Interview: Dustin Lance Black

Oliver Stone interviews the adorable and eminently boyfriendable Dustin Lance Black in Interview.

Milk was a hero to many people. What attracted you to [J Edgar] Hoover?
"The attraction to Milk was pretty obvious. He's a father figure. I thought it might be worth investigating the opposite of Milk - what a cautionary historical figure would be like. This is a tale of a closet case, as opposed to an inspirational tale of a man brave enough to come out. It's almost the flip side. I'm always interested in getting to know people, and that means vilified people as much as those celebrated. You find out that heroes aren't always so heroic, and villains have some bit of humanity in them. As much as I went into this project not really liking Hoover and feeling upset with so much of what he did and what civil rights he violated, there is a person there, a human being. If you don't humanize him and try to show why he did the things he did, then you are left with this cardboard figure of Hoover-whether it's one with the "G-Man" machine gun or in a dress. I wanted to figure out who the guy really was..."