Robert Pattinson has spent the last decade since his time at the forefront of The Twilight Saga ended reinventing himself as one of the most interesting young talents in the business, and it would be fair to say that he’s managed to pull it off with aplomb.
The 35 year-old has worked hard to distance himself from his career’s breakout role, deliberately making it impossible to pigeonhole him as an actor. However, insider Daniel Richtman is now offering that upcoming blockbuster sequel Tomb Raider 2 is seeking a “Robert Pattinson-type” to play the part of Rourke, a mercenary who will presumably toe the line between friend, foe and potential love interest for Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft.
That’s a vague casting call if ever there was one, especially when it doesn’t specify what Pattinson-esque means in this instance. Is it the suave and debonair version from Christopher Nolan’s Tenet? His brooding and damaged Bruce Wayne from The Batman? The deranged drunk who peed his pants for real in The Lighthouse? Or the guy that holds a bizarre reputation for frequently playing characters who masturbate on screen, which numbers four films and counting?
Given that we’re talking about the big budget sequel to a PG-13 effort that hauled in close to $275 million at the box office, that first one is definitely the safest bet if Tomb Raider 2 is indeed looking for a male lead cut from the Pattinson cloth. All we know about the project so far, though, is that Vikander will be back to raid another tomb, with Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green hired to write and direct earlier this year after Ben Wheatley dropped out due to the uncertainty created by the Coronavirus pandemic, but pre-production is in full swing now and as such, casting might not be too far off.
