Robert Pattinson Joins David Cronenberg’s COSMOPOLIS

In what must be considered a big step in his up-hill struggle to gain credibility outside of Twilight circles, Robert Pattinson has joined David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis.  Based on the Don Delillo novel of the same name, Cosmopolis has been adapted by Cronenberg and will follow a newlywed billionaire (Pattinson) over a 24 hour span in which he cheats on his wife, gets stalked, gets assaulted, and loses his fortune.  Hopefully, at some point, he also catches a nap because that is one action-packed day.

In addition to Pattinson, Cosmopolis will also star Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard as Pattinson’s wife and Oscar-nominee Paul Giamatti as one of Pattinson’s two stalkers.  Per THR, Pattinson is filling the role abandoned by Colin Farrell so that the latter can shoot the Total Recall remake that is scheduled to begin filming in mid-May (around the same time as Cosmopolis).  For more on the project, hit the jump to check out a plot summary for Delillo’s novel.

Here’s a plot summary for Delillo’s Cosmopolis [per Wikipedia]:

Cosmopolis is the story of Eric Packer, a 28 year old multi-billionaire asset manager who makes an odyssey across midtown Manhattan in order to get a haircut. The stretch limo which adorns the cover of the book is richly described as highly technical and very luxurious, filled with television screens and computer monitors, bulletproofed and floored with Carrara marble. It is also cork lined to eliminate (though unsuccessfully, Packer notes) the intrusion of street noise.

Like James Joyce’s Ulysses, Cosmopolis covers roughly one day of time and includes highly sexed women and the theme of father-son separation. Packer’s voyage is obstructed by various traffic jams caused by a presidential visit to the city, a funeral procession for a Sufi rap star and a full-fledged riot. Along the way, the hero has several chance meetings with his wife, seeing her in a taxi, a bookstore, and lying naked in the street, taking part in a movie as an extra. Meanwhile, Packer is stalked by two men, a comical “pastry assassin” and an unstable “credible threat”.

Through the course of the day, the protagonist loses incredible amounts of money for his clients by betting against the rise of the yen, a loss that parallels his own fall. Packer seems to relish being unburdened by the loss of so much money, even stopping to make sure he loses his wife’s fortune as well, to ensure his ruin is inevitable.