Leonardo DiCaprio: handsome man, environmental advocate, Hollywood star, boyfriend of insanely beautiful women. And, it appears, ugly scary shouty man, at least onscreen in Clint Eastwood's J.Edgar.The film is the story of J. Edgar Hoover (DiCaprio, of course), the first head of the FBI (from its foundation in 1935 until his death in 1972) and an enormously powerful figure thanks to his files on every major political player in the world. On one hand, he built the FBI into an effective crime-fighting agency and gave the Bureau its character; on the other, he compiled secret files through illegal means and harassed political dissenters and activists.
By the looks of everything we've seen so far, this could be another Oscar-baiting role for DiCaprio - but can he finally take home the little golden boy? He is, after all, still under 40, and statistically will have to wait another 7 years to be at optimal Oscar-winning age, but surely the Academy can only ignore someone this good for so long. Right?
J. Edgar is out in the UK on January 20, 2012. It also stars Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, Arnie Hammer, Judi Dench and Ken Howard, and was written by Milk's Dustin Lance Black.