Anton Corbijn, the director behind the lens of projects as varied as A Most Wanted Man and George Clooney’s The American, is tackling a real-life biopic for his latest feature Life, which has today revealed its first full-length trailer.
Charting the meteoric rise to superstardom of one James Dean (Chronicle and The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Dane DeHaan), the upcoming drama from the photographer-turned-director will tell the story of his friendship with Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson), a budding photographer for LIFE magazine that captured some of the earlier, undocumented vignettes of Dean’s storied journey to becoming a bona fide household name.
Having helped get Dean’s foot – and roguish good looks – in the door, Stock and the model-turned-actor take a road trip from Los Angeles to the Big Apple, and Anton Corbijn’s feature film will track their burgeoning friendship. Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley, Kristen Hager and Kelly McCreary complete the cast.
Life will make its debut in France come September 9 ahead of a planned US release sometime in the fall.
In 1955, ambitious Hollywood photographer Dennis Stock and the then still unknown James Dean meet at one of Nicholas Ray’s parties. Stock recognises in the young actor, who has just completed filming East of Eden, an extraordinary talent and hopes to further his own career via a series of portraits for “Life” magazine. Newcomer Dean is stressed by studio boss Jack Warner’s demands for him to get on the PR bandwagon for Elia Kazan’s film and goes into hiding in the country. Stock accompanies the camera-shy star to his native ranch in Indiana where he has his roots. Once back in New York, Stock captures the world famous image which keeps the legend alive to this day.
