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A feature is in the works that aims to explore the personal life of legendary actor James Dean.
Writer-director Guy Guido 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.
In his book, Bast described meeting Dean at the UCLA theater program at the age of 19 and wrote that the two men became roommates, close friends and eventually lovers. Bast claimed 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. 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.
Guido’s script is set from the first meeting between Bast and Dean to the actor’s death on Sept. 30, 1955, with this movie’s announcement timed to the anniversary of Dean’s passing. (Bast died in 2015 at age 84.) The film will focus on Bast and Dean navigating their evolving relationship and Bast coming to terms with being gay during the 1950s.
“I have 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,” Guido says in a statement. “As a filmmaker, I love telling the story of a celebrity’s life in their coming-of-age period. As a gay man, I was particularly drawn to Bast’s unique story.”
Guido is focused on doing justice to the story with careful casting choices for the roles of Dean, Bast and Bast’s glamorous single mother. The filmmaker previously helmed the feature Madonna and the Breakfast Club, which premiered on Hulu in 2020.
“I am obsessed with getting the look right when it comes to casting and directing a film about a famous person,” he explains. “I want people to feel as if they are watching the real James Dean on the screen.”
James Franco previously played Dean in the 2001 TV movie James Dean.
The film version of Surviving James Dean doesn’t yet have financing, but Guido feels hopeful about finding the right fit after taking recent meetings about the project.
“I want to find just the right team to partner with,” he continues. “Producers that understand the gravity and importance of a story like this, especially in today’s divided social climate.”
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