A planned biopic about the personal life of James Dean has found its co-lead.
Mitchell Robertson, the Scottish actor known for his exceptional performance on Netflix Half manhas been cast in the independent film from writer-director Guy Guido One hand tied, The Hollywood Reporter learned. Robertson will play the star’s close friend and UCLA roommate Bill Bast, and joins Brandon Flynn, who was previously announced as playing Dean.
Formerly known as Willie and Jimmy Dean, One hand tied is inspired by real events and draws on Guido’s extensive research. In his 2006 memoir, Surviving James DeanBast described meeting Dean at the UCLA theater program at age 19 and wrote that the two became roommates, close friends and eventually lovers. Bast claimed they kept their affair private to avoid harming Dean’s career as the rising star pursued relationships with female stars, with Bast holding out hope that he and Dean would soon live together again.
Five years after meeting Bast, Dean died in a car accident in 1955 at the age of 24, along with two of his seminal films, Rebel without a cause And Giantreleased posthumously. His only film released before his death was 1955. East of Edenwhich is back in fashion following the recent release of the Netflix limited series which also adapts the novel by John Steinbeck.
Guido’s storyline unfolds from Bill Bast and Dean’s first meeting until the actor’s death on September 30, 1955. Guido spoke to Bast in 2011, four years before his death at the age of 84. The film will focus on Bast and Dean navigating their evolving relationship and Bast coming to terms with being gay in the 1950s.
James Dean
Hulton Archives/Getty Images
Producers include Steven J. Wolfe, known for projects such as (500) days of summerand Flavia Amon, who spent 21 years at Fox Searchlight. Wolfe and Guido continue to play the remaining roles, including the important role of Bast’s mother, Beatrice. Guido previously directed the Hulu feature film Madonna and the Breakfast Club.
Guido has heard a mix of reactions from the public since THR was the first to announce the news of this feature. “James Dean has been romanticized and mythologized for over 70 years, and I think people have become very attached to a particular image of him: the rebellious, brooding, heterosexual idol with a cigarette hanging from his mouth,” he says. THR. “For some, the suggestion that his sexuality might have been more complex than that challenges a fantasy they’ve clung to for decades. But others are genuinely excited by the possibility of seeing a more complex, more vulnerable, more dimensional James Dean – someone who wasn’t necessarily confined to the identity Hollywood created for him. And that’s what really interests me. I’m not looking to completely redefine him, but I’m looking to explore the human being who existed beyond of mythology.”
Robertson played the younger version of Jamie Bell’s character in Half man and we will soon be able to see him in the BBC drama Advice. “The moment I saw him Half manI knew it was him,” says Guido. “I was looking for vulnerability and an innate sympathy, but also strength. Bill lived in an era hostile to anyone even perceived as gay, but he had an on-and-off five-year relationship with James Dean. This requires resilience.
For his part, Robertson notes, “Guy has crafted a beautifully tender storyline that goes beyond the icon image and brings to life the human behind it. Through Bill’s eyes, we see James Dean before his name was in the lights, before the famous red jacket with the turned-up collar. We see him flawed, ambitious and, ultimately, as a young man brimming with love for his friend.”
Wolfe says of auditioning for Robertson: “Her performance was so beautiful and authentic that I felt like I was watching the dailies of the actual production. I can’t imagine anyone more appropriate and worthy of this role.”
Flynn’s previous credits include True Detective, 13 reasons why And Parenthood. He will make his Broadway debut this fall with Here there are blueberries.
Robertson is represented by Taylor Jefferson at The Artists Partnership and Maryam Hunwick at Hunwick Associates.
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