James Dean Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Watch This: The James Dean That Never Was
Filed under: Fandom »
In searching the Cinematical archives to see whether or not this commercial that, quite brilliantly, imagines what James Dean's life would have been like had he not died in a car crash in 1955, I came across this post from Cine writer Martha Fischer honoring the legendary actor on the 50th anniversary of his death. I find Martha's words of remembrance to be a bittersweet frame upon which to hang the advertisement embedded below.
"...the world Dean lived in has so little connection to ours (he never heard The Beatles; didn't live through the political chaos of the 60s) that he seems almost alien sometimes. He's so distant that he's become a symbol to us now: the kid with the cigarette dangling from his lips, tough facade laid over painful insecurity. He's so fragile that we want to protect him, but there's toughness there, too, a toughness that makes him willing to appear weak in front of the whole world."
This minute-long ad created by the King James ad agency for a South African long-term investment firm is, frankly, stunning, and that's a reaction coming from someone who has long been indifferent to the career and posthumous iconography of James Dean. But it doesn't take a diehard Dean fan to appreciate this meticulously crafted hypothetical that hearkens back to an increasingly forgotten era while creating one that never existed. It's equal parts heart-warming and heart-wrenching, which only makes me wish all advertisements were this compelling.
Discuss: Heath Ledger and James Dean
Filed under: Action », Casting », New Releases », RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Newsstand », Obits », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Stars in Rewind »
In the last twenty-four hours alone, countless news articles have compared the late Heath Ledger to James Dean. Of course it helps that the two actors -- whose careers lie fifty years apart -- bear physical resemblances to each other. The real reason for the frequency of the comparison, however, revolves around the possibility that Ledger, like Dean, might end up with a posthumous Oscar nomination.Other than Dean, whose death in a 1955 car accident was preceded by two nominations back-to-back, six actors have landed the distinction -- but only one, Peter Finch, actually won (for Network in 1976). However, Ledger is now perceived an actor who possessed a potential he never quite realized, while Dean was already an icon by the time of his death (and he still didn't win the prize). If Ledger gets nominated for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, the award will also acknowledge the great career that never was. Dean surely would have followed Giant with other wonderful performances, but his brief filmography also allowed the actor to reach a level of prestige that Ledger would have needed a few more movies to attain. So does this comparison really hold up?
The media certainly seems to think so. "Like Dean, he could endure as a mythic figure of talent silenced before his time," writes the AP. "People are aflutter over seeing the final performance of a new James Dean," reports The Huffington Post. " One quality that Ledger and Dean did share is rapid growth," notes the Baltimore Sun.
Michelle Williams Supposedly Plans Heath Ledger Film
Filed under: RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », DIY/Filmmaking »
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Citing an unnamed source -- you know, one of those reliable anonymous types -- Showbiz Spy is reporting that Michelle Williams plans to make a movie about her late ex, Heath Ledger, in order to provide a record of him for the former couple's toddler, Matilda. No details have been released yet, which leaves a lot of questions up in the air. Is it going to be a straightforward documentary? A biopic? Some mixture of both? If this source is to be trusted, it seems unlikely that Williams simply wants to assemble family footage to screen privately for her daughter when she gets older. A Ledger film made for general audiences would probably reveal his unrealized career intentions and help solidify his posthumous James Dean-like reputation, but it's hard to say what approach Williams would want to take, since we don't even know what role she'll have in the production (producer? director? consultant?). Based on the skimpy information provided by Showbiz Spy, Williams' idea sounds somewhat similar to a recent documentary project that's been riding the festival to great acclaim in recent months: Kurt Kuenne's devastating Dear Zachary: A Letter to his Son About His Father, which begins with the documentarian planning to collect the memories of his murdered friend for the departed man's young child (the story takes a shocking turn after the first hour or so). Whatever the final product, surely Williams wants to avoid letting E! True Hollywood Story have the final say on Ledger's myth. Who can blame her?
After Images: The Junkman (1982)
Filed under: Action », Quentin Tarantino », After Image »
Quick, what do H. B. Halicki and Louis B. Mayer have in common? They both went "from junk cars to movie stars" as the poster for The Junkman put it; both were scrap merchants who got into the film business. Wrecking shop owner turned auteur Halicki's homebrewed hit Gone in 60 Seconds led the 1999 remake by Dominic Sena, who reputedly worked on the original The Junkman as a camera man. The Junkman, the follow-up to the original 1974 Gone in 60 Seconds, is an even more extravagant car-cruncher. It's a film that makes Tarantino's great car chase in Death Proof look like an also-ran. (QT refers to this original by having Kurt Russell's character keep a row of sunglasses on his dashboard, just like Halicki did.) The Junkman is an all-out demolition derby with Hoyt Axton providing the vocals, a co-starring role by a pet pig named Farah and a finale with the Goodyear Blimp buzzing the Cinerama Dome. As the price of a gallon of gas reaches the inevitable $5 mark, let us return to this uniquely decadent actioner.
