Despite director Clint Eastwood sounding sure of her casting a few weeks back, Charlize Theron has backed out of appearing in J. Edgar to star in Snow White & The Huntsmen, by my count about the half dozenth film she was supposed to be shooting early this year that never came to fruition (others include Mad Max 4). You see, an actress like Theron is barely without offers. Vulture are reporting that 20th Century Fox are keen on the blonde beauty, a big name with some star power, to lead Ridley Scott'sAlien prequel but Scott has been pretty much adamant since day one that he wants The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Scandinavian actress Naoomi Rapace to lead. Fox are less keen on that. The studio are concerned that without star power, there will be little for audiences to distinguish this new Alien movie from the last couple of forgettable entries we've seen with Predator. I imagine for Joe Popcorn, the Alien franchise has lost all meaning, and Fox believe nobody is going to be racing into the theatre to see Michelle Yeoh (as older crew member Vickers) or Michael Fassbender (as an android crewman), whom Scott also wants to cast in supporting roles. Fox are clear they want a big name in there somewhere and now that Natalie Portman is pregnant (who they last wanted), they've made it well known to Scott that the easiest way for him to get a greenlight tomorrow is to cast the Monster Oscar winner. Fox are mailing the Damon Lindelof written screenplay to Theron this week, which has a major role tweaked for the actress in mind. I'm sure she'll be flattered but who would want to board a project without the director's desire to cast her as first choice? In terms of Eastwood's J. Edgar, the confusion over her casting seems to have come from Theron's own talent agency William Morris Endeavor who led Eastwood to believe Theron was close to signing the contract when instead she only held mild interest. Watts has personally apologised to Eastwood for her agency's error. Eastwood is moving on and is now looking at Naomi Watts or Amy Adams to play the part of Helen Gandy, the Justice Department file clerk who was the loyal personal secretary to the former head of the FBI. Interestingly, Adams played a similar role in Charlie Wilson's War a few years back. She is described on Wiki as a wraith-like, grim-faced spinster from New Jersey and
Hoover biographers Theoharis and Cox would say her stern face recalled Cerberus at the gate,a view echoed by Anthony Summers in his life of Hoover, who also pictured Gandy as Hoovers first line of defense against the outside world.
Eastwood has also cast Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick as Agent Smith, an operative with a talent for writing who is tasked with writing Hoover's biography but becomes a problem when he unravels things he maybe shouldn't have. J. Edgar films in February with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, title role. Armie Hammer is his best friend/confidant and possible male lover Clyde Tlson, Damon Herriman is Bruno Hauptmann the man convicted of the murder of the Lindbergh baby and Judi Dench will support, but her role remains a mystery.