What is it with grim literary giants partnering with champion directors these days? Yesterday it was Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy. Today comes news of David Cronenberg tackling the tangled material of Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis. Cronenberg did his career a real solid when he broke from the “grand guignol of sexual perversion” genre and into the “crime” genre, and there’s little doubt he’ll do justice to Cosmopolis‘ vision of twisted Manhattan.
I lost no faith in this vision even after learning that the lead in Cosmopolis will be Robert Pattinson. Edward Cullen will lose his sparkle when under Cronenberg’s seamy hand.
Why am I so certain? Like any good gambler, I’m going to the track record.
Answer me this – what has Robert Pattinson done beyond stand in the soft-focus spotlight of Twilight? Less than half an hour of screen time in Harry Potter? Nothing much beside that? Exactly.
This kid may be known to billions, but he’s still an unknown quantity. Sure, his agent has shoe-horned him into brand-friendly heart-throb roles like Water for Elephants and Remember Me. Those don’t test his mettle, though. They’re tailor-made to do just the opposite: Deliver the role expected.
It’s when an actor breaks the mold that we see their worth – or lack thereof. Witness Adam Sandler’s struggles to wrest himself into dismal dramas. Then balance the scales with what going from Big to Philadelphia did for Tom Hanks’ career.
The role for Pattinson in Cosmopolis is far from indestructible. The synopsis describes it as “a billionaire Wall Street broker travelling on a odyssey through Manhattan to get a haircut.” I’d describe it as a Big Apple Ulysses, soaked in sex, assassins, Oedipal complex and more sex.
Bottom line: This ain’t your tween’s Mormon soft-core we’re talking here, folks.
Point being, until he fills a frame that isn’t fit for the cover of Tiger Beat magazine, Robert Pattinson is a big question mark for us. Cronenberg, however, is a Pygmalion when it comes to grinding and chipping actors into something more we expect of them. Viggo Mortensen would still be wearing leather armor in the mind’s eye of audiences if not for Cronenberg’s keen method of capturing his brilliance.
So when will it be Robert Pattinson’s time to truly shine – or, rather, finally sweat, bleed and weep? Falcom, a Swiss distributor, just snatched German and Austrian distribution on Cosmopolis. That’s as good as minted that we’ll see the film here in the States sometime this year.
Keep an eye out for it to show up here in the US just before the Mayan apocalypse comes a knocking. And keep an eye on Pattinson, too. The world’s willowiest vampire could be reborn bad-ass.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Oscar Bound? "Not Likely," Says Academy Source
"I don't think it's going to happen," a source involved in the Oscar preproduction tell us.
WTF?! It's not like it's a totally crazy notion: Both Rob and Kristen have attended the swanky event before. Rob (looking scruffy sexy even on the chicest of evenings) attended in 2009 and presented a tribute to romance with Amanda Seyfried . And K.Stew the next year—donning a stunning navy Monique Lhullier gown—when she presented a tribute to horror with wolfy costar Taylor Lautner. And if they were ever to attend (ya know, short of being nominated at some unknown point in the future), it'd make sense to do it now: Rob's lusty flick Bel Ami hits theaters a few days after the Academy Awards and Kristen has Snow White and the Huntsman hitting theaters in the summer. Of course, there's also Breaking Dawn Part 2.
But still, our Academy know-all says, "It's not likely."
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- Buy (UK)
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Twilight (2008)- Trailer - Buy(US)
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Little Ashes (2008) -Trailer - Buy(US) - Buy (UK) 
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The Haunted Airman (TV)(2006) - Trailer - Buy(US)
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) - Trailer - Buy(US) - Buy(UK)
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Vanity Fair (2004)(uncredited) - watch 
