You've got to give it up to Robert Pattinson. Never content to rest on his Twilight fame, the actor has been taking on increasingly challenging roles with some of the best directors around. We've seen him take on Mission: Blacklist, in which he plays a man hunting Osama Bin Laden, and he also signed up for The Rover, from Animal Kingdom director David Michod. Not bad, but it's about to get even better.
Pattinson will play one of the most iconic figures in history as part of Werner Herzog's Gertrude Bell biopic, Queen of the Desert. Naomi Watts will play the controversial writer, world traveler, explorer, political activist, spy, and attache to the British Empire, who used her influence to help set oil policy in the Middle East. So who will Pattinson be, exactly? T.E. Lawrence, whose activities during WWI earned him the name 'Lawrence of Arabia' and obviously inspired the 1962 movie. Lawrence and Bell were instrumental in establishing the Hashemite dynasties in Jordan and Iraq.
David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis is next on the list for Pattinson, with the film set to open in just a few days. After seeming to be stuck in traction, Queen of the Desert is now on the fast track as production begins this fall. [Variety]
