Rebel Rouser

Actor James Franco has optioned the film rights to Michael Gregg Michaud's just-published biography of "Rebel Without a Cause" star Sal Mineo, according to THR

Mineo

Franco

The book details the actor's rise to fame, his conflicted sexuality and friendships with his "Rebel" co-stars James Dean and Natalie Wood, as well as his 1976 murder at the hands of a deranged pizza deliveryman.

Franco has already played Dean in a 2001 TV movie