All credit to Robert Pattinson – he’s clearly not looking to be pigeonholed now his commitment to the Twilight saga is complete. The actor has just been announced as the star of Jean-Stephane Sauvaire’s military thriller Mission: Blacklist.

With all the talk of Kathryn Bigelow’s Bin Laden drama Zero Dark Thirty, there has been little thought for one of America’s former top targets, the former Iraqi leader who was tracked down in 2003 and executed in 2006.

Now Sauvaire is looking to change that, working from a script by Band Of Brothers writer-producer Erik Jendresen, who has adapted Eric Maddox’s book Mission Black List #1. Maddox was the interrogator who spearheaded the hunt for Hussein, and will likely be a consultant on the movie.

The rights will be for sale at Cannes this year, and with Pattinson in town promoting David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis the timing couldn’t be better.

Cosmopolis is still awaiting a UK release date (we guess that’ll be announced at some point during Cannes), but Pattinson will definitely be seen in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, which we know a few of you are waiting to see. That’ll arrive on November 16.