RIP: Reel Important People -- February 18, 2007
Filed under: Obits »
Rod Colbin (1923-2007) - Actor who appears in Frances, John Hus and Yes, Giorgio. He was also a fencing master who taught Marlon Brando and James Dean. He died February 4. (Daily India) - Peter Ellenshaw (1913-2007) - Oscar-winning matte artist (pictured) for Mary Poppins. He also received nominations for Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Island at the Top of the World and The Black Hole. He mostly worked on Disney pictures, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Darby O'Gill and the Little People, but his career spanned from René Clair's The Ghost Goes West to Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy. His son, Harrison, is also a matte artist and visual effects supervisor and was also nominated for The Black Hole. Peter Ellenshaw died February 12, in Malibu, California. (Cartoon Brew)
- Ray Evans (1915-2007) - Oscar-winning songwriter of "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)" from The Man Who Knew Too Much, "Buttons and Bows" from The Paleface and "Mona Lisa" from Captain Carey, U.S.A. He was nominated another four times; all nominations and wins were shared by his partner Jay Livingston. The duo also wrote the hit Christmas tune "Silver Bells," which was introduced in The Lemon Drop Kid and they appeared together in Sunset Blvd. He died of a heart attack February 15, in Los Angeles. (LA Times)
- Pál Erdöss (1947-2007) - Hungarian director who won the 1983 Golden Camera at Cannes for The Princess. He also directed Countdown and Homo Novus. He died after a long illness February 14. (MTI)
- Ryan Larkin (1943-2007) - Oscar-nominated animator of the 1969 short En Marchant. He also supplied material for Agency. He died of brain cancer February 14, in Canada. (AWN)
Arthur Penn Gets A Big Bear Hug At The Berlin Film Festival
Filed under: Classics », Awards », Berlin », Fandom », Exhibition »
Director Arthur Penn is probably always going to be remembered for Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, but Penn had a few films under his belt before his ultimate in "glamorized gangsters". The 84-year-old director was working in films up until the late 80's and has served as an executive producer for the TV series Law & Order.The Hollywood Reporter announced that Penn has been selected to receive the prestigious Golden Bear at this year's Berlin Film Festival. The director will be in attendance at a gala on the 15th of February to receive the lifetime achievement award. The festival is showing 10 films in total during a retrospective program at the Deutsche Kinemathek -- Museum for Film and Television that will end with the gala. Director of The Berlin Festival, Dieter Kosslick said, "Arthur Penn's films of the 1960s and early 1970s reanimated the crises-ridden American cinema. He is a great director, who deeply influenced the American cinema d'auteur". The retrospective of the director's work includes the Penn's first film The Left-Handed Gun; the film re-tells the legend of Billy the Kid as a sexually confused and psychologically tortured youth. The part was originally intended for James Dean but went to Paul Newman after Dean had passed away.
You have to admire a director who dared to present one of America's greatest folk icons as a sexually ambiguous neurotic, and in 1958 no less. For that alone the man probably deserves an award.
Vintage Image of the Day: Tea with Jett
Filed under: Drama », Vintage Image of the Day »
Martha noted earlier that the James Dean museum in Indiana finally closed for good. The news made me want to look for some images of James Dean, preferably not the same few photos I always seem to find: the long one of him reclining in Giant, the surly one in the jacket from Rebel Without a Cause. You can imagine why I might feel particularly inclined to find a still of Dean in his role as Jett Rink in the 1956 epic Giant: the character's name is so charming. But he looks terrible as the older Jett; the photo would have to be from early in the film. Fortunately, I tracked down the above image.
I'm not a big fan of Giant (it's too long, for one thing), but I remember the little scene above where Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor) visits Jett and he makes her a cup of tea. The idea of a man serving tea could perhaps be viewed as oddly non-masculine to some people, particularly 1950s audiences. But Dean pouring tea, his shirt open practically to the waist, makes you think of his serving you breakfast the morning after some crazed night of passion. You might be tempted to say something like, "That man can strain my tea leaves any day." I'm not sure quite what that means, but ... enjoy the image.
James Dean Museum Closes (for Real this Time)
Filed under: Classics », Fandom », Newsstand »
Despite an influx of donations when the closing was announced last December that enabled it to
stay open for a few extra months, the James
Dean Gallery in Gas City, Indiana, is officially no more. Owner David Loehr founded his museum in 1988, at which
time it was located in Fairmount, where Dean grew up. in 2004, he moved his collection a few miles up the road to Gas
City and a new, larger facility, but the Gallery has struggled financially since the move to the costly,
climate-controlled building; Loehr was forced to close his doors last month, and has put most of his memorabilia in
storage. Some of the items will be set up in a small display in a museum nearby, while others might eventually be lent
to Dean's old high school (currently raising funds for renovation); most of it, however, will be viewable only on the Gallery website, which Loehr intends to keep online (along with his
handy-dandy gift shop).Lost Brando Screen Test for Rebel Surfaces - But It's Not for the Rebel We Know and Love
Filed under: Classics »
Over at the Guardian yesterday, they reported
that "lost" footage of iconic actor Marlon Brando screen testing for Rebel
Without a Cause way back in 1947 has been found, and it's got lots of folks excited to imagine what
Brando would have brough to the lead role of the classic film. The five-minute screen test, included as an extra on the
DVD release of Brando's A Streetcar Named Desire, shows a young
Brando "railing against his parents" and "finding a gun and lighting out for a new life with his girl.
Today The Guardian's Xan Brooks speculated on what Rebel Without a
Cause might have been like with Brando
in the role that made James Dean famous eight years later. Davis opines that a Rebel with Brando in
the role of Jim Stark would have been inferior to the film made by Nicholas Ray with Dean in the lead role - an
assertion I happen to agree with.
What neither Guardian piece addresses, though, is that the screen test Brando made in 1947 had practically nothing to do with the Rebel Without A Cause we're all familiar with. After I read the article in the Guardian, I emailed Stewart Stern (pictured), who wrote the screenplay for Rebel Without a Cause. I interviewed Stern extensively last year, and we talked a lot about Dean, Rebel, and what Brando thought of Dean. I knew Stern didn't write his screenplay in 1947, so I asked him if he knew anything about this Brando screen test. As he recalls it after all these years, Stern believes it went this way:
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