Rob Pattinson Joining Carey Mulligan in 'Hold On to Me'

THR  James Marsh, the filmmaker behind the acclaimed documentary 'Man on a Wire,' is on board to direct the thriller, which will be seeking funding when it sells at AFM.
Rob Pattinson is coming on aboard Hold On to Me, a thriller being developed by Indian Paintbrush that will likely be a hit sales title at the American Film Market.
As previously reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Carey Mulligan is attached to star in what was formerly titled Nancy and Danny. James Marsh, the filmmaker behind the acclaimed documentary Man on Wire, is on board to direct.

Set in a small town, the project concerns a money-hungry woman (Mulligan) whose big-city dreams failed. In order to land a high school crush, she uses a hapless man as a pawn in a get-rich-quick scheme that quickly goes wrong.

Pattinson would play the crush.

 Deadline 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 byJames 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.

filmschoolrejects  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 inMission 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.

 The film, formerly known as Nancy and Danny, has had Carey Mulligan attached for months, but Deadline Hollywood now reports that Robert Pattinson has signed on to co-star. So what sort of hijinks are these two little crumpets going to get up to with each other?

Oh, bad ones. Very bad ones indeed.

Penned by Brad Ingelsby (who also wrote Scott Cooper’s upcoming Out of the Furnace), the film 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.” Naughty Mulligan! And while it would certainly seem as if Pattinson would be playing that boyfriend role, the outlet notes that instead he is set to play “the flashy supporting role of the woman’s life love, Jimmy, who isn’t involved in the crime.” While we’re not sure exactly what a “life love” is, it’s nice to know that old Pattycakes isn’t going to kidnap or kill anyone.

Mulligan joined the film back in August when all we knew was that the project was about “a scheming woman who comes back to her hometown after her plans to make it in the big city fail. Once back, she wastes no time scheming to land a high school crush, using people as pawns, and involving herself in get rich quick schemes that go terribly wrong.” You know what can go wrong really quickly? Kidnapping.

While we don’t know for sure just which “true story” the film is based on, over at ComingSoon , they’re guessing that it might be the Samuel Bronfman II case from 1975, when the son of the (very wealthy) Seagram Company president was taken, with his abductors first asking for a giant $4.6m ransom. That case, however, had its own little twist, and doesn’t seem like a likely pick to inspire this film, at least from what we’ve heard about it so far. If we’re wrong, though, then Hold On To Me will pack one heck of a surprise.

 empireonline How quickly things change. Or at least, titles change. It was just a couple of months ago that Carey Mulligan was circling the lead in Nancy And Danny,the tale of a woman who turns to crime to win over the man of her dreams. Now it’s called Hold On To Me, and while it still boasts Mulligan in the lead,it'll also come packing some Pattinson power. 

Robert Pattinson (for it is he) has signed on to co-star in the film, which Man On Wire / Project Nim’s James Marsh is directing.

Hold On To Me is based on a true story about a woman (Mulligan) who has seen her big-city dreams collapse. She plots to kidnap her town’s richest man and pulls off the crime with her boyfriend. But after they bury him in a box, things start to go badly wrong.

Pattinson is on to play Mulligan’s high school sweetheart, a man she can’t quite ever get over. At least he has some experience in being the object of obsession…