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You didn’t think that Robert Pattinson was going to live off of his Justin Timberlake-level fame from Twilight for the rest of his career, did you? Alright, well maybe he still might, but in his next film he is going to at least attempt to break away from tween vampire brooding and play a much different character, surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. In Little Ashes, directed by Paul Morrison, Pattinson plays Dali as a young man, chronicling his time spent in the company of filmmaker Luis Buñuel (Matthew McNulty) and writer Federico García Lorca (Javier Beltran).

Check out the first clip released from the film below, courtesy of Anne Thompson at Variety.

Official Synopsis: In 1922, Madrid is wavering on the edge of change as traditional values are challenged by the dangerous new influences of Jazz, Freud and the avant-garde. Salvador Dali arrives at the university; 18 years old and determined to become a great artist. His bizarre blend of shyness and rampant exhibitionism attracts the attention of two of the university’s social elite – Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Bunel. Salvador is absorbed into their decadent group and for a time Salvador, Luis and Federico become a formidable trio, the most ultra-modern group in Madrid. However as time passes, Salvador feels and increasingly strong pull towards the charismatic Federico – who is himself oblivious of the attentions he is getting from his beautiful writer friends, Margarita. Finaly, in the face of his friends’ preoccupations – and Federico’s growing renown as a poet – Luis sets off for Paris in search of his own artistic success. Federico and Salvador spend the holiday in the sea-side town of Cadaques. Both the idyllic surroundings and the warmth of the Dali family sweep Federico off his feet. Salvador and he draw closer, sharing their deepest beliefs, inspirations and secrets, convinced that they have found a kind of friendship undreamt of by others. It is more that a meeting of the minds; it is a fusion of souls. And then one night, in the phosphorescent water, it becomes something else…

Little Ashes is scheduled to hit theaters sometime in 2009.

What do you think of the first clip of Pattinson as Dali in Little Ashes?