Could DeHaan get his first Oscar nod for this?

The real James Dean looked kind of rough for his age and James Franco was almost too young to play Dean originally. It's possible it might be a good compromise for the 37-year-old Franco to play Dean. Definitely would be better then Casper Van Dien or Dane "Arnie Grape" DeHaan.

m.
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DeHaan did fine. Oscar worthy, perhaps not, but he captured the essence of the conflict in someone who, at 23 years old, is on the cusp of stardom and knows his life is about to change drastically. The issue is DeHaan had to project the reality of how young Dean actually was to an audience whose perception of Dean is skewed by decades of idolatry and a handful of films completed in a very short period of his very short life.

And, no, bringing back the 37year old Franco to play 23 year old Dean, would not have been great it would have been laughable. Almost like asking Dustin Hoffman to recreate his role in The Graduate.

It was a transformation based on what was visually available and he did an excellent job. Way better than Franco. He's got the natural dark circles, but Franco did too, only Dane applied himself and it shows in his body work as well as his voice, the visual wardrobe we've seen in photos.

I'm not finished it yet as it's kinda slow for some reason. But he's got his posture down pat from slumped shoulders to his masquerader of his deep loss and sadness, and like he said those tears weren't fake. He was there in that scene, raw, feeling that agony. Too bad he went out like he did. A true loss for us all.

GFW

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