Robert Pattinson has revealed that the chance to work with animals in new movie Water For Elephants was one of the main reasons that he took on the role.
The actor returns to the big screen this week with Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz in the Francis Lawrence directed movie.
"Francis Lawrence said he wanted to have a meeting and he took me out to the elephant sanctuary where Tai [who plays Rosie the elephant] lives and I saw her doing a handstand and stayed there for about four hours playing catch with her.
"I would literally throw a ball and she would catch it in her trunk and throw it back to me, and I was like, 'OK, even if this movie is the worst movie ever made, I get to work with this elephant for three or four months. I'm definitely doing it'."
"I think I have more of an affinity with animals than I do with people. I had a dog for 18 years called Patty and she was great, and I just got another dog a couple of days ago in Louisiana, a rescue dog, from a shelter.
"He was going to get put down. For some reason, I was feeling in a very sensitive mood and I decided I needed a dog. He's a kind of mix of everything. He looks like a hyena. He's a cool little thing and really relaxing to have around."
Water For Elephants is the first time that we have seen Pattinson on the big screen since Eclipse last year.
The actor has already completed work on Bel Ami, as well as final Twilight instalment Breaking Dawn.
Water For Elephants is out now.
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