Editing George Stevens (section)

====''Giant''====
{{Main|Giant (1956 film)}} 
In February 1952, as he was editing ''Shane'', Stevens formed an independent production company, Giant Productions. Despite disagreements over ''A Place in the Sun'' (1951), he selected Henry Ginsberg as his creative partner. Meanwhile, [[Edna Ferber]]'s novel ''Giant'' had been first serialized in ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]'' before [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] published it in the fall of 1952. In December 1952, they made Ferber an offer to acquire the film rights.<ref>{{harvnb|Moss|2004|pp=205–206}}; {{harvnb|Gilbert|2024|p=196}}</ref> Spurred by the success of ''Shane'', negotiations between Stevens and [[Warner Bros.]] were completed on July 29, 1953.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/07/30/archives/stevens-to-make-giant-at-warners-studio-acquires-third-ferber-novel.html |title=Stevens To Make 'Giant' at Warners |work=The New York Times |page=20 |date=July 30, 1953 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250505183916/https://www.nytimes.com/1953/07/30/archives/stevens-to-make-giant-at-warners-studio-acquires-third-ferber-novel.html |archive-date=May 5, 2025 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref> By November 1953, Giant Productions acquired the film rights. In December, the contract was finalized, in which it had been stipulated Warner Bros. would produce and distribute the film. Stevens, Ferber and Ginsberg however would take no upfront salary but would share 50 percent of the profits after the studio had recouped its production and distribution costs.<ref>{{harvnb|Moss|2004|p=207}}, {{harvnb|Gilbert|2024|p=200}}</ref> 

[[File:George Stevens at Giant premiere.jpg|thumb|250px|Left to right: [[George Stevens Jr.]], his father, George Stevens, and composer [[Dimitri Tiomkin]] at the premiere of ''Giant'', October 11, 1956]]

Stevens hired Ivan Moffat and Fred Guiol to write preliminary treatments and eventually a 350-paged first draft screenplay was written. According to Stevens, he presented the draft to Ferber in New York. While she complimented the draft, Ferber insisted on the script's fidelity to her novel. On June 20, 1954, Ferber flew out to Los Angeles and volunteered to write unsalaried on the script adaptation. After eleven weeks, she submitted her draft on August 8, which Stevens regarded as more of a treatment bereft in visuals.<ref>{{harvnb|Moss|2004|pp=209–212}}, {{harvnb|Gilbert|2024|pp=212–222}}</ref> Stevens and the screenwriters resumed their own collaboration and pared the script down to 240 pages.{{sfn|Cronin|2004|p=104}} 

An extensive casting search for the three main leads—Jordan "Bick" Benedict, Leslie Lynnton Benedict, and Jett Rink—eventually settled on [[Rock Hudson]], [[Elizabeth Taylor]], and [[James Dean]]. Interior filming began on May 1955 on the Warner Bros. studio backlot. The production next moved to [[Keswick, Virginia]] for the exterior scenes set in Maryland. On June 4, they relocated to [[Marfa, Texas]] for the duration of the production.{{sfn|Moss|2004|p=217}} In addition with Stevens's preference for extensive coverage, the initial 72-day filming shoot fell behind schedule due to Taylor's illness bouts and Dean's frequent tardiness to the set.{{sfn|Moss|2004|pp=216–220}} On September 30, Dean was killed in a car crash near [[Cholame, California]] on [[California State Route 41|Route 41]]. Dean had completed his scenes, though his dialogue tracks were considered inaudible. Stevens hired [[Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)|Nick Adams]] to reloop Dean's lines. By mid-October 1955, principal photography was finished.{{sfn|Gilbert|2024|pp=307–308}} 

''Giant'' premiered at the [[Roxy Theatre (New York City)|Roxy Theatre]] in New York on October 11, 1956. It earned $12 million in box office rentals. James Powers of ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' called the film "a monumental drama as big and inspiring as the locale for which it is named, Texas. Giant in size, giant in ambition, giant in the human emotions that are generated by the massive forces of nature and human development that make up the peculiarly American sub-nation, Texas, this picture readily takes its place with the handful of screen epics."<ref>{{cite news |last=Powers |first=James |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/giant-review-1956-film-936178/ |title='Giant': THR's 1956 Review |work=The Hollywood Reporter |orig-date=November 24, 1956 |date=October 11, 2016 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305215602/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/giant-review-1956-film-936178/ |archive-date=March 5, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> At the [[29th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]], the film received ten nominations, though it lost Best Picture to ''[[Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)|Around the World in 80 Days]]'' (1956). Stevens nevertheless won his second Best Director Oscar.{{sfn|Gilbert|2024|pp=338–339}} He was also the recipient of the year's [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Screen Directors Guild Award for Best Feature Film]].<ref name="StevensDGA">{{cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/02/04/archives/6-directors-cited-at-screen-dinner-george-stevens-receives-top.html |title=6 Directors Cited at Screen Dinner |work=The New York Times |page=15 |date=February 4, 1957 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250505184332/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/02/04/archives/6-directors-cited-at-screen-dinner-george-stevens-receives-top.html |archive-date=May 5, 2025 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:George_Stevens_with_Oscar_for_Giant.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Stevens with his Oscar for directing ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'', 1957]]

The films—''A Place in the Sun'', ''Shane'', and ''Giant''—have retrospectively been described as Stevens's ''American Trilogy''.{{sfn|Cronin|2004|p=x}} Biographer Neil Sinyard described the films as "deeply American stories, infused with a unique sense of landscape and character that make up the personality of the country [...] At the core of each one is an outsider striving for assimilation and the promise  that the country offers and whose aspirations become tantalizing close to fulfilment, but whose ultimate dream of success and happiness will elude his grasp."{{sfn|Sinyard|2019|p=116}}