Robert Pattinson flies in for red-carpet premiere of The Rover

MOVIE heart-throb Robert Pattinson will fly to Australia next month to attend a red-carpet premiere of The Rover at the Sydney Film Festival.

ROBERT Pattinson will fly to Australia next month to attend a red-carpet premiere of The Rover at the Sydney Film Festival.

The Twilight heart-throb is almost unrecognisable in director David Michod’s hotly-anticipated follow-up to Animal Kingdom, a post-apocalyptic thriller for which the make-up department has given him an unattractive, “homegrown” haircut and broken teeth.

Michod, producer Liz Watts and co-star Guy Pearce will also attend the State Theatre screening of the apocalyptic thriller, set 10 years after a worldwide economic collapse, on Saturday, June 7.

Pearce, who spent seven weeks with Pattinson in the South Australian Outback, says his celebrity co-star is the real deal.

“The best thing about Rob is that he is a really great actor,’’ says Pearce. “He plays (the character) slightly backward, emotionally useless and really vulnerable

“Watching the rushes back, you go: OK, he is just going to be fantastic.”

The Twilight star plays white trailer trash in the futuristic western.

White trailer trash ... Robert Pattinson in a scene from Australian film The Rover.

“He’s got this beautiful face so you are completely entranced by that face, no matter how ugly he makes himself or how wounded he is or how manky his haircut.

The Rover has its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, where it has been given a prestigious midnight slot. (Other Australian films to land a coveted midnight screening include The Sapphires, The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and Strictly Ballroom.)

The announcement of Pattinson’s imminent arrival was made at the rollout of the full Sydney Film Festival program on Wednesday morning.

The Rover is one of 12 films competing for the Sydney Film Prize in a year that features a record number of homegrown entrants.

R-Patz is heading to Sydney to walk the red carpet for The Rover. Picture: Supplied

Kasimir Burgess’ Fell, and Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Michael Cody’s Ruin are also in the running for the $60,000 cash prize in recognition of courageous, audacious and cutting-edge cinema.

More than 180 films from 47 countries will screen at the festival, from June 4 to June 15, at multiple venues. There will be 15 world premieres.

Originally published as Robert Pattinson flies in for red-carpet premiere of The Rover