Robert Pattinson heading to film new movie The Rover in South Australian Outback
TWILIGHT star Robert Pattinson is ready to call South Australia home in 2013 in the local film industry's biggest coup to date.
The actor, who has a mass worldwide fan base thanks to The Twilight Saga films, will play a thief in the Outback in Animal Kingdom director David Michod's futuristic western The Rover.
Guy Pearce has also been confirmed for the shoot, which will start in South Australia in late January next year.
Michod and producer Liz Watts scouted locations across SA, including the Flinders Ranges, earlier this month.
Flinders Ranges Mayor Peter Slattery said it would be a treat if Pattinson were in the region during the seven-week on-location shoot. Another two weeks will be shot at the Adelaide Studios.
"I daresay it would induce a bit of excitement in the area," he said. "The spin-off effect is that the attention on them cross-promotes the area that we're in. We certainly would be most enthused about him coming."
Pattinson will have the choice of SA's best Outback hospitality, from Wilpena Pound, luxury homestead Arkaba Station and Rawnsley Park Luxury Eco Villas to iconic tourist destination the Prairie Hotel in Parachilna.
Pattinson's involvement was announced the same day his girlfriend and Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart made a public apology for cheating on him with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.
But the star will have to continue to the front the media as he and Stewart do the publicity rounds for the last instalment in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part 2, due out in November.
The South Australian Film Corp has invested $450,000 in the project, which was approved in the latest round of Screen Australia funding.
The Rover's overall funding budget is $12,250,000.
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