Leonardo DiCaprio covers GQ, talks about whether J. Edgar Hoover was gay

leo1

Leonardo DiCaprio is the cover boy for the October issue of GQ – emphasis on “boy”. Did they set the Photoshop tool to “1999”? Leo’s face is not this thin anymore. I like Leo and everything, but as he’s grown up, weight has gone to his face and it’s never left and he’s no longer this good-looking kid that GQ wants us to see. Anyway, you can see the full slideshow here – lots of nice photos, where Leo looks very young. Leo is promoting his new film, J. Edgar, which was directed by living legend Clint Eastwood. Leo’s big accomplishment as an actor before now was his relationship with Martin Scorsese, who is famously detail-oriented and almost OCD. I would imagine coming off of several Scorsese films, working with laid-back, easy-going Clint Eastwood would be a breath of fresh air. The tabloids tried to make it sound like Clint and Leo weren’t getting along, but Clint is around for part of Leo’s interview, and they sound like two men who respect each other. Here are some interview excerpts:

Leo on learning to care about the financial part of filmmaking: “Throughout my career, I never knew which movies of mine made money and which didn’t. When Titanic came out, people would say, ‘Do you realize what a success this is?’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s a hit.’ The [money] stuff never mattered to me until I was into my thirties and got interested in producing, and people would show me charts explaining what finances a movie, what you’ll make from foreign, what you’ll make from domestic, what you need to make an R-rated film that’s a comedy versus a drama. But even now I say that unless you want to prove that you can carry a film with your name, continuously trying to achieve box-office success is a dead end.”

Leo felt overwhelmed: “My introduction to acting in films was with De Niro in This Boy’s Life. When I got the part I was 15, and somebody said, ‘Do you realize who you’re gonna work with?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I guess.’ And they said, ‘No, no, no. Go watch all of his films, and then go see these people’s films.’ So I obsessively watched films on VHS, and I remember feeling so overwhelmed by what had been done in cinema already. Watching a young Brando or James Dean or Montgomery Clift, I was like, Oh, my God, how can anyone ever hope to achieve that type of greatness?”

Leo‘s wet dream (as an actor): “For my generation, it’s always the ’70s. That period where you felt like the hands were being dealt back in the director’s favor. The studios realized that letting them tell their stories was something the audience had a hunger for. And of course, it all went awry. [They both laugh.] Taxi Driver to me is the ultimate independent-movie performance. Playing a character like Travis Bickle is every young actor’s wet dream.”

GQ: [To Eastwood] You’ve described yourself as a social libertarian. What does that mean to you?

Clint Eastwood: I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21, because he promised to get us out of the Korean War. And over the years, I realized there was a Republican philosophy that I liked. And then they lost it. And libertarians had more of it. Because what I really believe is, let’s spend a little more time leaving everybody alone. These people who are making a big deal out of gay marriage? I don’t give a f–k about who wants to get married to anybody else! Why not?! We’re making a big deal out of things we shouldn’t be making a deal out of.

Leonardo Dicaprio: That’s the most infuriating thing—watching people focus on these things. Meanwhile, there’s the onset of global warming and—
Clint Eastwood: Exactly!
Leonardo Dicaprio: —and these incredibly scary and menacing things with the future of our economy. Our relationship to the rest of the world. And here we are focusing on this?
Clint Eastwood: They go on and on with all this bulls–t about “sanctity”—don’t give me that sanctity crap! Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want.

Eastwood on J. Edgar Hoover and the gay issue: “I’d heard all the various controversies and gossip—that he wore dresses at parties. Everybody was saying, maybe he’s gay because he’d never gotten married. But that’s the way they did it back in the ’40s. If a guy didn’t get married, they always thought, Oh, there’s something wrong with him… Well, [Hoover and Clyde Tolson, the associate director of the FBI] were inseparable pals. Now, whether he was gay or not is gonna be for the audience to interpret. It could have been just a great love story between two guys. Or it could have been a great love story that was also a sexual story.”

Leo on the gay thing: “What we’re saying is that [Hoover] definitely had a relationship with Tolson that lasted for nearly fifty years. Neither of them married. They lived close to one another. They worked together every day. They vacationed together. And there was rumored to be more. There are definite insinuations of—well, I’m not going to get into where it goes, but…”

Eastwood: “It’s not a movie about two gay guys. It’s a movie about how this guy manipulated everybody around him and managed to stay on through nine presidents. I mean, I don’t give a crap if he was gay or not.”

Adds Leo: “If I were a betting man, I actually don’t know what I would bet [regarding his sexuality].”

