Robert Pattinson, a gangster?

From Remember Me to Bel Ami to Unbound Captives, The Twilight Saga: New Moon star Robert Pattinson is surely the object of many film-maker's propsective eyes right now.

With a diverse resume that brought him anywhere from the sad, sad Art in How To Be to the uber-eccentric Salvador Dali in Little Ashes (and, of course, the leading vampire in Twilight), Pattinson's capacity for thespianism is a hair shy of bringing him to the level of theatrical Renaissance Man.

As such, one role that is coming into the news lately is that of a gangster.

Says Us Magazine,

"I was talking to [author] Tom [Folsom] about who he wants to play Joe Gallo if you make this book into a movie. He said one of the ones he really wants is Leonard DiCaprio" producer Harvey Weinstein [said] at The Mad Ones book party in NYC Monday.

(Gallo -- a mafia associate known as "Crazy Joe" -- was portrayed by actor Joe Mantegna in the Godfather Part III.)

Who else could play the role?

"Rob Pattinson, James Franco, Leo...there's a bunch of guys," Weinstein goes on.

But Weinstein is a fan of Pattinson after working with him at the amfAR benefit in which he auctioned off two kisses to raise money for AIDS research.

"Rob Pattinson, I made him kiss girls in Cannes. He's the most charming, wonderful young man," Weinstein [says.] "He really cared about the charity, and that's not an easy thing to do. That's a sweet, sweetheart thing to do. And then we got two bids."

source