James Dean - Part Three, with the Rock and Elizabeth Taylor

Dean's third and final film was Giant, done by veteran Hollywood director, George Stevens. Stevens was an Oscar winner with A Place in the Sun, and Dean was still a relative newcomer, with only one film released (East of Eden) at this point in his career and another on the way (Rebel Without a Cause). Dean perhaps had no right to be as arrogant or as difficult to work with as he proved to be in this film.



















Stevens also worked with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in this film. It was a difficult production from the outset, with shooting delayed due to Elizabeth Taylor's pregnancy, and Dean was late arriving on set after scheduling conflicts with Rebel...
The film is known for being a grand epic, and it's also somewhat known for the difficulties the actors presented. In particular Dean. He would often keep the entire cast waiting as he was annoyed at himself being kept waiting by Stevens for some scenes. Stevens found it enitrely 'unprofessional and bad manners'. Stevens was also a somewhat old school director who favoured thoroughness to script rather than improvisation. A direct clash to Dean's preferred style. Stevens apparently got on well with Rock Hudson, a more by the book actor, and this caused jealousy and real anger between Dean and Hudson off the set.



















Off set, the real life rivalry between the two male leads came out in a way of vying for Elizabeth Taylor's attention. In some ways this was a direct correlation to the film's script. In the film, Hudson's character is married to Taylor's, yet there is an underlying attraction that exists between Taylor's and Dean's characters.
So Stevens, like Kazan and Ray before him, channelled this brilliantly into the film's scenes.

Dean and Hudson's fight scene.