"Giant," in which he starred Source: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
10 hours ago
A Movie About James Dean and His Alleged Male Lover is in the Works
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
A movie about James Dean and the man who claimed to have been his lover is in the planning stages from out filmmaker Guy Guido.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker "has acquired the rights to late author William Bast's 2006 memoir 'Surviving James Dean' and plans to film a biopic of the same name."
"Having written the script, Guido has begun meeting with potential producers and is in the process of landing the right cast for the key roles."
The book claims that Bast and Dean met when they were 19 years old, became friends and roommates, and then entered into a sexual relationship.
As Bast told it, "they kept their fling private to avoid hurting Dean's career while the rising star had relationships with female stars, with Bast remaining hopeful that he and Dean would soon live together again," THR added.
"Five years after meeting Bast, Dean died in a car accident in 1955 at the age of 24, with two of his signature films, 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'Giant,' released posthumously."
Bast's claims have been covered in the media before, with Esquire Magazine publishing an article that claimed Dean and Bast were on the verge of moving in together once more as a couple when the movie legend died. That article also relayed various stories of same-sex relationships, and even episodes of sexual exploitation at the hands of Hollywood power players, that Dean supposedly experienced.
Dean, the Esquire article posited, "burned through a series of short, intense, and tempestuous relationships with women that were often more emotional than sexual, and had furtive encounters with men that were often more sexual than emotional."
"Much ink would be spilled over the years trying to pin down his sexuality – straight, bisexual, gay, asexual all found their advocates – but he resisted labels, not least because the labels were tied up in bigger questions of masculinity and manhood," the article added, before recalling Dean's famous quote: "I'm not a homosexual, but I'm not going through life with one hand tied behind my back."
Guido talked about the movie project in a statement, THR relayed, saying that he has "been a fan and historian of James Dean since I was 18 years old, so I knew about his 'friend' Willie, even when information about their relationship was straight-washed by the Hollywood machine."
The filmmaker said he was "obsessed" with making perfect casting choices. "I want people to feel as if they are watching the real James Dean on the screen," Guido declared.
Said the filmmaker: "As a gay man, I was particularly drawn to Bast's unique story."
We'll be seated if and when the film hits screens. Will you?
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
