Woo hoooooooooooooo.  According to ScreenDaily:

“EXCLUSIVE: Robert Pattinson will star as Magnum photographer Dennis Stock and Dane DeHaan will play James Dean in Anton Corbijn’s Life. FilmNation handles international sales and will introduce the script to buyers in Toronto.

See-Saw Films’ Iain Canning and Emile Sherman produce with Christina Piovesan of First Generation Films, marking a post-The King’s Speech reunion between See-Saw and FilmNation. CAA holds US rights.

Luke Davies wrote the screenplay to Life, which chronicles the friendship that ensued when the straight-laced Stock embarked on a road trip with Dean in 1955 for a Life magazine commission.

Filming is scheduled to commence production in February 2014 on location in Canada.

“As an internationally celebrated photographer, Anton Corbijn is the perfect filmmaker to direct Life,” said Canning and Sherman. “Finding the right actor to play James Dean was a big responsibility, but Dane’s body of work has proved what a chameleon he is and what he will contribute to the role.

“Casting Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan brings together two of the most exciting young actors of their generation.”

“We were fortunate to work with Anton on A Most Wanted Man and are thrilled to be a part of his next film,” said FilmNation CEO Glen Basner. “His incredible talent combined with the chemistry between Dane and Robert will bring to life the fascinating story of the fast friendship formed at a very pivotal time in Dean’s life.

“The project also marks our re-teaming with See-Saw Films whose impressive track record continuously keeps them a top-player in international film production.”

Pattinson will next be see in David Michôd’s The Rover and starred in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis as well as the Twilight franchise. He recently wrapped on Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars .

DeHaan broke out in the sci-fi hit Chronicle and also stars in Toronto entries Devil’s Knot, Metallica Through The Never and Kill Your Darlings.  His credits include The Place Beyond The Pines.

From The Wrap:

Anton Corbijn is directing the movie, which FilmNation will be selling to international buyers in Toronto
Dane DeHaan will play James Dean and Robert Pattinson will play Magnum photographer Dennis Stock in Anton Corbijn’s “Life,” which FilmNation will be selling to international buyers at the Toronto market.
“The King’s Speech” producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films are producing with Christina Piovesan of First Generation Films.
Written by Luke Davies, “Life” follows the friendship that Stock struck up with Dean when he was commissioned to photograph the budding young actor.
Production is scheduled to start in February in Canada. CAA is handling U.S. rights.
Like Stock, Corbijn is also a celebrated photographer whose visual gifts served him well on films such as “Control,” “The American” and the upcoming thriller “A Most Wanted Man.”
“Twilight” sensation Pattinson next stars in David Michod’s “The Rover” and David Cronenberg’s “Maps To The Stars .”
DeHaan will soon be seen in “Devil’s Knot” and “Kill Your Darlings,” as well as “Metallica Through the Never.”
Screen Daily broke the news of Pattinson and DeHaan’s casting.

From The Film Stage:

With acquisition from Lionsgate and no 2013 release in sight, Anton Corbijn‘s Rachel McAdams and Philip Seymour Hoffman-led John le Carré drama A Most Wanted Man looks to be getting delayed until next year, but in the meantime the talented Control director has settled on his next project and has now found his leading duo.

First revealed earlier this summer, Life is a period piece whose drama is deeply rooted in the intertwining worlds of fame and photography, something the helmer is remarkably familiar with. As scripted by Luke Davies, its action centers on the relationship between James Dean and Life Magazine‘s Dennis Stock, the latter of whom had been tasked with capturing the up-and-coming actor less than a year before his rise to stardom and tragic death.

We’ve now got news from Screen Daily, on who will take the parts, as Robert Pattinson has signed on for Stock and Dane DeHaan will step into the iconic shoes of Dean. Production is already set for this February in Canada, where we will follow the duo on a road trip. This is another addition to Pattinson’s promising slate of upcoming films, with David Michôd’s The Rover and David Cronenberg‘s Maps to the Stars, while DeHaan will be seen in Kill Your Darlings and Metallica Through the Never this fall, ahead of his major turn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

From Variety:

Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson are set to star in helmer Anton Corbjin’s “Life.”
Story based on the true relationship between actor James Dean and and Life photographer Dennis Scott. DeHaan will play Dean and Pattinson will play Scott.
Iain Canning and Emile Sherman are producing. Luke Davies penned the script.
Pattinson is repped by WME and 3 Arts Entertainment is currently shooting the David Cronenberg pic “Maps to the Stars.” The CAA and Schiff Co. repped-DeHaan recently wrapped production on “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”

Some information about Dennis Stock:

“Art is a well-articulated manifestation of an aspect of life. I have been privileged to view much of life through my cameras, making the journey an enlightened experience. My emphasis has mainly been on affirmative reactions to human behavior and a strong attraction to the beauty in nature. ”

Dennis Stock & James Dean

Source

A photograph that Dennis Stock took of James Dean in New York’s Times Square in 1955 (the year that James Dean died) which became an iconic image. Thanks to @ElizaAdoresRob for the pic & info.

From Life.com:

In his wonderful 2005 book James Dean: Fifty Years Ago, Stock writes of trying to get the rapidly rising actor, whom he barely knew, to agree to let the photographer chronicle Dean’s return to both New York and Indiana from his new home in Los Angeles.

“The story, as I explained it [to Jimmy],” Stock wrote, “was to reveal the environments that affected and shaped the unique character of James Byron Dean. We felt a trip to his hometown, Fairmount, Indiana, and to New York, the place of his professional beginnings, would best reveal those influences…. I would solicit an assignment guarantee to cover expenses. The obvious magazine to approach was LIFE…. It took only a week for LIFE to approve the assignment.”

The photographs that Stock produced during his time with Dean captured an introspective, intensely self-analyzing (and occasionally self-absorbed) artist — albeit one who could, at times, also be self-deprecating almost to the point of parody.

LIFE, meanwhile, ran a number of the pictures in its March 7, 1955, issue, under the headline, “Moody New Star.” East of Eden was about to open, and would make Dean a household name. Less than six months later, mere weeks before the release of Rebel Without a Cause, the phenomenally talented, category-defying actor would be dead — and would pass into legend.

Life.com also has several other amazing photographs of James Dean taken by Dennis Stock which you can see by clicking on the hyperlink above.

‘Dennis Stock American Cool’

Whether photographing Hollywood celebrities or immigrants newly arrived in New York, photographer Dennis Stock (1928-2010) had an extraordinary ability to capture the essence of the American experience. A Magnum photographer for over fifty years, Stock once said that ‘the heartbeat of good photography is discovery’. He was an intrepid visual explorer who turned his eye to the familiar and unfamiliar alike to reveal startling new insights and a fresh beauty.

This volume is the first anthology dedicated to Stock during his most celebrated period of the 1950s to 1970s. Complete access to Stock’s archive has been granted for this book and several of the images are never-before-seen. Included are the photographer’s photo-essay on James Dean shot just seven months before the actor’s death and which culminated in the iconic shot of the actor walking hunched in the rain through Times Square; celebrity portraits including Audrey Hepburn resting her head on a car window on the cusp of fame; Miles Davis playing jazz; JFK on the campaign trail; corporate America; Stock’s California road trip and the alternative lifestyle of the burgeoning hippie movement. Stock’s photographs are introduced by an essay by world-leading photography authority Dr. Michael Pritchard and a foreword from Stock’s friend and colleague at Magnum, Michael Shulman.

For a man who once said that ‘every picture should be a masterpiece’, this stunning coffee table tome is witness to Stock’s immense talent, and his ability to manage just that.

Have included the press release below – what an amazing book.

Source