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Been on a bit of a James Dean reading kick lately. Next up is another reread that Iām really looking forward to revisiting.
This paragraph about how director Nicholas Ray and James Dean coaxed an even more homoerotic performance out of Sal Mineo in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (Natalie is Natalie Wood, their co-star, who played Deanās love interest and also had a crush on him):
Iām sorry WHAT?!
I was so hung up on the name Griffith J. Griffith, the rest of that paragraph almost gave me whiplash.
OH, YOU THINK?! Years later and this woman was still clearly a homophobic dick.
More on how James Dean encouraged Sal Mineo to up the gay desire of his performance as Plato:
A very relatable story in which poet Frank OāHara nearly ended a friendship over his friend having NOT had a gay threesome with James Dean:
Just some James Dean photos I enjoy because why not
This is actually my favourite photo of him tho. I own a framed copy of this one.
I actually wish more people today knew how gay #RebelWithoutACause is because it really is a key film in LGBTQ+ cinema history, arguably the first to centre on a sympathetic portrayal of a (coded but very clearly) gay character.
...not to mention a protagonist whose sexuality is, at the very least, ambiguous or open to interpretation.
Ooh I like this one too.
Reading my 4th James Dean book in a row
Me skimming thru this section quoted from Elia Kazanās memoirs
God, Kazan was just SUCH a bastard, willing to inflict any level of psychological torment on his actors to get what he wanted from him. And he bragged about it, gleefully, in his book.
