More Casting News for Clint Eastwood’s ‘J. Edgar’

There has been some casting news since my last post on Clint Eastwood‘s FBI head honcho biopic J. Edgar — one actor coming and one actress going, actually. Click on more to check out the latest casting news and review the current cast.

According to Deadline.com, Ed Westwick (TV’s Gossip Girl) will play Agent Smith, who Leonardo DiCaprio‘s J. Edgar Hoover picks to write his biography “until Smith gets a little too close to the truth.” Considering there was never an “official” authorized biography of Hoover we can assume either Agent Smith is fictional and, from the sound of it, could be the point-of-view character of the film.

As for the “going” part, Charlize Theron is no longer in the film’s cast. She has previously been thought to play Helen Gandy — Hoover’s personal secretary — but now that she has left the film the same Deadline article reports Naomi Watts and Amy Adams are being considered for the role. Rumors suggest Theron left the film to star in either Snow White and the Huntsman or Ridley Scott‘s Alien prequel. I certainly hope she’s making the right decision — Theron hasn’t been in any film remotely comparable to her Oscar-winning performance in 2003’s Monster.

Eastwood‘s J. Edgar is set for a 2012 release with DiCaprio as Hoover, Armie Hammer as his alleged lover Clyde Tolson, and Judi Dench in an unspecified role.

Let us know your thoughts on the latest casting news in the comments below.