“Twilight” fans might be tempted to expand their literary horizons with this news from Screen Daily: Robert Pattinson (aka Edward Cullen) will be starring in “Bel Ami,” the adaptation of a story from high school English class mainstay Guy de Maupassant. Set in Belle Époque-era Paris, “Bel Ami” follows Patterson’s journalist who sleeps his way to the top of the city’s elite society. Frequent period-dress donner Nicole Kidman will play his love interest.
For those worried about a staid, corset-bound period drama, the source material’s sexy slant should provide plenty of interest for contemporary audiences. Sadly, Pattinson will be sans glitter if he strips down, but at least he won’t be wearing that mustache he bore as Salvador Dali in arthouse offering “Little Ashes.” Kidman has been bombing at the box office for the better part of a decade. Could Pattinson’s rising star (and rabid fan base) be the start of a turnaround?
Theater directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod are making their big-screen debut with the production that starts shooting in February 2010. Donnellan and Ormerod join the hallowed group of theater-directors-turned-filmmakers populated by fellow Brits Sam Mendes and Stephen Daldry.