Robert Pattinson scores a role as Lawrence of Arabia in Queen of the Desert

Robert Pattinson doesn’t have time to be sad. The guy is getting praise for his performance in COSMOPOLIS, and now he’s scored himself a role in QUEEN OF THE DESERT.

No, not PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT, though that would be amusing.

Werner Herzog’s QUEEN OF THE DESERT centers on Gertrude Bel’s life, “as a writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political attache for the British Empire. One of the first women to graduate from Oxford at the turn of the 20th century, she traveled through the Middle East, defining the borders of Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.” Naomi Watts is attached to play Bell.

Pattinson will play, “T.E. Lawrence, a British Army officer whose writing earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, on whom David Lean’s classic 1962 epic is based. Lawrence was a good friend to Bell over the years, as the duo helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in Jordan and Iraq.”

Good for him. Sometimes a franchise like TWILIGHT can really hurt the career of an actor, but he seems to be breaking out.

Production is set to begin late this Fall.