Famed sparkling vampire portrayer and ruffled hair enthusiast Robert Pattinson will not be playing grunge god Kurt Cobain, debunking earlier reports by the always unreliable British tabloid The Sun. The Sun also reported Scarlett Johansson had been tapped to portray Courtney Love, so color us surprised no one called The Sun’s bluff even earlier.
Pattinson is next scheduled to appear as Edward Cullen in the next Twilight abomination, followed by a leading role in “Bel Ami”, in which he’ll play George Duroy, a sexy social climber in turn-of-the-century, 1890s Paris, who seduces his way to wealth and fame from a poor beginning. Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Cristina Ricci co-star. He will also star as Jacob Jankowski in the high-profile adaptation “Water For Elephants,” based on the novel by Sara Gruen, starring Reese Witherspoon and the inimitable Christoph Waltz and directed by Francis Lawrence.
The last official word on the gestating Cobain biopic is that Oren Moverman is/was in talks to helm the picture. Moverman is the director of last year’s “The Messenger”, which we thought was a “captivating, fierce and a must-see film that while perhaps not entirely flawless (what is, really) will take your breath away more than once in a few crucial and agonizing scenes.” While you’re waiting for your heart shaped box, give that film a rental if you haven’t seen it. -Mark Zhuravsky