Netflix’s announcement that it will be released in 2025, the year the classic East of Eden turns 70, has shaken up James Dean fans. Elia Kazan‘s film was the first to feature the American actor as the lead and made him a legend, being the only one Dean saw in its entirety before he died in a car accident.

There are many attractions in the new version, which is in pre-production and is currently underway: the script is by Kazan’s granddaughter, actress Zoe Kazan, thus maintaining the connection between the two products. However, Zoe – who obviously loves her grandfather’s film – has announced that it will be more faithful to the book that originated the classic, so it will be in miniseries format and will cover all the parts of the story excluded by Elia Kazan. This means that it will cover the beginning of the Trask saga, while in 1955 the director focused on the final part of the story.

I will talk more about the book and the film, of course, separately. East of Eden is considered John Steinbeck‘s masterpiece, won the Pulitzer in 1952, and is widely considered one of the great works of American literature.

In the Netflix version, the cast will include Florence Pugh in the role of the diabolical Cathy Ames, and Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask. There is some confusion regarding the role of Mike Faist, the actor in greatest demand in Hollywood today: some credit him with the role of Cal, which was played by James Dean, others credit him with the role of Charles Trask, who is the antagonist in the first part of the story. Considering that Florence will play Cathy and that it was only in the 1981 ABC series (with Jane Seymour in the role) that the story was fully told on the big screen, I’m betting more on Mike as Charles Trask than Cal.

For Zoe, who has been a fan of the book since she was a teenager and describes Steinbeck’s text as “personal, shocking, profound and free”, it is a great opportunity not only to introduce the work to new generations but also to have the complete story and not just part of it, as was the case 70 years ago.

There is no release date announced yet – after all, they haven’t even started recording! – but it certainly won’t miss the anniversary milestone. Let’s keep an eye out.

Pesquisar

Pesquisar