Sal Mineo Biopic for Franco

The life and tragic, mystery-shrouded death of 1950s icon Sal Mineo could become a film for James Franco, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Franco has purchased rights to the acclaimed and comprehensive new biography, Sal Mineo, by writer Michael Gregg Michaud with an eye toward writing and directing the project.

The bisexual Mineo, most famous for his role as the sensitive Plato in the 1955 classic Rebel Without a Cause opposite James Dean (played by Franco in a 2001 film) received two Academy Award nominations by the time he was 21 only to find himself considered passé during the 1960s. Mineo's murder during an attempted robbery in West Hollywood in 1976 has often overshadowed his achievements as an actor.

According to the Reporter, "Franco optioned the property himself for his Rabbit Bandini shingle as a potential writing-and-directing vehicle. He currently does not plan to star but that could change."