Cinematical

There was just something about James Dean. As a young girl, well before I was able to get my hands on tapes of Giant, East of Eden, and Rebel Without a Cause, I became enamored with him -- not so much in a crushing way, but an intensely curious one. There was just something about him. Obviously, I'm not the only one who thought so -- he's one of Hollywood's biggest icons, even if he did only make three films.

And now one of them is making its way to the screen once again. Variety reports that Universal Pictures has whipped up a crew for a new telling of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Now, to be fair, this is not a remake of the film, but another adaptation of the novel. However, it's still the same source material, and I find it interesting that Variety doesn't even note the adaptation that came to us at the hands of Elia Kazan.

But onto the particulars: John Adams helmer Tom Hooper will direct the feature, filling the space left by a recently departed Ron Howard, and Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement) is penning the adaptation. Hooper says: "There is an opportunity to show the sex, violence, and darkness of Steinbeck's work, along with the optimism and celebration of love." With these guys, it has a good chance of being food, but I'd say that Hampton better do a heck of a job adapting it in a way that it doesn't remind the audience of the James Dean version.

Can you imagine going East of Eden without James Dean?