Robert Pattinson Says Heading Into Non-'Twilight' Territory Is 'Scary'

He talks about 'Bel Ami' and 'Unbound Captives'

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'You're expected to come into the movie and provide not only economic viability, but also a performance,' he says.

With the #1 movie in the world bearing his name above the title and Hollywood's hottest scripts lining his doorstep, it's a good time to be Robert Pattinson. Not that the 23-year-old star has had much chance to enjoy it, as he recently told us he only received "three days off" in 2009, and 2010 looks even busier.

Recently, MTV Radio caught up with the man beloved by millions as Edward Cullen to discuss his plans for the new year — from "Breaking Dawn" and beyond.

"I've only done one movie outside of the 'Twilight' series, 'Remember Me,' " Rob said of his first true post-fame project, a March 12 romantic drama opposite Emilie de Ravin whose shoot was most notable for its security issues. "But even that I did with the same studio, so I guess I'm still a little bit blind as to what my actual economic viability will be outside of the series."

Undoubtedly, all eyes will be on "Remember Me" when it tests RPattz's box-office clout in a few months. Following that and June's "Eclipse," his fans will have some other high-profile flicks to look out for.

"I think the tentative time for 'Breaking Dawn' is fall next year," Rob said of the fourth "Twilight" novel, which might be split into two films. "Depending on how things go, I'm doing a movie called 'Bel Ami' in February, an adaption to a Guy de Maupassant novel. And I'm doing — I hope — a Western with Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman called 'Unbound Captives' sometime around there as well. They've got to try and juggle things around until everybody's schedules work."

Rob said he was eager to play the "Unbound Captives" role because it's unlike anything he's done before. "I'm playing a kid who was kidnapped by Comanche [warriors] when he was 4 years old. And he was brought up by them, and then his mother spends her entire life trying to find me and my sister," he said of Weisz's vengeful-mom role. "When she finds us, we can't remember who she is and can't remember anything about the Western culture which she grew up in.

"It's like, you can't really be more different from Edward," he added. "I actually signed on to that after I'd done 'Twilight,' in the summer after I'd finished [shooting]. It was really before anything had happened [to make me famous]. I wasn't even really thinking about it.

"It's just a cool script," Pattinson said of the film, drawing comparisons to the classic final movie featuring the star he is most often compared to: James Dean. "It reminds me in a lot of ways of 'Giant,' which is one of my favorite movies. So I think that's why I responded to it."

Already booked pretty solidly for the next year, Rob said he'll continue to read new scripts and look for other parts that might catch his attention — even if there are some facets of his newfound fame that undermine the process.

"It's definitely different," he said of being a famous actor as opposed to a struggling one. "You get offered stuff that you would never dream of getting offered before, but that's also scary. You don't have to audition for anything. [But] I don't want to do a movie just so it gets made. ... You have to question yourself a lot more.

"Before 'Twilight,' I did any movie that I got [offered], and you'd try and make the best of it afterwards," he explained. "But now, you're expected to come into the movie and provide not only economic viability, but also a performance as well. You can't just mess around. People are like, 'We're employing you to be here, as a star and an actor.' It's difficult, and it's scary."

MTV