me, The Aviator is Scorsese’s 5th best film, absolutely perfect in every way.
Also I loved Mystic River, but Million Dollar Baby not so much.