Wally Pfister, the Oscar-winning and long-time cinematographer for Christopher Nolan, will soon be making his anticipated feature directorial debut with Transcendence.
The film has already had Johnny Depp attached to the lead. And now the cast has recently made two more additions in the form of Paul Bettany and Rebecca Hall, making for one of my favourite casts for a project currently being developed.
Details of the project are being kept very much under wraps, but the plot is expected to revolve around a scientist whose brain is uploaded into a supercomputer, with the aim of creating the world’s first machine capable of thinking for itself.
Naturally, it has a lot of potential. Especially when you consider that Pfister’s credits as a cinematographer include blockbusters like Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Inception.
Pfister will be directing from a script penned by Jack Paglen, who is making his feature debut as a writer.
Christopher Nolan and his wife/frequent co-producer Emma Thomas will serve as executive producers on Transcendence, with Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson (The Book of Eli) producing.
When the plot details first surfaced, it was thought that Depp would be playing the aforementioned scientist, Will. And that the cast would also include two other scientists: Max, and Will’s wife Evelyn.
Hall is expected to play Depp’s wife, Evelyn. Bettany’s role, on the other hand, has been kept under wraps. It could be that he’d be playing the other scientist, Max. But it’s equally possible that he’ll be the main antagonist for the movie, which is awesome to imagine as well. Either way, I’m really looking forward to this.
Hall and Bettany will next be seen (or heard, in Bettany’s case) in Marvel’s Iron Man 3, which is of course set to be one of the biggest films of the year. I’m a huge fan of both their work, and am really excited to see them starring alongside each other for Pfister’s debut.
Transcendence is set to be released on 25th April, 2014, with Warner Bros. eyeing this as an early-summer tentpole. With a cast and a filmmaking team like this, it’s easy to see why. And we can’t wait to see how it all works out next year.
