Robert Pattinson Dons a Top Hat for 'Bel Ami'

With few exceptions, Robert Pattinson has spent much of his career playing the awkward guy, whether it’s the quirky Salvador Dali in Little Ashes, the self-obsessed Art in How to Be, or even Twilight’s Edward, where he enters into a relationship with a girl he wants to eat. But Bel Ami is the big role that just might define Pattinson’s career. In the adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s novel, he plays Georges Duroy, a loverboy who achieves Parisian power by manipulating a long string of rich and powerful mistresses. There’s really no room for awkwardness when seduction is the name of the game.

The pic to the right is one of Just Jared’s handful of top-hatted regal-wear shots caught during night scenes shot in Budapest, Hungary on April 1st. As Duroy “travels through 1890s Paris, from cockroach ridden garrets to opulent salons, using his wits and powers of seduction to rise from poverty to wealth,” (synopsis) he finds Uma Thurman’s Madeleine, Kristin Scott Thomas’ Virginie, and Christina Ricci’s Clotilde.

Can he hold his own against these women? Time will tell. The film is slated to hit theaters next year.

Cinematical