J. EDGAR: The Shooting Script (Newmarket Press / It Books; On sale: February 7; Paperback; $19.95) is the official tie-in book to the Warner Bros. Pictures film about the life of legendary FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover, written by Oscar® winner Dustin Lance Black, directed by Oscar® winner Clint Eastwood, and starring Oscar® nominated Leonardo DiCaprio. It includes: the film's complete shooting script; a foreword by producer Brian Grazer; an introduction by producer Robert Lorenz; a conversation with Eastwood and Black; scene notes by Black; a section of color movie stills and behind-the-scenes photos; and full cast and crew credits.
As the face of law enforcement in America for almost fifty years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled, and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career, and his life. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, J. Edgar also stars Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts (21 Grams) as Helen Gandy, Hoover's longtime secretary; Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as Hoover's protégé Clyde Tolson; and Oscar® winner Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love) as Hoover's over-protective mother, Anne Marie Hoover. The main cast also includes Josh Lucas (Life as We Know It) as the legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh, whose son's kidnapping changes the public profile of the FBI, as well as Damon Herriman (TV's Justified) and Ken Howard (Grey Gardens). J. Edgar is produced by Eastwood, Oscar® winner Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) and Oscar® nominee Robert Lorenz (Letters from Iwo Jima, Mystic River).
"It started for me after watching a number of documentaries about J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI," Grazer writes in his foreword. "I was fascinated by the history he'd lived through, manipulated, and controlled, a life that touched the most notable events of the twentieth century, the creation of the FBI, seven presidents, wars against communism, and battles with the most iconic gangsters of all time."
"J. Edgar Hoover has long been a fascinating and controversial figure in American history," Lorenz writes in his introduction. Describing the process of selecting scripts at Malpaso, Clint Eastwood's production company, Lorenz continues, "What made Black's script stand out most was its success in revealing a real human being beneath all the controversy and manipulation. […] It is the type of thoughtful, weighty screenplay that attracts top actors and directors, and gives incentives to producers to pick up the next one on the pile and keep on reading."
In his Script Notes, Black recounts his journey to writing J. Edgar:
"In the fall of 2008, before anyone had been introduced to Milk, my agent called to tell me Brian Grazer over at Imagine was interested in 'Hoover.' It sounded like an extraordinary opportunity to explore the other side of Milk. After all, here was a man with tremendous political power who was rumored to have been closeted and spent his later years attacking men and women we now consider heroes.
I spent the next year and a half on a research journey of extremes. Opinions of the man swung from far right to left politically, labeled him a great hero or a vicious villain, a cross-dresser or a man married to his FBI."
During their conversation featured in the book, Eastwood and Black discuss the decision to include additional voice over and dialogue during post-production (provided in the book in a separate script section):
"Dustin Lance Black: Well, I've seen the film again. Your newest cut, with our new Hoover voiceover in place, and it's really got something going. When you said the film could use that Sunset Boulevard thing. Giving the film more of that first person perspective. That's so valuable, so valuable.
Clint Eastwood: I think that it gives it a personalized thing. It kind of goes along with your thing of him doing the memoirs.
DLB: It draws you in. […]
CE: Well, it has several advantages: mainly that it gets inside his head, but it's kid of like all those original film noir kind of voiceovers. And those films were indicative of an era. Which is the era we're in (in this film)."