Between limo trips with David Cronenberg, Robert Pattinson has kept himself busy playing real-life figures for name-brand directors: T.E. Lawrence in Werner Herzog’s forthcoming Queen Of The Desert; photographer Dennis Stock in Anton Corbijn’s James Dean movie Life; and an undisclosed supporting role in James Gray’s The Lost City Of Z, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Percival Fawcett, the British explorer who disappeared in the jungles of Brazil in 1925.
But though the obvious next step would be playing Elvis for onetime hair-buddy David Lynch, Pattinson has instead opted to play the lead in Olivier Assayas’ Idol’s Eye. Pattinson and Assayas announced the film—formerly titled Hubris, and originally conceived as a project for director Todd Field—in Cannes, where both have films playing in competition. (Coincidentally, Assayas’ movies, Clouds Of Sils Maria, features Pattinson’s Twilight co-star, Kristen Stewart.)
Idol’s Eye is based on the true story of a group of criminals who accidentally robbed a mafia-owned store in the 1970s. The film—Assayas’ first American production—is set to begin shooting in Chicago in the fall.