What have we here? Another biopic trailer? About an influential individual whose rise to fame ended in tragedy? Who was already the subject of a biopic? If you’re not yet enthralled by that strikingly new idea, perhaps another unheard-of conceit will catch your interest: the life of that influential individual is seen through his interactions with a photojournalist who’s profiling him. The wheels of innovation are turning!
The new trailer for Life, the James Dean biopic starring Robert Pattinson as LIFE photographer Dennis Stock (who was known for capturing many of the most famous images of Dean) and Dane DeHaan as Dean, exhibits some potentially exciting performances, while lacking much in the way of transcendence of biopic tropes. However, the official description seems to at least want to sell it as first and foremost examining “the nuances and complexities of the relationship between photographer and subject in a way rarely seen or understood by someone outside the business,” perhaps more than being a glorifying replication of a celebrity…but then The Guardian‘s review criticized it for being exactly that, calling it a “waxworky piece of American icon worship.”
The film, which is directed by A Most Wanted Man’s Anton Corbijn, and which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, will be out in theaters on September 25 in the UK (it has US distribution, though a date has not yet been set).
Watch the trailer (via Dazed):