Oscar winner Ben Kingsley and Alessandra Mastronardi (“To Rome With Love”) have signed on to join Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan in Anton Corbijn’s drama “Life,” which chronicles the real life friendship between Magnum photographer Dennis Stock and actor James Dean, it was announced Wednesday.
See-Saw Films and First Generation Films are producing “Life,” which just started principal photography in Toronto and Los Angeles.
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Stock (Pattinson) was 26 years old when fledgling star Dean (DeHaan) entered his buttoned-down world. Dean was a free spirit who would change popular culture from suits to jeans and from matinee idols to teenage heartthrobs. The 1955 Life magazine assignment, which took the pair on a photographic journey across the U.S. from Los Angeles to New York and on to Indiana, would change Stock’s life and provide the world with some of the most iconic images of the age.
Luke Davies (“Candy”) wrote “Life,” which is produced by See-Saw Films’ Iain Canning and Emile Sherman with Christina Piovesan of First Generation Films. The movie is co-produced by Wolfgang Mueller and Benito Mueller of Barry Films.
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The film is financed by Corner Piece Capital, Telefilm Canada, Film4, Screen Australia, Michel Merkt and Union Bank. FilmNation Entertainment is handling international sales.