EXCLUSIVE: Robert Pattinson has booked his first major lead for when he completes The Twilight Saga. Pattinson will star in Cosmopolis, the Don DeLillo novel adaptation that David Cronenberg wrote and will direct. Pattinson, who just starred with Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz in Fox 2000’s Francis Lawrence-directed adaptation of the Sara Gruen novel Water For Elephants, will play Eric Packer. A financial wunderkind, Packer risks his entire fortune to bet against the yen on a tumultuous day. His deed puts him in the crosshairs for assassination in a drama that is a study of capitalism in a slightly futuristic metropolis. Most of the scenes in the book take place in the limousine that transports Packer from place to place. Marion Cotillard and Paul Giamatti are also reportedly doing the film, but those same reports had Colin Farrell poised to take the lead role.

As Pattinson and his Twilight Saga castmates plan their careers after the series is completed–Bill Condon is directing the final film right now, Pattinson is following a path based on strong filmmakers and tasteful source material. He took the role because he is a big fan of Cronenberg’s work and an admirer of DeLillo’s books. He’s repped by WME and 3 Arts.