Robert Pattinson is in talks to run away with the circus, joining the already-attached Reese Witherspoon on Water For Elephants, Francis Lawrence's adaptation of Sarah Gruen's novel. According to Deadline Hollywood, Sean Penn is also circling the project.
The story, set during the American Depression, is about the recently orphaned Jacob, who takes up with the misfits and freaks at the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show On Earth as a vet, falling in love with the married star-of-the-show Marlena (Witherspoon), and with Rosie the elephant (The latter relationship is, we're hoping, purely platonic).
Trouble is, Marlane is married to the nutcase animal trainer August: reportedly the role that Penn is interested in.
The plan is to get this in front of the cameras before Pattinson rubs on the sparkle again for Breaking Dawn. Penn is attached to The Three Stooges, but that won't go ahead until MGM's problems are resolved. And Francis Lawrence aparently always planned to make this before he moved onto Sgt Rock. It looks like the fates are aligning.
The novel is bookended with scenes of a much older Jacob relating the events from his nursing home, so we could be looking at some Benjamin Button style ageing of Pattinson. He's used to playing 108, so 90 should be a doddle, surely?