James Dean’s sexuality has always been a matter of intense speculation. For everyone who’s come forward to say he was exclusively gay (and if Paul Alexander’s book Boulevard Of Broken Dreams is to be believed, a major masochist) there’s another who insists he was completely straight. One person says his relationship with Pier Angeli was real and her heartbreak eventually led to her suicide, while others says she was purely a beard and well aware of that fact.
We’re unlikely to ever known the full truth of whether Dean was gay, straight or bisexual, but the film Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait Of James Dean delves into the murky waters of the legend’s sexuality and speculates on the truth.
A May 13th UK DVD release has now been set and a trailer released, which you can see above.
Here’s the synopsis: ‘Directed by Matthew Mishory and starring James Preston & Dan Glenn JOSHUA TREE 1951 follows James Dean (the handsome James Preston) on his first steps to becoming the international icon of youth and rebellion. The film is a series of revealing and sometimes dreamlike vignettes that blend autobiographical and fictionalised elements to present a pivotal moment in a remarkable life.
‘We follow Jimmy Dean during two periods of his life prior to becoming the international star that we all know today. In 1949, he joins UCLA as an acting major, a decision which ultimately estranged him from his father. Whilst there he wrestles with the mental and sexual constraints and boundaries of society and while demonstrating great acting skills he rebels against the system he finds himself within. Whilst in California he also starts to experiment with his sexuality, and finds solace in the beds of both men and women.
‘The film’s ‘present tense’ is in 1951, as Dean drives to the desert of Joshua Tree, California. Along for the ride is The Roommate (Dan Glenn), a struggling actor who lived and loved with Dean whilst at college. The friendship and intimacy he provides gives Dean a sense of security before embarking on his own path. Matthew Mishory presents his first feature; a brutal and honest exploration of Dean’s complicated sexuality and formative relationships; JOSHUA TREE, 1951 redefines the boy behind the image for a new generation.’
Last year it seemed barely a week could go by without a man coming forward to claim sexual assault against John Travolta. However while a series of suits by male masseurs were dropped (largely due to the fact that it was discovered that when one of the assaults was initially said to have taken place, the actor was on the other side of the country), one lived on, from a former cruise ship employee who said Travolta assaulted him aboard a ship in 2009.
Walt Disney World now has a gay President (while that sort of sounds like the theme park has seceded from the rest of the US, we just mean the type of President businesses have – he’s not trying to rival Obama). Last Friday George Kalogridis was put in charge of Disney World, where he’ll oversee oversee more than 66,000 employees.
Matt Bomer is part of a great ensemble who’ve got together for Akiva Goldsman’s directorial debut, A Winter’s Tale, including Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Eva Marie Saint and Kevin Corrigan, with Will Smith also rumoured for a cameo.
The anticipation is growing for Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra, which is due to air on HBO in the US in May and should reach the UK shortly afterwards. Now 
The Berlin Film Festival is one of the most important movie gatherings in the world, not just for the festival itself but also for the film market, where all sorts of films seek funding and distribution. It’s also home to the Teddy Award, which since its inception in 1987 has emerged has one of the most prestigious LGBT movie awards in the world.
Films include the much hyped Interior Leather Bar, James Franco and Travis Mathews’ film about recreating 40-minutes of gay S&M that were allegedly cut from the 1980 Al Pacino movie, Cruising. There’s also Angela Christlieb’s Naked Opera, about a wealthy but terminally ill man, Marc, who travels the world to places where Mozart’s Don Giovanni is being staged and takes on a young male lover in each city.
Daniel Young’s Paul Bowles: The Case Door Is Always Open casts its light on a lesser known Beat generation writer, the titular Bowles, who was publicity shy and gay, but married a lesbian and decided to move permanently to Tangiers. There’s also the premiere of a restoration of 1967’s Portrait Of Jason, seen as one of the first unapologetic looks at a gay man, following the life of black, gay, self-declared hustler.
Although it’s only a brief joke at the end of the movie, Paranorman has been praised in many circles for bringing us what’s believed to be the first gay character in mainstream animation. Now screenwriter/co-director Chris Butler (who’s gay himself) has been talking to 
But was there any resistance from the studio about including a gay character in a family film? “Honestly? I never had any resistance from the studio,” Butler says, “That’s what’s really special about Laika [ParaNorman‘s animation studio]. I don’t think there’s any kind of agenda going on, but I think that Laika is brave and wants to create movies, tell stories that maybe no one else is doing right now. I think it’s them a really exciting place. That’s not to say — we did Coraline, and while that broke many of the formulaic boundaries of kids’ movies and in some ways it’s more terrifying than ParaNorman — but that’s not to say what we’re all about. What it says is that Laika is bold and willing to go there. There are plenty of things being developed at the studio that are really exciting because the other studios aren’t making them. They’re not the creepy-movie-for-kids studio. We are maybe the studio that is taking more chances creatively and that is exciting.”
Although everyone seems to agree that making a movie about Alan Turing is a good idea, it’s been tough to bring The Imitation Game to the big screen. Leo DiCaprio flirted with the lead role and the likes of J Blakeson have come and gone from the directing chair.