Dustin Lance Black tells MTV News he wrote the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring drama for 'this generation' as a cautionary tale.
By Kara Warner
Leonardo DiCaprio and Naomi Watts in "J. Edgar"
Photo: Warner Bros
Long before its release, "J. Edgar" had movie fans excited for its opening on Friday (November 11). Why? Because it features the bona fide box-office draw of star Leonardo DiCaprio, rising star Armie Hammer and a living Hollywood legend in director Clint Eastwood. Not only that, but the film is based on the creation and formation of the FBI, which was founded by J. Edgar Hoover.
That subject might not be as intriguing to a young audience as something like "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," but the parties closest to the project want you to know that there is more to this story than drama and history.
"A portrait of a very important man in American history," Eastwood told MTV News at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art "Art + Film" Gala when asked what younger audiences should expect from the film. "And [they can] get an idea of him if they don't know about him. Hopefully, they know something about that and the history that surrounded him because he reigned at a very important era, starting with the Bolshevik invasion from within the [1920s]," he said.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black added that the idea of making the story relevant to younger generations was front of mind for him throughout the writing process.
"I wanted to write it for this generation. There's a lot you can talk about with J. Edgar Hoover, but I chose the things I thought a young generation could identify with," Black explained. "We're not going to focus on McCarthy, we're going to focus on Martin Luther King. We're going to focus on things that [Hoover] did that were heinous, that these kids will probably be surprised by and also a lot of the great things he did that we've all forgotten about.
"There's some gun-shooting and explosions and all that sort of stuff that I hope young people like," he continued. "But for the most part, it's a cautionary tale saying, 'Hey, young people, here was a man that made his life all about being famous and it turned him into a monster.' So fame is great, but if you don't put love first, you might be a problem."
Check out everything we've got on " J. Edgar."
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Related VideosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674186/j-edgar-leonardo-dicaprio-clint-eastwood.jhtml
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