Hugh Grant and the Wachowskis are two names you don’t generally expect to see in a headline together. One connotes good-natured romantic comedies while the other suggests fast-paced, visually exciting genre films. (I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.)
But Grant has landed a role in the directorial siblings’ latest film, an adaption of the ambitious novel Cloud Atlas, a genre-bending tale that spans a number of decades. Grant will be joining Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Sturges and Jim Broadbent when filming begins on Friday of this week.
Each of the actors in the film will be playing multiple roles appearing as different character for each different time period of the film’s story. Some of these different roles may call for the actors to be playing different genders and/or races.
Helping Andy and Lana Wachowski try to make cinematic sense out of the project is German director Tom Tyker (Run, Lola, Run). The three will break into two separate filming units, each covering the different time periods that the film’s convoluted storyline plays out in. Location shooting has been scheduled Glasgow, Spain and Germany.
There is no word yet as to when the film will be released, though it will probably be sometime in late 2012.
