The Wachowski's to Shoot CLOUD ATLAS in the Summer of 2011 with Hanks, Portman and Berry

There's been talk of the Wachowski siblings developing a new film based on a book by David Mitchell called Cloud Atlas for some time now.  It was previously reported that Tom Tykwer (Run Lola RunThe International) is writing the script, with a possibility of directing, and the Wachowski's have been linked to the project as producers. Offers have already gone out to Tom HanksHalle BerryJames McAvoyIan McKellen and Natalie Portman to play starring roles in the film.

It's looking like everything is coming together for the film. In a recent interview with Halle Berry she says the film will start shooting next summer. She also confirms that she, Portman and Hanks will star in the movie. Here's what she had to say,

I’m going to do a movie probably in the summer with the Wachowskis…..A really interesting movie [that is] sort of [like] what they did for ‘The Matrix,’ they have another really amazing idea that’s sort of gonna stretch our brains even further. And so I’m really excited about that and that’s probably gonna be in the summer. And that’s with Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman.

It's still unclear who's exactly directing the movie. The Wachowski's could end up directing the film, but nothing is set in stone yet. 

The story is solid, and the casting is incredible, this should end up being a really great movie. I'm excited to see how this all turns out, it will be interesting to see how they turn this into a film, the story spans centuries and follows six major characters.

Here's a description of the Book:

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation -- the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

Each of the narratives is set in a different time and place, each is written in a different prose style, each is broken off mid-action and brought to conclusion in the second half of the book. Among the volume's most engaging story lines is a witty 1930s-era chronicle, via letters, of a young musician's effort to become an amanuensis for a renowned, blind composer and a hilarious account of a modern-day vanity publisher who is institutionalized by a stroke and plans a madcap escape in order to return to his literary empire (such as it is).

In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.

Here's the interview:

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