Charlize Theron has been busy working on Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody’s next collaboration, Young Adult. But it appears she’s close to locking up her next job too – Clint Eastwood has offered her a juicy role in his new film, the J Edgar Hoover biopicnow simply called** J Edgar**, which already features Leonardo DiCaprio.
Leo, of course, is playing the famous – and to many, infamous – FBI director, whose private life caused waves of controversy and whose use of the crime-busting department to spy on his political enemies also brought him notoriety.
According to Vulture, the director wants her to play Helen Grandy, a file clerk at the Justice Department who Hoover picked to act as his personal secretary when she was 21, a job which lasted her more than 54 years.
In related casting news, Entertainment Weekly reports that The Social Network’s Armie Hammer, he of the Winklevii, is in talks to sign up as lawyer-turned-FBI type Clyde Tolson.
Historically, Tolson was a close friend of Hoover’s (some reports say he was also his lover) and while the pair clashed over political tactics, he was a loyal advisor.
With a script by Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, Eastwood aims to start shooting early next year.