Actor Brandon Flynn, best known for his roles in Thirteen Reasons Why, Manhunt, True Detective and Ratched, is reportedly set to play screen icon James Dean in a new film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter Flynn will star in Willie and James Dean, the film adaptation of William Blast’s 2006 memoir Surviving James Dean.
In the book Blast claims to have met James Dean at university when he was 19, the two later became roommates and later lovers. Blast says their relationship was kept secret so as not to hurt the actor’s fledgling film career.
James Dean only made three films in his short career where he had a leading role.
In 1953 he was cast in Elia Kazan’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Soon after this he was cast in the teen drama Rebel Without a Cause opposite Natalie Wood. The following year he filmed Giant with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.
On 30th September 1955 Dean was killed when the car he was driving collided with another vehicle that had strayed over the centre line of the road. The cars hit almost head on, throwing Dean’s car into several cartwheels before landing in a gully. The actor was killed instantly.
Since his death there has been speculation about the actor’s sexuality, and many stories have emerged suggesting he was bisexual. Alongside Blast’s claim about them having a sexual relationship, and co-star Elizabeth Taylor also described him many years later as being gay, as did Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray.
The film will be created by writer-director Guy Guido. He previously created a documentary-drama Madonna and the Breakfast Club which covered Madonna’s early days in New York where she fronted the band The Breakfast Club.
Guido met Blast prior to his death in 2015, and his script will cover the period from their first meeting until James Dean’s death.
“It’s a tender and sometimes tragic story about two young men who found each other in a time and place where being seen — truly seen — came at a cost. Brandon Flynn brings both the fire and vulnerability this role demands. I couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect to explore and play out the complexities of James Dean.” Guido said of the new project.
Flynn also shared his excitement about being cast in the role, and had high praise for the project’s script.
“It highlights how Hollywood has historically forced LGBTQ people into performance, even in their personal lives,” Flynn said. “This story dares to present James Dean as a man with real, complex relationships, and I think there’s power in that truth.”
Flynn most recently appeared in the HBO Max film The Parenting alongside Brian Cox, Nik Dodani, Edie Falco, Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow. He also got rave reviews for his portrayal of Marlon Brandon in the 2024 off-Broadway play Kowalski, which explores the creation of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
The Miami-born actor shared that he was part of the LGBTIQA+ communities back in 2017, his decision to come out being triggered by the campaign against marriage equality in Australia. Later that year Flynn shared he was in a relationship with British singer Sam Smith – but the romance ended less than a year later. In 2024 Flynn married Canadian author, playwright and director Jordan Tannahill.
