James Dean will forever be the quintessential Hollywood hearthtrob.
Though a car crash cut his life tragically short at 24, the actor’s iconic roles in classics like East Of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause, and Giant solidified him as an eternal star with an on-screen smolder that still makes audiences weak in the knees.
Naturally, the media was utterly obsessed with who Dean was dating back in the day, linking him to fellow performers like Teresa‘s Pier Angeli and Dr. No‘s Ursula Andress. But his seeming unwillingness to “settle down” with any one person (it really was a different time!) frequently led to him being group with names like Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter as the town’s most “eligible bachelors.”
Your dose of fabulosi-TEA
Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.
Now, hmmm… what do all of those men have in common?
The story of James Dean’s secret gay romance
There have long been rumors about Dean’s sexuality, but the strongest case we have of the actor’s alleged romantic history with men came in the 2006 book Surviving James Dean, a memoir written by his good friend and one-time roommate—and former lover???—William Bast.
Bast was 19 when he first met Dean in the theater program at UCLA. The two roomed together, and apparently went on frequent double dates with female classmates. But Bast was completely in love with the star, and alleges things eventually became sexual between the two.
It was complicated, of course, especially after Dean dropped out of college and his career exploded, meaning the pair had to keep their affair private while the actor paraded around his high-profile “showmances” with women.
Bast shares he was always hopeful that they could one day be together, though that dream quickly faded with Dean’s sudden death on September 30, 1955—69 years ago this week!
Long publicly acknowledged as one of Dean’s “closest friends,” Bast even wrote the star’s first official biography. While he built a career of his own career as a respected screenwriter, he would frequently return to his favorite subject: James Dean, eventually revealing the true nature of their relationship in the aforementioned ’06 memoir. William Bast passed away in 2015 at the age of 84.
Related*
Juicy new Hollywood memoir spills on gay hookups with Rock Hudson & other legendary A-Listers
A legendary casting director recalls a particular party where attendees gathered to watch gay adult film ‘Boys In The Sand.’
The gay director bringing James Dean back to the big screen
Now, coinciding with the anniversary of Dean’s passing, The Hollywood Reporter announced that writer-director Guy Guido has acquired the rights to the late author’s Surviving James Dean, and plans to adapt it into a biopic of the same name.
Guido—whose previous film, the docudrama Madonna And The Breakfast Club, told the story of the pop icon’s short-lived stint fronting the eponymous band—is said to be meeting with potential producers, securing funding, and scouting for actors for his lead roles, so it’s not like the movie is a done deal yet, but we have high hopes!
According to THR, Guido’s completed script begins with Bast and Dean’s first meeting and will cover the entirety of their relationship, right up until the actor’s untimely passing.
“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 shares in a press 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.”
Related*
James Dean returns to stardom…65 years after his death(!?)
Talk about a comeback.
Who will star in Surviving James Dean?
The report highlights the “careful casting” search for the film’s three key roles: Dean, Bast, and Bast’s “glamorous single mother,’ Bernice. Obviously the internet already has a lot of ideas about who should play Dean, in particular, suggesting just about every young actor in Hollywood, from Austin Butler to Jacob Elordi to Nicholas Galitzine to Timothée Chalamet.
Butler, perhaps, fits the bygone idol’s cool-guy mystique profile the best, though at 33 he’s probably already too old for the part. Interestingly, Challengers breakout Mike Faist has recently been tapped to play Dean’s East of Eden character in Netflix‘s upcoming series adaptation of the story, but he’s also in his 30s! (Which really just puts into perspective, once again, how very young Dean was when he died.)
The thing is, there’s a very good chance all of this celebrity fan-casting doesn’t matter, because Guy Guido is super-focused on discovering talent that really look the part. Take, for example, his Madonna movie, which largely cast unknowns—with an uncanny resemblance to the people they portrayed—to recreate scenes from the star’s early days.
It’s a sentiment Guido himself echoed in his statement to THR, sharing, “I am obsessed with getting the look right when it comes to casting and directing a film about a famous person. I want people to feel as if they are watching the real James Dean on the screen.”
No shade to Chalamet, but we can’t see him disappearing into the role, as good of an actor as he might be—you’d just be aware you’re watching Timothée Chalamet play James Dean!
In an event, we can hold out hope that, whether they’re already established names or not, Guido manages to found out, queer actors willing to step fully into the roles and embrace the passionate attraction between Dean and Bast, as its depicted in Bast’s memoir.
Stay tuned for more updates about the Surviving James Dean movie sure to come. Oh, and happy LGBTQ+ History Month!
Related*
PHOTOS: Classic Hollywood stars who would’ve been popular on the apps
Classic Hollywood may have been a gay old place, but most gay actors were forced to hide their true identities for fear of career suicide. While that’s tragic enough, it’s also sad that these handsome men were often groomed to within an inch of their lives by the studio system. We’ve searched for pics that […]
Sign up for the Queerty newsletter to stay on top of the hottest stories in LGBTQ+ entertainment, politics, and culture.
