It was announced back in May that Anton Corbijn, best known for directing the George Clooney-starred drama The American, was looking in to making a film that examines the friendship between Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock and James Dean. Now it looks like he is working on putting together the cast, with Robert Pattinson already attached to play Stock and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle, Lawless) slated to play Dean.

James Dean

Corbijn has already had some experience helming real-life dramas with his 2007 work Control, which followed the troubled life of Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division. The script for Life was written by Luke Davies and follows Stock and Dean’s interactions after 1955, when the two met at a party. Stock realized Dean’s potential before he became one of Hollywood’s biggest icons and captured some of Dean’s most famous images. It seems the story begins with Stock feeling guilty over his absence in his son’s life, but eventually comes out of his shell as he spends time with Dean in Los Angeles, New York, and Indiana chronicling Dean’s life the whole way. Dean, as we all know, goes on to become an international star, while Stock becomes a renowned artist.

DeHaan is capitalizing on the success of last year’s Chronicle, and is a star on the rise. He’s soon to appear in upcoming films such as Kill Your Darlings, Metallica: Through the Never, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, out April 18th.

There is no news yet of a possible start date for Life, which is still in pre-production/development