Due to their ridiculously secretive nature, it’s always difficult to know what’s going on in the world of the Wachowski siblings. Rumours are constantly swirling about their gay Iraq war romance, Cobalt Neural 9, and in the background there’s been the development of an adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas.
Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run) has been on scripting duties for that, but the presumption has always been he’d direct as well, with the Wachowskis as producers. However Halle Berry has thrown some confusion in the mix, while also clearing a few things up. At a recent NAACP Image Awards Screening Q&A (first spotted by NataliePortman.com), the actress said ‘Im 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 thats sort of gonna stretch our brains even further. And so Im really excited about that and thats probably gonna be in the summer. And thats with Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman.’
Now that makes it sound like the Wachowskis will direct, although she could just be using their name because few know who Tom Twyker is. However as we’ve had little news on the project at all for ages, it is good to know that shooting is now pencilled in to start next summer.
It should also be noted that while Hanks and Portman have both been offered roles, neither has signed on the dotted line. The same is true of James McAvoy and Ian McKellen, who’ve also been approached about the movie.
So does this mean Cobalt Neural 9, which many thought would be impossible to finance, has been abandoned? Will the Wachowskis direct Cloud Atlas? Who knows, as the duo are so secretive that if they had a choice, we wouldn’t have any info even after the film was released.
David Mitchell’s complex, post-modern novel follows six separate but loosely connected stories, ranging from people in the South Pacific in the 19th Century, to a post-nuclear apocalyse future, with each story narrated by the main character of the next tale. It’s not clear whether the film version will take in all six stories or just concentrate on a few (or even just one). It would certainly be daunting to try and cover everything, but as always with anything the Wachowskis are involved with, there’s no official word on what it will exactly be.