Clint Eastwood has a little trick he likes to play on people younger than he is.

That would be a good chunk of the population, as he is 81 years old.

Asked what it feels like to be that age, the sultan of squint looks confused. “What? Can you repeat that? What was the question?” says Eastwood, feigning a senior moment.

Then he smiles like a bad little boy who is tickled with his own joke.

“Oh, I was just having some fun with you,” he says. “I can hear just fine.”

He thinks aloud about what it means to live for over eight decades. “You have less worry than a younger person,” he says. “You put in the time. You think, ‘What the hell?’ I think aging so far has been OK.”

Eastwood arrived for an interview unattended by any publicist. His car is parked outside. It’s not a fancy foreign job, but a sleek black pickup.

He brought that same no-nonsense attitude to the set of his current film, J. Edgar.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the founder of the FBI and the face of law enforcement for almost 50 years. Armie Hammer (The Social Network) is his loyal assistant and love interest, Clyde Tolson. Naomi Watts plays the lifelong secretary who keeps Hoover’s secret files.

The film starts in 1919 and follows Hoover’s life until his death when Nixon was president.

“I have great respect for the FBI,” Eastwood says. “And I know there have been rumors that the FBI is disenchanted with this movie. The truth is the FBI was tremendously happy that we were doing the film.

“They didn’t read a script, but their philosophy was, ‘Go ahead and make the story you want to make.’ I said, ‘Hopefully, you will enjoy it.’”

Though he has met several presidents and government honchos, he never got to press palms with Hoover. “But I did live through the Hoover years, which is partly why I was interested in this story. I had my own impressions of growing up with Hoover as this heroic figure during the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.

“This was all prior to the Information Age,” Eastwood says. “We really didn’t know much about Hoover except what was in the papers.”

The film addresses rumors of Hoover’s sexuality. “I wanted to be respectful,” Eastwood says. “Of course, we put our stamp on one interpretation of history. I’m sure a lot of things didn’t happen exactly like in this film, but they’re pretty close.”

J. Edgar jumps up and back between periods in Hoover’s life and includes everything from the gangster era to the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.

“I wanted to show him starting out with all kinds of salt and vinegar. He’s ready to roll,” Eastwood says. “As we show his life, it’s obvious that Hoover felt he was right in everything he did. But that’s not new to human nature. Everyone always feels as if they’re right even when they’re wrong.”

As a director, Eastwood is known for getting it done on a film set with very few takes. DiCaprio says that wasn’t the case on this film.

“We did eight or 10 takes of certain scenes,” he says. “Clint expects you to plant your feet and speak the truth no matter how long it takes.”

Eastwood just chuckles.

“I have this reputation now of just shooting one take,” he laments. “It’s a wonderful reputation to have, but hard to live up to on a set. One take might be kind of shoddy, so I do whatever it takes.”

Off the screen since Gran Torino (2008), he’s concentrated on directing in recent years but thinking about acting again. Clearly, that would make his fans’ day.

“Honestly, I’ve been trying to retire to the back of the camera for quite a few years,” he explains. “I just can’t seem to stay back there.”

Source: Chicago Sun-Times