James Franco was phenomenal as James Dean. He got his quirkiness and idiosyncrasies down to a TEE! Plus, there are moments throughout the film when you would swear he was the real deal--They look THAT much alike! That being said, this film put forth a very determined effort to reconstruct James Dean as Cal Trask from East of Eden. And I don't make this comment lightly--I've done a lot of research on James Dean, read several books, and even written a few academic papers on him. The aspects of his life that actually did happen in the film were exaggerated or otherwise just presented in such a way as to parallel James Dean to Cal Trask. The entire relationship with his father is construed this way: Dean's constant accomplishing of new things to buy his father's love, the confrontation scene with his father, etc. It's true that Elia Kazan's assistant did say, "He IS Cal Trask," but anyone who's read a decent biography of Dean knows that his relationship with his father wasn't nearly as antagonistic as they portrayed it in the film. He didn't go to Indiana for the funeral because he was broke, and the whole "I'm not your father" thing is completely unsubstantiated by any sources I have come across! Additionally, the film totally plays into the modern belief that James Dean was well-respected as a gifted Method actor in his time, but it's very widely-known that critics in Dean's time thought he was a knock-off version of Marlon Brando who lacked any real technique. And the film's presentation of Elia Kazan as James Dean's biggest fan is completely false! In his biography, Kazan very explicitly states that he didn't believe Dean had anywhere near the amount of talent as Marlon Brando, and that if he had lived his lack of technique and real ability would have led to a very quick downfall. What I found really strange was that the film completely left out a lot of the MOST controversial things that it's Proved Dean actually did, but, then again, this was a made-for-TV movie, so maybe they couldn't...
So, in short, watch the film for some great performances and a fabulous presentation of the myth of James Dean, but don't take it as 100% historically accurate.
So, in short, watch the film for some great performances and a fabulous presentation of the myth of James Dean, but don't take it as 100% historically accurate.