Now
that he’s back from his crazycation, Joaquin Phoenix will be reentering
Hollywood as a cast-able actor. As much as some would like him to get
the comeuppance, the idea that his “comeback” will be difficult in the
slightest because of his multi-year stunt project* is kinda silly and
narrow-visioned, as his involvement still plops a big fat “starring
Academy Award Nominee” on your trailer, not to mention the fact that
he’s good. But long before we’ll see Joaquin Phoenix back on the big
screen sans beard, we’ll be hearing about him in the rumor mill- a game
that has already started.
Vulture is reporting
that Clint Eastwood is hoping to toss a role Phoenix’s way- as Clyde
Tolson, career (and possibly life-) partner of J. Edgar Hoover. The lead
is currently Leonardo Dicaprio’s to refuse, but if he rolls with the
project, word is that Eastwood wants to offer Joaquin the part of Tolson
immediately after.
While
fellow FBI employees apparently claimed otherwise, there is a great
deal of speculation that Tolson and Hoover were romantically involved-
they ate meals together, worked together, vacationed and partied
together while working at the FBI. Upon Hoover’s death, Tolson was the
recipient of his estate and home, and he is now buried a few yards from
the FBI director’s grave.
The theorized homosexual relationship is a big part of the script written by Milk
scribe Dustin Lance Black, though I’m not sure if it catalogs a latent
sexual relationship behind-closed-doors, or explores something more
complex. In either case, I hope it also has room for the significant
amount of badassery Tolson engaged in with Hoover, which included gun
fighting with gangsters, arresting bank robbers, and capturing Nazi’s in
Florida (seriously).
The
Joaquin rumors are just that at this point, and even if they’re 100%
true, Phoenix could refuse. Hell, even Leo’s involvement is still
unconfirmed. Regardless of who stars in the film, I hope it’s for a
project less trite that Hereafter appears to be.
Someone’s going to sign on the lines that are dotted though, and when they do, you’ll hear about it here.
*Which
also involved him growing a distractingly long beard, a mess of a
haircut, and wearing giant glasses constantly. In other words, looking
absolutely nothing like fucking Joaquin Phoenix.