INTERVIEW: ‘Giant’ celebrates 60 years with special events
Giant, the landmark film by director George Stevens, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with special events at New York City’s Film Forum. In addition to regular showtimes, the director’s son, George Stevens Jr., and star Carroll Baker will introduce a special screening Friday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. Stevens Jr. will be back to introduce the 2:50 p.m. screening Saturday, Oct. 1.
In addition to Baker, the epic film stars Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo and Rock Hudson. The story surrounds a clash between Texas cattle ranchers and Texas oil barons, and the narrative plays out to lush landscapes and memorable cinematography. Giant also deals with some important issues of ethnicity, cultural background and a family’s legacy. The 201-minute movie serves as a powerful narrative and social commentary.
Stevens Jr. worked on the film as a production assistant and still has vivid memories of the experience. “Long time ago, but very vivid memories,” he said recently in a phone interview. “It’s just amazing the vitality and how some of these films uniquely stand the test of time, and 10 years ago I was at Cannes where we had a 50th anniversary showing. Elizabeth Taylor was there, and my wife, Liz, and others. It was just amazing to see how the film played for that French audience 50 years after it had been made.”
Giant, according to the director’s son, was made with a great deal of ambition, hope and high purpose. Even when working on the set, he knew there was something extraordinary occurring. After all, few people could say they worked with Dean before his untimely death, and fewer people could they worked with the likes of Dean, Taylor, Hudson, Mineo, Hopper and Baker on the same set.
“There was a definite sense that something important was going on in the making of the film,” Stevens Jr. said. “I learned so much from him [his father]. I worked with him on Shane, and I worked with him on Giant. And then I worked on The Diary of Anne Frank, and no one could have had a better mentor.”
In particular, Stevens Jr. remembers his father, who won the Academy Award for directing Giant, for his sensibility, taste and manner of storytelling. Six decades later these qualities still stick with the dedicated son, who eventually became the founding director of the American Film Institute and produced the annual Kennedy Center honors for several years.
“Giant went on so long I managed to serve two years in the Air Force during the making of it, and I used to visit,” he said of the shooting location in Virginia. “I worked on the screenplay after I got out of college for almost a year, and then went in the Air Force, and then came back and worked on the editing and the release of it, so it was a big experience.”
At the time of the making of Giant, Stevens Jr. was around the same age as the iconic cast members. Taylor and Dean were both 23, and Stevens Jr. was 22 at the time. Hudson was in his 20s, and Baker was actually a year older than Taylor, even though Baker played Taylor’s daughter in the film.
“All of those actors played at the middle age,” he said. “That was sort of a measure of my father’s confidence, knowing that he could draw performances from them that would be valid in those older years.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Giant begins a one-week run at New York City’s Film Forum Friday, Sept. 30. George Stevens Jr. will take part in two special events Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The film is also playing as part of a James Dean retrospective. Click here for more information.
