It’s been about two years now since Robert Pattinson slipped his fangs back in and ended his career as a gentleman-vampire. Two years, therefore, since we haven’t heard about him on the cover of magazines, leaving the popular press with a 90% space shortfall to fill with other things between 2008 and 2012.

Fans (and they are legion) who’ve been mourning him are now breathing a collective sigh of relief : Pattinson isn’t dead yet, and in fact, he’s back, as a newly-released trailer of “Maps to the Stars,” the latest film by David Cronenberg which will be a part of the 67th Cannes Festival, would lead us to believe. Pattinson is not in a leading role, but is this going to keep the ink from flowing? We think not.

[Screen Comment will be in Cannes for the duration of the festival. Lock #SCannes2014 on Twitter]

Clearly won over by Pattinson’s muted interpretation of clueless millionaire Eric Packer in “Cosmopolis” (from the 2012 Cannes selection), Cronenberg wrote his new screenplay with Pattinson in mind. This time, Pattinson plays the driver of a family of millionaires, also known as “the archetypal Hollywood dynasty” according to the official synopsis.

Namely, a father who’s a self-help guru (played by John Cusack) who’s amassed his fortune by writing books for better living, a mother (Olivia Williams) obsessed by her son Benjie’s career (he’s thirteen and a child star just coming out of a detox program), and an illegitimate daughter (Mia Wasikowska) who was recently released from a mental health clinic where she was treated for criminal arson.

SEE: the full list of films selected this year at Cannes

Add to this fun bunch an actress (played by Julianne Moore) who is haunted by the ghost of her mother, a star of the sixties. In short, your typical fun-loving family.

Cronenberg has shot this quaint family’s life with the care and precision of a swiss watchmaker, unearthing the darkest and most disturbing corners of his characters’ psyches. The new trailer does not tell us much about “Maps to the Stars” itself, except that Robert Pattinson and Juliane Moore know how to enjoy the comforts of a stretch limo and Mia Wasikowska manifestly has potential for psychopathy.

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