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giant james
Today was the day in 1955 that James Dean took his final road trip, leaving us with a few great movies and much speculation as to what his acting career would have been like had he lived to grow old. Or at least older. My favorite James Dean role is Jett Rink from Giant, particularly the scene where he has tea with Elizabeth Taylor in his little shack house. Click here to read an interview with Ivan Moffat, one of the writers who adapted Edna Ferber's novel for the screenplay -- he makes some interesting comments about James Dean and the film production itself.
I wrote a suite101 article on Edna Ferber because I was always intrigued by this feisty little woman from Wisconsin tackling such diverse subjects in her fiction. Apparently Edna thought Dean was an excellent choice to play Jett Rink, though I'm not sure if they ever met. And while Edna's portrayal of the Lone Star State angered some of the Texans she'd gotten to know while researching her novel, it seems that James Dean charmed many locals in Marfa, Texas where Giant was filmed. He hung around with them and asked all kinds of questions, as always immersing himself in his ranchhand role in classic Method actor fashion. But then again he'd been raised on an Indiana farm and despite his growing fame at the time, he still seemed to live along the emotional outskirts of life; I can't say Jett Rink came easily because I don't know that anything came easily to such a complex person, but he probably had something to draw on from within.