[From GQ & USA Today]

I actually thought that it was part of the historical record that J. Edgar was gay, and a transvestite. Right? Aren’t they teaching that in history books at this point? But if Clint Eastwood says it’s open to debate, so be it. Oh, and Clyde Tolson – Hoover’s rumored lover/life-partner – is being played by Armie Hammer. That big hunk of handsome that our moms love. Armie got the cover of Detailsyou can read his interview here.

leo2

leo3

armie1

Photos courtesy of GQ, Details.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

30 Responses to “Leonardo DiCaprio covers GQ, talks about whether J. Edgar Hoover was gay”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Eve says:

    They photoshopped his huge head to make it look normal-sized…still looks big to me though.

    Sometimes I imagine a contest between him and Chris Pine to see who’s got the biggest head in Hollywood.

  2. oct says:

    It’s strange, but this Hoover relationship sounds alot like Leo’s one with his BFs.
    I’ve heard Leo has been sharing his place with Lukas Haas for years. His BFs are always around when he’s shooting (while he keeps his GFs far away). His GFs look like beards. He’s spending more time with his mantourage than with his GFs…what else?

  3. Jane says:

    Eastwood and DiCaprio are afraid of telling it as it is: Hoover was gay and had a lifelong partner. Why, because Acadamy doesn’t give Oscars to films with gay themes(look at Brokeback Mountain) or male nudity. Basically they are going the safe way to please everyone. So boring.

  4. gee says:

    1. Dicaprio looks daaammn sexy! The photoshop to 1999 comment is so accurate though. He doesn’t really look like that anymore.

    2. Anyone getting a Alec Baldwin vibe from Armie Hammer?

  5. Bad Fairy says:

    If you want to see something disturbing and depressing, watch something called Total Eclipse. A movie about two 19th century gay poets and their abusive relationship starring Leo and the actor that plays Professor Lupin in Harry Potter. It will make you want to scrub your eyeballs.

  6. dd says:

    i lol so hard whenever clint sais “hwo gives a creap!” or something like that.
    love him!

    cant wait to see the movie!!

  7. Eve says:

    @ Bad Fairy:

    DiCRAPrio plays poet Arthur Rimbauld and David Thewlis plays his mentor Paul Verlaine.

  8. Lacey says:

    He still looks ok, I guess, but it’s true: all of his weight has gone to his face! It’s a bit tragic.

  9. mln76 says:

    Leo always looks puffy in the face I can’t tell if it’s age or if he’s a big drinker. In 10 years or so he’s going to have jowls, I get why they are being coy about JEH sexuality but it’s almost certain that he was gay, gay, gay. I still can’t wait to see the movie.

  10. mia girl says:

    @ Jane:
    Tom Hanks won an Oscar for playing a gay man in Philadelphia

    Sean Penn won an Oscar for playing a gay man in Milk

  11. Derpy says:

    I actually adore the interview and what they are saying, or not saying, about Hoover’s sexuality. Does it matter if he was gay? Should it matter? I think part of what Eastwood was trying to get across is that a persons sexuality should not define them in their lives, or throughout history. Who CARES what he did in the privacy of his own home, look at what he did with his career. I, for one, am so super tired of people being defined by their sexuality. “Gay actor,” “gay politician,” fuck off already, they are an actor, and a politician. I’d hate to be defined in my professional life by what I get off on.

    I have a best friend, he’s basically my soul mate and we’re just as close as two people can be. He happens to love cock as much as I do. He’s my best friend. Not my gay best friend.

    I am superduper for equality, and to me that means for peoples sexuality to stop being put into the spotlight, there’s nothing wrong with being gay, absolutely nothing at all, and it’s far past the time to stop using it as a way to describe anyone. If Hoover sucked 37 dicks on his way through the parking lot, and it was caught on tape, sure that would be scandalous, but as far as I know, he didn’t. He never came glittering out of a closet and confirmed or denied his sexuality, I feel we should respect him as a human first and foremost, for his legacy, than what he may or may not have done or felt for another man.

  12. Jenny says:

    I hope they don’t whitewash Hoover. He was a known racist among other things (there is nothing wrong with being gay)and make him some type of hero. Many wanted his name removed from the FBI Building, his nastiness was so rampant, especially during the 50s and 60s.

  13. Eve says:

    @ Derpy:

    I have a best friend, he’s basically my soul mate and we’re just as close as two people can be. He happens to love cock as much as I do. He’s my best friend. Not my gay best friend.

    Perfect statement.

