First shots from ‘Cloud Atlas’

K. Thor Jensen Contributing Writer, Entertainment

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The Wachowskis want to take you to a different matrix this time. We don’t know a lot about Cloud Atlas, the new film from the dream team of Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. Three directors on a single damn movie? This is madness. Entertainment Weekly shared two shots from the flick, which stars Halle Berry and Tom Hanks, and they were enough to get my curiosity up.

Here’s what I know about the movie so far: it’s based on a 2004 novel by David Mitchell that consisted of six different interconnecting stories, taking place from 1850 to the distant future. So it’s pretty ambitious, to say the least. The flick also features Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon and Keith David. It’s being produced in Germany with a $100 million budget, making it the most expensive film ever made in that country.

Interestingly enough, Tykwer and the Wachowskis are filming simultaneously on different sets, using their own camera crews, which makes me think that each group of filmmakers is handling a separate unit of the narrative. Will this shape into a cohesive whole? I dunno, I still remember Speed Racer. Cloud Atlas is set for release on October 26, 2012.