10 hours ago
Out '13 Reasons Why' Star Set to Portray James Dean in Gay Romance Movie
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Film icon James Dean will be portrayed in a new – and gay – light as out "13 Reasons Why" star Brandon Flynn stars in and executive produces "Willie and Jimmy Dean," a movie about Dean and his purported male lover, William Bast.
People Magazine reported that Flynn, 31, will play the role of Dean, who conquered Hollywood in a trio of classic films: "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), "East of Eden" (also 1955), and "Giant" (1956). His smoldering looks and leather jacket in "Rebel" established him as a screen prototype of disaffected 1950s youth.
In a statement, Flynn reflected that "James Dean is like the known unknown. His short life left behind just three films, a mountain of photographs, and a cultural mythology we keep trying to decode," People relayed.
"Willie and Jimmy Dean" director Guy Guido ("Madonna and the Breakfast Club"), in his own statement, called the forthcoming film "a tender and sometimes tragic story about two young men who found each other in a time and place where being seen – truly seen – came at a cost," People shared.
Dean was rumored to have been gay or bisexual for decades. In the 2006 memoir "Surviving James Dean," Bast claimed to have been in a sexual relationship with Dean. They met in 1950, at the age of 19, in a theater program at UCLA, People thumbnailed.
"The memoir details a close friendship between the two men that turned romantic as Dean's career took off in the early 1950s," the writeup added. "Bast – who died in 2015 at age 84 – says in the book that he and Dean kept their relationship private, even as Dean dated women in Hollywood, according to The Hollywood Reporter."
Tragically, Dean died in a car crash on Sept. 30, 1955 at the age of 24, leaving Bast to harbor the secret of their relationship. "At the time, Bast was loathe to reveal his homosexuality or Dean's affairs with men," Publishers Weekly wrote of Bast's memoir.
"The hook is Dean's sexuality, which Bast explores in detail, discounting his relationships with women and focusing on those with men, including a stint with a notorious 'chicken hawk,'" the Publisher's Weekly item added.
In his statement, Flynn said that the movie "humanizes" Dean, and added: "It highlights how Hollywood has historically forced LGBTQ people into performance, even in their personal lives."
"This story dares to present James Dean as a man with real, complex relationships, and I think there's power in that truth," Flynn went on to say.
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.
