Rob Teams With Rosario Dawson For ‘Parts Per Billion’

Sure, we’ve devoted ample time to “Little Ashes” and “How to Be,” two long-ago-wrapped indie films that should hit theaters in 2009, marking Robert Pattinson’s first appearances after his “Twilight” breakthrough. But now all eyes are on “Parts Per Billion,” the first film that the 22-year-old leading man will shoot as a certified star.

“It’s an ensemble story,” explained Rosario Dawson, who will also appear in the film alongside Olivia Thirlby and Dennis Hopper when it begins shooting next month. “[The script features several] different storylines that are going on.”

Directed by newcomer Brian Horiuchi, “Billion” tells the story of three couples (including Pattinson and Thirlby) dealing with the same reality-shaking event that threatens to tear them apart. Pattinson will shoot “Billion” before he reports for duty on the “Twilight” sequel “New Moon,” and the film is expected to be released in late 2009/early 2010.

“I don’t have a relationship to him in the film,” Dawson said of RPattz. “So we never meet. But we’re all within the same group of people, and the same city of people, that are responding to a life-threatening situation.”

The “Sin City” and “Clerks II” star (who will next be seen in the Will Smith drama “Seven Pounds”), also revealed to us that she’s been keeping a close eye on the “Twilight” phenomenon – and her future co-star – as both have spent the last few weeks running amok on the world of pop culture. “I haven’t met him yet, but I’m really looking forward to it,” she explained, adding another reason why she’s a newly-minted “Twilight” fan herself: “Catherine Hardwicke is someone I really adore, and have been casual friends with over the years.”

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