  14. mln76 says:

    @Derpy I get what you are saying. I disagree though. It absolutely does matter when you are talking about a historical figure as important as J. Edgar Hoover. If he was a heterosexual man his relationships would be explored in any biopic. In his time he was more powerful than the presidents he served under. It’s also been rumored he never went after the mob specifically because they had information about his sexuality and were blackmailing him so it’s definitely relevant to the movie and history. As for current politicians. If they make ‘family values’ and anti-homosexuality laws part of their platform they absolutely should be exposed for their hypocrisy. Otherwise I agree that it’s none of my business.

  15. xxodettexx says:

    “Clint Eastwood: They go on and on with all this bulls–t about “sanctity”—don’t give me that sanctity crap! Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want.”

    love! that is all…

  16. danielle says:

    Yeah, it’s not just the ladies getting ‘shopped anymore.

  17. kimmy says:

    I feel like the stance Eastwood is trying to take is more of Hoover’s legacy vs. Hoover’s possible homosexuality + legacy. Like he said, he’s going to let the viewers think what they want about that aspect. Its good timing for a film like this, considering the upcoming elections and the crazy stances of some of the canidates.

    PS. I really hope this is Leo’s year at the Oscars. He is such a great actor and totally deserves it.

  18. Leo says:

    mia girl: did those films have any sex scenes? Also both roles were more about the gay rights and the political side. Brokeback Mountain was a love story. Instead Hollywood voted for Crash.

  19. Leo says:

    Hoover was a hypocritical homophobic racist closet case. As such he needs to be exposed. He blackmailed other politicians, film stars and pretty much everyone with personal informations. All the while hiding his personal life. There’s nothing admirable about him. Everyone lived in fear of him. The Kennedy’s wanted to get rid of him and he blackmailed them with photos and other info about JFK’s indiscretions. He spread false rumours about M.L. King to discredit him.

  20. mia girl says:

    @Leo Milk did have sex scenes and I believe a naked James Franco swimming in a pool. Plenty of intimate relationship moments in Philadelphia between Hanks and Bandaras characters – but no sex.

    I am not sure why any of that would matter in the context of this Hoover film vis a vis the contention that if gay = no Oscar. Even if he did decide to be literal with Hoover’s homosexuality, Eastwood would not be the type for a graphic sex scene or even nudity.

    For what it’s worth, I do think that it’s sad that Crash won best picture over Brokeback Mountain. But I think it had more to do with a great last minute Oscar campaign by Paul Haggis and Lionsgate. They made a big push to the “actors” voting block in the academy – positioning the film as an actors’ film because of the large ensemble cast. The consensus is that Oscar buzz for Brokeback peaked too early and that the LA actors block in particular really help push the Crash Oscar victory. I know it’s not as compelling as the “academy voters won’t vote for a gay love story with nudity and sex scenes” but it is more likely the truth.

  21. spinner says:

    No THIS is how I like my Leo. He looks so hot. SWOOOON!!!

  22. Bad Fairy says:

    @Eve
    Yes. I know. I saw it. I have IMDB on my computer too.

  23. Eve says:

    @ Bad Fairy:

    Hold the snark because I wasn’t correcting you — I was just adding information to something you previously said (thought you might have forgotten or was too lazy to google search the info — which happens with me too sometimes).

    By the way, I didn’t need IMDb to know that since I remember the controversy when the movie came out.

  24. taxi says:

    JEdgar & Tolson summered every year in La Jolla where the mostly-Republican locals saw but kept pretty quiet about the semi-kinky lovers. JEdgar was a bully.

    Re:”Crash”, which imo was awful, if actors’ friends do vote for their pals pics as “Best..”, the big “Crash” cast easily accumulated more buddy-votes than the other, better films that year.

  25. sam says:

    funny, armie looks just like this guy who played blake lively’s love interest on gossip girl a while back.

  26. Eve says:

    @ Sam:

    That’s actually him:

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2309517/

    P.S.: Now I needed IMDb.

  27. Turtle Dove says:

    “Did they set the Photoshop tool to “1999”?”

    LOL!

    BadFairy – Huh? Total Eclipse was an amazing film. Geez, BadFairy, get off the PC if you’re in a mood.

    Derpy – well expressed

  28. I Choose Me says:

    @Derpy. If I knew you I’d kiss you. Well said!

  29. Emily says:

    @Derpy, ITA with your post. And I lol’d at the thought of someone sucking 37 dicks on their way through a carpark.

  30. Annie says:

    @derby, amen brother
    When society stops identifying people’s sexuality as important then we will know there’s true equality.
    Being tolerant isn’t the goal, not caring or being blind to the issue is where it’s at…
    I’m not a fan of Clint’s gun policies but he’s right on the money with this issue!!