Robert Pattinson to Work With David Cronenberg

Robert Pattinson to Work With David Cronenberg

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

It’s still far too early to call Robert Pattinson a skilled actor, and anyone who has seen his work in the “Twilight” films knows that there is good reason to be skeptical of his abilities as a thespian, but he at least deserves credit for trying to branch out of the teen idol role. His upcoming part in “Water for Elephants” looks as though it still might rely on his charm more than his talent, but interesting news from Deadline tells us that he’s also set to work with bizarro director David Cronenberg in an adaptation of slightly-less-bizarro but still somewhat nutty author Don Delillo’s “Cosmopolis.”

The novel’s protagonist, to be played by Pattinson, is a brilliant young asset manager who, throughout the course of one day, travels throughout Manhattan while losing his multi-billion dollar fortune, perhaps intentionally.

Sounds like unusual territory for Cronenberg, who’s better known for physically frightening horror or, more recently, extreme violence, but it also sounds like it’s appropriate given today’s social climate. A movie about a rich guy losing all his money? If that’s not a crowd-pleaser these days, who knows what is.

There’s also rumors that Paul Giamatti and Marion Cotillard are to appear in the film, though those reports are not verified.

Well, good for Pattinson, looking into an interesting role like this. With a great director behind the camera and a great author giving us the source material, maybe it will add a little more legitimacy to a career that up until this point has had him do little more than exploit adolescent female hormones.

On the other hand, Cronenberg was rumored to be developing a sequel to his London gangster picture, “Easter Promises,” and while whether or not that film warranted a second installment is up for debate, we’d sure as hell see it if he made it. Hopefully that’s not out of the question just yet.