EXCLUSIVE: As packages firm up for AFM, here’s one that will surely reverberate in Santa Monica. Robert Pattinson is signing on to star with Carey Mulligan in Hold On To Me. The film will be directed by James Marsh, who won an Oscar for the docu Man On Wire and followed with Project Nim. Pic is based on a true story about a femme fatale who with her boyfriend kidnaps and ransoms the town’s richest man. They bury him in a box and things go horribly awry. Pattinson plays the flashy supporting role of the woman’s life love, Jimmy, who isn’t involved in the crime. The project was scripted by Brad Ingelsby.

Alexandra Milchan is producing with Indian Paintbrush‘s Steven Rales, Mark Roybal and Michael Pruss. Also producing is Todd Field, who originally developed the film to direct but stepped off to helm Creed Of Violence for Cross Creek.

Pattinson adds this to an early 2013 schedule that will have him starring opposite Guy Pearce in the David Michod-directed The Rover, and he is also starring in Mission Blacklist, the true story of the U.S. military interrogator responsible for discovering the location of Saddam Hussein in the hunt for the fallen leader. He is repped by WME and 3 Arts.