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| photo from Stefan de Troyes - Twitter
For those of us still cartwheeling over the fact that Cosmopolis has an Aussie release date of 30 August 2012, ICON Film Distribution emailed Robert Pattinson Australia to let them know they were officially announcing it on their Facebook page.
First look at COSMOPOLIS
New York City, not-too-distant-future: Eric Packer, a 28 year-old finance golden boy dreaming of living in a civilization ahead of this one, watches a dark shadow cast over the firmament of the Wall Street galaxy, of which he is the uncontested king. As he is chauffeured across midtown Manhattan to get a haircut at his… father’s old barber, his anxious eyes are glued to the yuan’s exchange rate: it is mounting against all expectations, destroying Eric’s bet against it. Eric Packer is losing his empire with every tick of the clock. Meanwhile, an eruption of wild activity unfolds in the city’s streets. Petrified as the threats of the real world infringe upon his cloud of virtual convictions, his paranoia intensifies during the course of his 24-hour cross-town odyssey. Packer starts to piece together clues that lead him to a most terrifying secret: his imminent assassination.”
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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 ofTwilight? 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 onCosmopolis. 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.
Source 1: Stefan de Troyes - Twitter
Source 2: Criminal Complex
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