James Dean's Supposed Gay College Romance Will Be Explored in New Biopic

The late author William Bast wrote in his 2006 memoir that he and James Dean were close friends and lovers in the five years before Dean died at age 24 in 1955

A movie set to explore James Dean's purported gay college romance is in the works.

Filmmaker Guy Guido is working on a biopic about the mid-20th century actor Dean, who died in a car accident at age 24 on Sept. 30, 1955, per The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will be based on the late author William Bast's 2006 memoir Surviving James Dean.

Bast, who died in 2015 at age 84, wrote in his memoir that he and Dean met while attending UCLA's theater program at age 19. The book details a close friendship between the two men that turned romantic as Dean's career took off in the early 1950s. Bast wrote in his book that he and Dean kept their relationship private even as Dean dated women in Hollywood, according to THR.

Dean died before two of his most famous movies, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, were even released.

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The script plans to cover Bast and Dean's first meeting all the way until Dean's death.

“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 told THR 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.”

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No casting announcements have yet been made. James Franco famously portrayed Dean in the 2001 television film James Dean. “I am obsessed with getting the look right when it comes to casting and directing a film about a famous person,” Guido told the outlet of casting the iconic actor. “I want people to feel as if they are watching the real James Dean on the screen.”

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Back in 2022, filmmaker Michael Mann told Deadline in an interview that he once considered making a James Dean biopic with Leonardo DiCaprio, but ultimately abandoned the project after deciding DiCaprio — then 19 — was too young for the part.

"We did a screen test that's quite amazing," Mann, 81, said at the time. "I think he must've been 19 at the time. From one angle, he totally had it with him. I mean, it's brilliance. He would turn his face in one direction and we see a vision of James Dean, and then he'd turn his face another direction and it's, 'No, that's a young kid.' "

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