The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

214 John Woo
—but the role went to James Dean years later. Why do you think people
put James Dean and Marlon Brando so often in the same sentence?
Woo: I think they both had the same thing, a very strong, independent
character. They both had strong will against the system. I love James Dean.
After I saw this movie, I began to dress like him.
Did you have a red jacket?
Woo: Yeah. I combed my hair like him, but I couldn’t afford to buy wax, so I
had to use water. I even talked like him. He was a very influential idol to me.
A lot of film acting, especially from the ’50s and early ’60s, can look
stagey and very static. But even now, James Dean is so magnetic to a
modern audience. His performance seems so raw. Why do you think he
has such staying power?
Woo: He was so natural; I think he was just being himself. He didn’t make
you feel like he was acting. He makes you feel so comfortable, just like he
was one of the neighbors. He was so real. Nowadays, some of the actors,
they are too much into “acting.” James Dean was just James Dean.
One of the odd bits of film history about Rebel was they started to film
it in black and white—they even had James Dean wearing glasses. But
the studio decided to make it color Cinemascope. I was just wondering
how you think it might have been different in black and white? Or if it
gains anything in color, aside from that iconic red jacket?
Woo: I think if that movie was in black and white, it would have been more
powerful—the image would have been much stronger. In black and white,
it would become a film noir. The movie was shot in color, and it looks like a
Hollywood movie.
That was actually one of the criticisms, when Nicholas Ray moved to
color—that it made his films less gritty.
Woo: Yeah.
Now, this wasn’t James Dean’s first film role. He was in East of Eden
first. Did you know about him before Rebel Without a Cause?