East of Eden

East of Eden (1955)

Timing: 1:55 (115 min)

7.571/10
716

7.752/10
6523

7.8/10
52000

All about film

Video 5

Photo 43

Actors and characters

Release date

1955-04-10

Country

United States

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre

Drama

Budget

$0

Revenue

$1 602

Website

Director

Elia Kazan

Actors

James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Richard Davalos, Jo Van Fleet, Burl Ives, Albert Dekker, Lois Smith, Harold Gordon, Nick Dennis
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Elia Kazan

Operator

Ted D. McCord

Composer

Leonard Rosenman

Artist

Audition

Harvey Clermont

Editing

Owen Marks
All team (26)

• Of the three films in which Dean played the leading male role, this is the only one released during the actor's lifetime.
• Many scenes or lines of Cal were improvised by the actor himself. For example, the dance in the field and the stunts on the roof of a moving train.
• In the scene of the conversation between Adam and Cal, according to the script, Cal was supposed to walk away from his father, but Dean instinctively turned to Raymond Massey and hugged him – the on-screen father fell into a state of shock from the surprise. Dean's behavior amazed everyone at that moment, and Kazan decided to leave the scene as it was, and it proved to be a good decision. This episode from the actor's life can be seen in the biographical film from 2001, where the role of Dean is played by James Franco.
• In 1955, the American Film Academy posthumously nominated James Dean for an Academy Award for Best Actor. This nomination was the first in the long history of the Academy.
• Initially, Kazan had the idea to invite Marlon Brando for the role of Cal and Montgomery Clift for the role of Aaron, but both were already over 30, and therefore their candidacies were considered too old to play teenagers. In fact, the final decision in favor of James Dean was made by the author of the book himself, John Steinbeck – when Dean appeared on the set, Steinbeck exclaimed: 'Good Lord Jesus, he's the spitting image of Cal!'
• Cal could have been played by Paul Newman, who did a screen test with Dean.
• In 1955, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously nominated James Dean for an Academy Award for Best Actor. This nomination was the first in the long history of the Academy.
• Initially, Kazan had the idea of casting Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift as Cal and Aaron, respectively, but both were already over 30, and their candidacies were considered too old to play teenagers. In fact, the final decision in favor of James Dean was made by the book's author, John Steinbeck—when Dean appeared on set, Steinbeck exclaimed, "Good God, he's the spitting image of Cal!"