James Dean and the Joshua Tree

No, U2 aren't embarking on a radical, revolutionary movement that will see their classic album The Joshua Tree performed live in concert by a pack of James Dean impersonators - although... - but instead a new film about James Dean has been made and here's the trailer. It's called, quite oddly, Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean and it seems to be focusing on Dean's sexuality more than anything else. Take a peak.

JOSHUA TREE, 1951: A PORTRAIT OF JAMES DEAN Teaser Trailer from Iconoclastic Features on Vimeo.

I don't really know what to say. I am a bit of a James Dean tragic and will watch anything about him - even that horrid early Robert Altman movie - but I feel a bit queasy about this movie. To so shamelessly pilfer away at the corpse of a legend? Look, we all already know that James Dean was bisexual, do we really need another movie about Dean to tell us so? And, quite tellingly, a movie written and directed by a man that nobody knows (Matthew Mishory) who might just be doing this project to get some heat for his career. It's perhaps cynical of me to think that, but I gotta call it how I see it.

It basically looks like A Single Man - a movie I did not like - but in black and white. It sure does look pretty (I've included some of my favourite shots below), but that doesn't erase the stink of this being a cynically driven project that is using the legend of James Dean's name to advance the career of its creator.






As for this James Preston dude... well, colour me ignorant because I haven't the faintest idea of who he is. His IMDb seems to suggest his most prominent role is on a TV series called The Gates, but I have never seen nor even heard of it, so that's not an auspicious beginning to our relationship. I think James Franco had the look down best in the 2001 TV movie James Dean (for which Franco won a Golden Globe). So many actors named James!


The James': Preston | Dean | Franco
Tell me readers, am I justified or is it just my James Dean obsession rearing its head, not wanting people to think less of him. Hmmm...