Trivia

When Adam refuses to accept Cal's money, the script called for Cal to turn away in anger from his father. It was James Dean's instinct to embrace him instead. This came as a surprise to Raymond Massey, who could think of nothing to do but say, "Cal! Cal!" in response.

Elia Kazan noted that James Dean's tension and shyness always manifested itself physically, so he allowed the actor to use contorted, awkward postures to convey the character: "It was almost psychotic. He was exactly like the people you see in insane asylums."

Elia Kazan denied rumors that he didn't like James Dean: "You can't not like a guy with that much pain in him . . . You know how a dog will be mean and snarl at you, then you pat him, and he's all over you with affection? That's the way Dean was." Kazan did intervene sternly, however, when Dean started to feel his power as a hotly emerging star and treated crew members disrespectfully.

Several cast members reported that James Dean's emotions overtook him so strongly he would frequently cry. Elia Kazan usually just let those moments pass before resuming shooting, but he did leave one of Dean's breakdowns in - the one in which Cal is crushed by his father's rejection of the money he earned for him.

Instead of using rear-projection process shots for the scene on the Ferris wheel, Elia Kazan rented a real one from a carnival, set it up on the Warner Brother" back lot, and borrowed an additional crane, one used by Disney on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), to hoist lights, sound equipment and crew members up to capture the intimate romantic scene.