New Project! Rob to star in Hold On To Me with Carey Mulligan

From Deadline

As packages firm up for AFM, here’s one that will surely reverberate in Santa Monica. Robert Pattinson is signing on to star with Carey Mulligan in Hold On To Me. The film will be directed by James Marsh, who won an Oscar for the docu Man On Wire and followed with Project Nim.

Pic is based on a true story about a femme fatale who with her boyfriend kidnaps and ransoms the town’s richest man. They bury him in a box and things go horribly awry. Pattinson plays the flashy supporting role of the woman’s life love, Jimmy, who isn’t involved in the crime. The project was scripted by Brad Ingelsby.

Indian Paintbrush’s Steven Rales, Mark Roybal and Michael Pruss are producing with Alexandra Milchan. Also producing is Todd Field, who originally developed the film to direct, but stepped off to helm Creed of Violence for Cross Creek.

Pattinson adds this to an early 2013 schedule that will have him starring opposite Guy Pearce in the David Michod-directed The Rover, and he is also starring in Mission Blacklist, the true story of the U.S. military interrogator responsible for discovering the location of Saddam Hussein in the hunt for the fallen leader. He is repped by WME and 3 Arts.

From The Playlist

Pattinson will join Carey Mulligan in the previously announced "Nancy And Danny" which is now called "Hold On To Me." But this isn't some swoony romance. Pennedy by Brad Ingelsby ("Out Of The Furnace"), and set to be directed by James Marsh ("Project Nim," "Shadow Dancer") the story follows a money hungry woman, whose life didn't turn out the way she wanted, who uses a man as a pawn to help land her high school crush in a get-rich-quick scheme. And that plan is to bury the town's richest man in box and hold him for ransom, but of course, things don't go as their supposed to.

The film also brings Pattinson into the orbit of another great filmmaker, Todd Field, who is producing the project after being originally attached to direct (he's now focusing on "The Creed Of Violence"). Now before anyone gets too excited, this is a package project headed to the American Film Market which means if it doesn't get some decent pre-sales, it ain't gonna happen. But Pattinson is clearly done with blockbusters for the moment, and we like everyone involved, and given the talent on board, we don't see why this can't make a planned 2013 shoot.

From The Wrap

Robert Pattinson may sink his fangs into "Hold On to Me," his manager told TheWrap.

The "Twilight" hunk is in talks to play Carey Mulligan's lover in the romantic drama, directed by James Marsh, who made the Oscar-winning documentary "Man on Wire." (according to eOnline's article just published, his rep confirmed he signed on to star in the movie)

In the film, Pattinson would play a character named Jimmy who is manipulated by the money-hungry social-climber portrayed by Mulligan. She hatches a plot to kidnap and bury the town's richest man. Suffice to say, things don't go as planned on the way to easy street.

Pattinson has become a teenage sex symbol thanks to his role as the brooding vampire in "Twilight," but he has shown an eagerness to avoid being typecast as Byronic objects of lust in an array of roles in indie films like David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis"(2012).

On deck for Pattinson are "The Rover," a futuristic western opposite Guy Pearce, and "Queen of the Desert," a historical drama that will find him playing T.E. Lawrence for Werner Herzog, the idiosyncratic director behind "Fitzcarraldo."

He will also stick on the pointy teeth once more in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2," which will start inducing mass-swooning among preadolescent girls on Nov. 16.