Robert Pattinson is ready to get his “Mad Max” on with veteran Guy Pearce in the upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller “The Rover,” from “Animal Kingdom” director David Michôd.
A tense, atmospheric new teaser reveals the film’s futuristic Australian setting, where society has collapsed and guns, fists and cars seem to be the extent of social interaction. Against this dystopian backdrop, a gang of criminals rob a desperate man (Pearce) of his sole remaining possession, and he goes on a dangerous quest to get it back, no matter what the cost. Along the way, he picks up an injured member of the gang who was left behind (Pattinson).
Watch the teaser here:
“Animal Kingdom” was a masterpiece of tension, and Michod seems to be working much in the same vein here. The teaser offers gorgeous twilit widescreen vistas, some spooky piano music, a brief car chase and Pearce’s rich voiceover.
Scoot McNairy, Anthony Hayes, Gillian Jones, Susan Prior, Nash Edgerton, David Field and Jamie Fallon also star.
Pearce has done the post-apocalyptic thing before, popping up in “The Road,” and he’s certainly at home in bleak, dusty Aussie locales, as seen in “The Proposition.” He recently terrorized Robert Downey Jr. in “Iron Man 3.”
Meanwhile, Pattinson seems to be distancing himself from the “Twilight” films as much as he can. He’ll soon reunite with his “Cosmopolis” director David Cronenberg for “Maps To the Stars,” and will play Lawrence of Arabia alongside Nicole Kidman and James Franco in Werner Herzog’s “Queen of the Desert.”
“The Rover” will cruise to screens this summer.