Perhaps you've heard, but Robert Pattinson is busy filming The Batman. He's getting everyone talking about that camera test with the Batsuit, plus all the stunt photos leaking from set. Since filming just started in January 2020 for the movie's June 2021 release date, we're going to be talking about The Batman for a long time. But what's next for Pattinson?
Robert Pattinson already filmed Christopher Nolan's Tenet, and The Devil All the Time with Tom Holland and Sebastian Stan. As for his next film project, it sounds like it's a reunion with his High Life director Claire Denis. They are making a romance/thriller called The Stars at Noon, co-starring Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Margaret Qualley.
Yes, Robert Pattinson and Margaret Qualley. The new Batman and the new IT star in a romantic thriller. Sign me up now!
The Stars at Noon is based on the 1986 novel by Denis Johnson. According to Deadline, A24 nabbed the North American rights to the indie film, which is set in 1984 during the Nicaraguan Revolution. The movie follows a mysterious English businessman and headstrong American journalist who strike up a passionate romance. The two --presumably played by Brit Robert Pattinson and American Margaret Qualley -- soon become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country, with only each other to trust and rely on.
Claire Denis is said to be adapting the novel with Lea Mysius and Andrew Litvack. The Stars at Noon aims to start filming later in 2020, presumably some point after The Batman finishes production.
French writer/director Claire Denis co-wrote and directed the acclaimed but under-seen sci-fi movie High Life, which starred Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche. The Stars at Noon definitely sounds like a departure from The Batman but it does seem to be Pattinson's pattern to balance big movies like Twilight, Tenet, and The Batman with smaller independent films. In 2019, Pattinson's eclectic filmography included The Lighthouse, The King, and Waiting for Barbarians -- a film he made with Johnny Depp that still somehow didn't get a wide release.
Margaret Qualley, though. I already loved her from HBO's The Leftovers, and she also impressed on Fosse/Verdon. She was a breakout star of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Pussycat, opposite Brad Pitt. She also stars in My Salinger Year, which just premiered at the Berlin film festival this week. Oh and she's the daughter of actress Andie MacDowell? I love that that's the last thing I learned about her, instead of the first.
At least with A24 getting the rights to The Stars at Noon, the movie has a chance to have a serious theatrical release. Look at the record year the studio just had with Adam Sandler's Uncut Gems. This 1984 movie set during the Nicaraguan Revolution may be a bit more niche, but with Robert Pattinson and Margaret Qualley as the leads, it should at least attract the Batman fans and the Tarantino buffs. Here's hoping, anyway.
There's no word yet on when The Stars at Noon will release, but it's possible it'll have a quicker turnaround than The Batman, which is scheduled to open in theaters June 25, 2021.
