Robert Pattinson has signed on for his first big post-"Twilight" lead role.

The actor is set to star in David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis." According to Deadline, Pattinson will play Eric Packer in the futuristic film, an adaptation of the novel by Don DeLillo.

In the film version, Packer is described as "a financial wunderkind," who risks his entire fortune to bet against Japan's yen on a tumultuous day. His chancy move puts him in mortal danger. The flick is said to be "a drama that is a study of capitalism in a slightly futuristic metropolis."

The novel is a modern reinterpretation of James Joyce's classic "Ulysses," set in New York City in the year 2000, around the burst of the dot-com bubble. Most of the action in the book takes place over the course of one day, in the limousine Packer takes to his various errands.

Other stars rumored to have signed up for the project include "Inception" star Marion Cotillard and Paul Giamatti. Deadline reported that Pattinson wanted the role because he is a big fan of Cronenberg's work and an admirer of DeLillo's books.

The "Twilight" superstar is still hard at work on the vampire franchise. He'll appear again as Edward Cullen in the two-part finale "Breaking Dawn," the first of which opens in November. But up next, he'll hit the big screen in the Depression-era romance "Water for Elephants," alongside Reese Witherspoon.

Acknowledging what millions of Pattinson fans already know,

[article id="1653614"]Witherspoon recently gushed to MTV News[/article] that her co-star is "extraordinarily attractive."

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