A film that attempts to delve into the private life of the renowned actor James Dean is now under development.
The rights to the 2006 memoir Surviving James Dean by late author William Bast have been acquired by writer-director Guy Guido, who intends to adapt the book into a biopic. After writing the screenplay, Guido has started meeting with possible producers and is currently casting the important parts.
In his memoir, Bast wrote of how, at the age of 19, he had met Dean at the UCLA Theater Program. The two men went on to become close friends, roommates, and eventually lovers. Though the rising star had connections with female celebrities, Bast claimed they kept their affair a secret to protect Dean’s career. Bast was optimistic that he and Dean would soon move back in together. Five years after they first met, in 1955, Dean—who was 24 at the time—passed away in a vehicle accident. Two of his most famous movies, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, were released after his death.
The timeline of Guido’s script spans from Bast and Dean’s first meeting until the actor’s death on September 30, 1955. The announcement of this film is scheduled to coincide with the anniversary of Dean’s demise. (Aged 84, Bast passed away in 2015.) The movie will center on Bast and Dean figuring out how their relationship is changing and Bast accepting who he is as a gay man in the 1950s.
“Even though the Hollywood machine straight-washed information about James Dean’s friendship with Willie, I knew about it because I’ve been a fan and historian of James Dean since I was eighteen,” Guido claims in a statement. “As a filmmaker, I adore narrating a celebrity’s life throughout their formative years. I was especially captivated to Bast’s unusual story because I am a gay man.
By carefully selecting actors for the parts of Dean, Bast, and the attractive single mother of Bast, Guido hopes to do the narrative right. The director previously directed the 2020 Hulu premiere of the feature film Madonna and the Breakfast Club.
“When it comes to casting and directing a film about a famous person, I am obsessed with getting the look right,” he says. “I want viewers to get the impression that they are viewing the real James Dean on screen.”
In the 2001 television film James Dean, James Franco performed Dean’s role.
Although funding for the film adaptation of Surviving James Dean is still lacking, Guido is optimistic that the project will find the perfect home after holding recent talks.
He goes on, “I want to find the ideal team to partner with.” “Producers who recognize the seriousness and significance of a story such as this, particularly in the polarized social environment of today.”
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