Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Cloud Atlas

9/13/11 - Hugh Grant joins top British talent such as Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess and Ben Whishaw to join the cast of Cloud Atlas, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Tom Tykwer and Andy and Lana Wachowski have co-written the script and will co-direct the film.  Shooting will take place in Glasgow, Scotland.  Tykwer's X Filme shingle is producing Cloud Atlas. Warner Bros. will release the film domestically and X Filme will unleash the title in Germany.

8/22/11 - Cloud Atlas, co-written and co-directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski and helmer Tom Tykwer will begin shooting late September at Germany's Studio Babelsberg, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The project stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw and Jim Broadbent.  The film is based on David Mitchell's epic novel, which follows six story-lines, each set in a different place and era. The novel's timeline and geography stretches from 19th century Australia to a post-apocalyptic Hawaii.

5/11/11 - Ben Whishaw and Hugo Weaving will take on roles in Cloud Atlas, the adaptation of the epic David Mitchell novel from filmmakers Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. Halle Berry has also firmed up her role, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The Wachowski siblings and Tykwer are sharing writing and directing duties on the multi-strand story. Filming beings in the fall.  Grant Hill and Stefan Arndt are producing. Philip Lee will executive produce. 

4/15/11 - Warner Bros. and Focus Features International are set to distribute Cloud Atlas, which has Tom Hanks attached to star. Based on David Mitchell's best-selling 2004 novel, the project is being co-written and co-directed by Matrix filmmakers Andy and Lana Wachowski and Run Lola Run writer-director Tom Tykwer.  Grant Hill and Stefan Arndt are producing the film with the Wachowskis under their new Five Drops label. Philip Lee will serve as executive producer.  The filmmakers plan to start filming in September.  Mitchell's book follows six storylines that include a 19th century American notary, a poor British musician in the 1930s, a journalist in 1970s California, a vanity press publisher in the early 21st century, a rebellious clone in the near future and a primitive Hawaiian tribesman surviving after the apocalypse.

11/30/10 – Blastr.com reported that the Wachowskis' film Cloud Atlas will include Tom Hanks, Natalie Portman and Halle Berry.  Based on David Mitchell's 2004 book, the film tells six interwoven stories spanning a thousand years—touching on New Zealand in the 1800s, Belgium in the 1930s, California in the '70s, London in the present, Korea in the near future and Hawaii in the distant, post-apocalyptic tomorrow.

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