Where to start … how about Queen of the Desert in January 2014 …

 

Variety is reporting that Germany has picked up “Life”:

“Leading German distrib SquareOne Entertainment, which is headed by Al Munteanu, has nabbed all German-speaking rights to several high-profile pics, including films starring Robert Pattinson, Keanu Reeves, Dustin Hoffman and Kit Harington.

Pattinson starrer “Life,” which is in post, was acquired from FilmNation Entertainment. Anton Corbijn (“Control”) helms the pic, which also stars Dane DeHaan (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”) and Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby”). Producers are Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, who won an Oscar with “The King’s Speech,” and Christina Piovesan.

Pic chronicles the friendship that ensued when the strait-laced Dennis Stock embarked on a road trip with James Dean in 1955 for a Life magazine commission.

…

All films are slated to be theatrically released in 2015.”

Aussies don’t forget Transmission Films has the rights for “Life” and “Queen of the Desert“.

 

I knew Transmission would be the Australian distributor for “Life” since See-Saw Films is their sister production company, but I noticed in IF.com today that Transmission has already bought Queen of the Desert:

“Mackie was delighted with the footage he saw of a batch of films that Transmission had pre-bought including Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth and Anton Corbijn’s Life (both produced by See-Saw Films), Todd Haynes’ Carol, feminist drama Suffragette, John Crowley’s Brooklyn, Mia Wasikowska- starrer Madam Bovary and Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert.”

And I just went to Transmission’s website and saw this at “coming soon”:

 *cartwheels*

According to Deadline:

“If there is a recurring theme among the buyers and sellers we’ve spoken to in the early moments of the Cannes Film Festival, it is that none can remember the last time there was such a sellers’ market here on the Croisette. The trouble is, nobody seems to really have anything all that compelling to sell, and that is driving the sellers crazy.there seems to not be much happening in terms of sales.”

But and you know there’s always a but:

“Don’t think for a moment that no deals will get made. So many distributors have holes in their schedules and so many territories are spending more lavishly than in recent years that we wouldn’t be surprised if there are several splashy sales. Here are the ones that have the most buzz on them so far, or just sound good on paper. Sizzle reels will be shown all through the weekend and we should have a better picture by Monday if this market will be boom or bust, and whether the splashiest deal occurred before most of us got to the Croisette. …

QUEEN OF THE DESERT – Director, Writer: Werner Herzog, Cast: James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman, Damian Lewis. Kidman plays Gertrude Bell, the Lawrence of Arabia of female diplomats and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the 20th century. Sales: Sierra Affinity, CAA, Cassian Elwes.

LIFE – Director: Anton Corbijn. Cast: Robert Pattinson, Dane DeHaan, Ben Kingsley, Joel Edgerton. A photographer for Life Magazine is assigned to shoot pictures of James Dean. Sales: CAA / WME / FilmNation. Based on 15 minutes of footage, this one’s in play and is gonna sell. …

To read full article click on link above.

15 minutes you say.  Where are those hackers when you need them *oops*

 

Anton mentioned this on his website when the first still came out:

“This photograph is our first publicity shot from the film LIFE that i am currently shooting in Canada and USA. It is the story of James Dean and photographer Dennis Stock, set in early 1955. In the back of the car sits Jimmy as played by Dane DeHaan and in the passenger seat is Dennis, played by Robert Pattinson. Both guys are fantastic and are giving the film very good energy despite the very harsh winter we encountered in Canada.”

Source via

 

Dane is currently promoting The Amazing Spiderman so it’s no surprise we might get some interviews where he’s asked about “Life”.  According to independent.ie:

“Dane DeHaan has revealed that he made no attempt to become friends with Robert Pattinson before they started filming Life.

The Amazing Spider-Man actor stars alongside the Twilight heartthrob in Anton Corbijn’s drama, focusing on the friendship between Life photographer Dennis Stock (Pattinson) and Hollywood icon James Dean (De Haan).

“It’s an interesting relationship that they have. They do become close in the film, and they do become friends, but they’re not friends from the start,” he said.

“So what we did is we didn’t try to make any sort of friendship beforehand. We got there and that’s when our friendship started. So as it was happening on screen, it was also happening in real life.”

The 28-year-old said they bonded on set, adding: ” He’s a really nice guy. He’s totally chill and he’s fun to hang out with, and he’s fun to be on set with. We had a great time.”

Sir Ben Kingsley and Joel Edgerton also star in Life, which wrapped shooting on April 1.

“We just finished a week and a half ago,” Dane said.

Life, which is now in post-production, is expected to be released later this year.”

Expected to be released “later this year” *eyeswide*  – I may have to have all my mail readdressed to my local cinema in the latter part of 2014.

Updated: Have uploaded to YouTube for ease, but you can see the original video at the source if you wish (Michelle)