“The first time I met (Lawrence), we went to meet Tai the elephant at her house,” says Pattinson of the 42-year-old elephant who plays lumbering Rosie, the Benzini Bros. main act. Tai s howed off tricks the studio originally thought could be accomplished only by a computer-generated elephant. Charmed, Pattinson read the script on the ride back. Plus, “I always wanted to do something in the ’30s in America,” he says. “It’s kind of my idea of what America really is, that period, kind of the best time to be in America. You’re still kind of a cowboy, but there’s this huge energy. The future was being created then.” The love triangle complete, Pattinson, Witherspoon and Waltz headed for Piru, Calif., where the desert set was bursting with circus tents, steam trains, hundreds of extras, spangled costumes, circus performers and animals. “There was something about the ruggedness of it, which I hadn’t really done,” Pattinson says. Lawrence saw immediate chemistry between Pattinson and Witherspoon. “I think he’s never been quite as charming as he’s been in this,” he says. “I think he feels like a real leading man.” The film put a newly clean-cut Pattinson in the center ring with two Academy Award winners (Witherspoon for 2005’s Walk the Line and Waltz for 2009’s Inglourius Basterds) and a coterie of more than 600 animals. “I’m sure Rob had some insecurities coming up into scenes against Christoph and Reese, but he never showed it,” Lawrence says. “I think he watched and learned and listened.” And there were distractions. Witherspoon, who occasionally brought her kids to the zoolike set, laughs as she talks about Tai following Pattinson “sort of like man’s best friend — even though she’s 9,000 pounds.” Pattinson recounts “insane” days, including one when the script finds Waltz taunting Pattinson to hand-feed a hungry lion. Pattinson opens the cage, and the lion pounces. “We did the first take, and sure enough, the lion just ripped the (prosthetic) arm in and wouldn’t give it back,” Pattinson says. “He didn’t even care about the meat. He just wanted to eat the fake arm. I was absolutely terrified.” accident. I got an agent. A week later, I got that job.”