For Robert Pattinson, it was the elephant that sealed the deal.

The Twilight star, 24, was on the fence about taking the role of Jacob, a veterinary student who joins a traveling circus in the upcoming Depression-era romantic drama Water for Elephants – until the actor met Tai, his 42-year-old, nearly 9000-lb. costar.

“Rob was non-committal until he saw the elephant,” recalls the film’s animal coordinator Paul ‘Sled’ Reynolds. ”After he met Tai, he knew he wanted to do this movie. He absolutely adored that elephant.”

PEOPLE has a first look at some of the film’s rich images – and Pattinson’s near smooch with Tai.

I’ve added a new photo of a fan taken with Robert & Kristen to the gallery. You can also read from her experience on meeting them below.

From the woman who met them:

Yep they’re over here alright. Got a picture with them both. He was lovely and very chilled…she was different. However I’m very happy that i got the opportunity to meet them both. Some people say she’s rude but i mean it was New Years eve so it was pretty intrusive of me to ask for a photo. I just didn’t want to let a moment like that go if you know what i mean. I’m never going to see them again so asked and luckily they agreed to have a photo with me.

They were outside on the sea front with a group of friends. It was nice coz everyone was really chilled. Me and my friend spotted him. He was just chatting to his friends and Kristen went somewhere and when she came back she went to him and they were both chatting with a guy whilst having some drinks. They sparked up so i waited until afterwards to i could ask them for a photo. My friend went up and spoke to Kristen who seemed shocked. Probably because they seem to have grabbed no attention what-so-ever so a couple of overly grinning fans wasn’t the first wish she had for New Year :S I took the photo and then asked if i could have one. Wished them a Happy New Year then went away very quickly, didn’t want to annoy them any more than i had already.

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