Oh how the tables turn: The new James Dean biopic Life casts former teen icon Robert Pattinson not as the brooding star himself, but as a photographer who wants to profile him. Instead Chronicle’s Dane DeHaan will be the one slipping into Dean’s shoes. Much like Lincoln and Selma, Life explores Dean’s legacy not by telling his birth-to-death story (like that James Franco TV movie), but by zeroing in on one specific moment in his life.
In this case it’s the cross-country road trip Dean embarked on with Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock (Pattinson) just before the release of his first film, East Of Eden. The two traveled from L.A. to the locations that impacted Dean’s life, including New York City and his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana. Along the way, Stock took some of the most iconic images of Dean, which are currently available on the Time website. The actor would die less than a year later at the age of 24.
Life is helmed by Dutch director Anton Corbijn (A Most Wanted Man), and while it has no scheduled U.S. release date as of yet, is expected to hit Stateside theaters in the fall of 2015. And those who felt this trailer was a bit too moody may want to check out the French version, which has many of the same scenes (and some new ones) set to upbeat music: