Robert Pattinson Cast in Saddam Hussein Movie: Goodbye Edward Cullen, Hello 'Mission: Blacklist'

Sorry, Twi-hards, looks like Robert Pattinson is moving further away from Edward Cullen and his sparkly skin.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the 25-year-old heartthrob has been hired to star in Mission: Blacklist, a psychological thriller based on the real-life story of the 2003 hunt for Saddam Hussein.

Pattinson will play Eric Maddox, the military interrogator who led to the capture of the Iraqi leader.

The film's screenplay, written by Erik Jendresen (Band of Brothers), is an adaptation of Maddox's 2008 book, Mission: Black List #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein -- As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture.

This movie is a gripping, edge of your seat thriller, Ross M. Dinerstein, one of the film's producers, told Deadline on Wednesday.

I have been inspired by Robert and Jean-Stéphane's dedication to tell this story in the most authentic way possible, and I'm thrilled to add Hugo and Tim to our team, he added.

Dinerstein is referring to Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, who will serve as director on Mission: Blacklist and Hugo Grumbar and Tim Haslam, the faces behind Embankment Films. According to Deadline, Embankment Films will shop around the film at the upcoming Cannes Film Market.

As Pattinson prepares for life after Twilight, his professional career is filling up with more serious dramas, with this year's release of Bel Ami, opposite Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci, and David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis.

In career terms 'Twilight' was like a security blanket . . . not a blanket, a safety net. I had a three-or-four month window between each one during which I could do another job. But whatever I did I knew that I'd have another 'Twilight' movie on the way, which is theoretically guaranteed to make a lot of money, Pattinson told The Observer back in November, when The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1 came out.

If I decide to one day stop acting, I just hate the idea of people going, 'Oh, did you ever do anything else besides that 'Twilight' thing?' he added.

Looks like he'll have more than one respectable non-Twilight film to choose from, if that question ever comes up.

The final Twilight film adaptation, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2, opens this November.