Sir Ben Kingsley and Italian actress Alessandro Mastronardi are the latest additions to the cast list of Life, which is currently filming in Toronto, Canada, and stars Robert Pattinson in the lead role.
With Anton Corbijn (Control, The American) in the director’s chair, Life relates the story of freelance photographer Dennis Stock and the unlikely friendship he found with Hollywood actor James Dean in the months before his infamous and deadly car accident. Stock – a member of the photographic cooperative Magnum Photos – met Dean in 1955 when he was assigned to capture the young star for the pages of Life Magazine. Completing photo shoots in Dean’s hometown of Indiana, and also in New York City, Stock created some of the most iconic images of the actor, which remain among the most reproduced in the world.
Robert Pattinson takes the role of Stock, with Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond The Pines, Kill Your Darlings, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) portraying Dean. Kingsley and Mastronardi (To Rome With Love) are joining the production in supporting roles. The script comes from Luke Davies, who co-wrote the 2006 film Candy – based on his own novel and starring Heath Ledger – about a heroin-addicted couple. His dramatic script Reclaim has also been filmed – with John Cusack, Ryan Phillippe and Jacki Weaver – and is in post-production.
The prolific Kingsley has a staggering five films heading toward cinemas throughout 2014, including Night At The Museum 3, Ridley Scott’s Exodus, animated film The Boxtrolls, Edgar Allen Poe’s Eliza Graves, and Robot Overlords with Gillian Anderson. After Life, he will tackle Tarsem Singh’s Selfless with Ryan Reynolds before playing King Herod in the historical drama Mary.
Life is expected to hit cinemas in 2015.