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"
All you need is the artists in front of the camera
protected by the artists behind the camera. The rest
will fall into place."
Nicholas Ray
(1955)
Frank Mazzola and James Dean
The legendary film director, Nick Ray, and actor, James
Dean, believed in film as an art form and the power of
the medium that could influence the very core of
its viewers.
Frank
Mazzola, then just a teenager, was asked by Nick to
write a treatment for a story about growing up in
Hollywood. It was for a production company that
Nick and Jimmy were planning to form. Stewart
Stern, who wrote the screenplay for REBEL WITHOUT A
CAUSE, helped Frank write the treatment, originally
titled THE BENCH.
Frank's
story was based on events that revolved around Hollywood
in the 50's: his High School club THE ATHENIANS, his
brother's sixteen piece jazz band, hot rods dueling in
suicidal drag races, and girlfriends caught in the
middle of major rumbles with rival gangs. One
fight with a motorcycle gang was so brutal that the
gang's leader and Frank's life hung in the balance.
The raw reality of this story is what Nick and Jimmy
wanted to capture on the screen.
His legend as a
Rebel is exemplified generation after generation.
His cool attitude portrays the confidence and strength
of a young man willing to stand up and fight for his
dreams in life, as well as in the characters he
portrayed on the screen.
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"Before the filming of
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE another story was being
told..."
Nick Ray and James Dean's independent production
company never came together, and the treatment for THE
BENCH was filed away when Jimmy died.
With time and perspective, the concept for this story
has recently been completed as the screenplay, THE
ATHENIANS.
web site created by Catherine Hader-Mazzola
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