Um, EW? R-Patz & Reese Play Lovers In Their New Film ‘Water For Elephants’— But They Once Played Mother & Son!

Can you believe that Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon are about to get nasty on the big screen? They played mother and son in the 2004 period drama Vanity Fair!

Talk about an Oedipus complex! Robert Pattinson is going to be bedding his one-time onscreen mom Reese Witherspoon in his new film, Water For Elephants!

We can’t even imagine how weird things are going to get on the Fillmore, Calif. set of Elephants, which started filming today, May 20, for Reese, 34, who played mom Rebecca ‘Becky’ Sharp Crawley to R-Patz’s Rawdy Crawley in the 2004 period drama Vanity Fair.

Why would they get weird, you ask? Mostly because Rob and Reese are going to have a REALLY hot, completely illicit affair in Elephants!

Rob will play the young version of Jacob Jankowski, a short-haired Depression era-veterinarian who joins the circus and falls head over heels for Reese’s very beautiful and very MARRIED equestrian performer, Marlena.

Yup, Marlena is married to August (played by Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz), one of the circus’ manager’s, who initially seems like a good guy but turns out to be an abusive dirtbag. Because he loves her, Jacob feels he needs to protect Marlena from her horrible husband and the two begin a secret, sexy affair that leads to a rather tragic end. (Don’t worry, we won’t spoil it for you!)

We can’t wait to see the chemistry between these two on the big screen — and wonder how they’re going to get over the initial ‘awkward much’ moment of having played mommy and baby boy in a previous film! We do know this much — their respective partners, Kristen Stewart and agent Jim Toth — have absolutely nothing to worry about!

— Laura Schreffler