Robert Pattinson to Star in Netflix Serial Killer Movie

Robert Pattinson will star in director Adam McKay‘s next star-studded Netflix movie, Average Height, Average Build. The Batman actor was cast as a serial killer in the new black comedy, alongside Robert Downey Jr., Forest Whitaker, Amy Adams, and Danielle Deadwyler. This will be McKay’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated apocalypse comedy Don’t Look Up. 

The plot kicks into motion when Pattinson’s serial killer hires a lobbyist to change laws so he can easily get away with his murders. Meanwhile, a retired police officer will not stop until he puts the killer behind bars. The killer winds up becoming a hero in Washington while hiding his true motives. Adams will play the lobbyist while Downey is the retired police officer, reports Deadline. Adams is the only member of the cast to have worked with McKay before, as she starred in Vice.

McKay wrote the script and will direct it. He is producing under his Hyperobject Industries banner with Kevin Missick. Although McKay’s Don’t Look Up received a mixed critical response, the all-star comedy was a big hit for Netflix, logging 360 million hours during its first 28 days of release. The movie earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. McKay and David Sirota won Best Original Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America awards.

The director plans to begin filming in Boston later this summer, reports The Hollywood Reporter. He hired cinematographer Todd Banhazl, who worked with McKay on HBO’s Winning Time. McKay had trouble finding a home for Average Height, Average Build because studios and other streamers balked at the cost. Even Apple, which has a first-look deal with the filmmaker, was not interested in backing it.

McKay shot to fame as Will Ferrell’s go-to collaborator, directing the Saturday Night Live veteran in the hits Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys, and Anchorman 2. In 2015, he shifted gears with The Big Short, a black comedy about the start of the 2007-2008 financial crisis that won him and Charles Randolph the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. His Dick Cheney biopic Vice was also an awards magnet, winning the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. McKay is an executive producer on HBO’s Succession, which just finished its final season.