Cloud Atlas Adaptation: Update from The Lit Guy

imagesI was pleasantly surprised to hear that things are moving forward on the movie version of Cloud Atlas (this article was written before Portman dropped out of the project).

Tom Hanks has signed on to play Dr. Henry Goose. Halle Berry will play Meronym, a chronicler of remote tribes on an island in Hawaii, after the fall of the civilized world, hundreds of years in the future. James McEvoy is in talks to play Adam Ewing, a notaery trying to get back to his wife in California. Ian McKellan is rumored to play Timothy Cavendish, a foolish Vanity Press publisher, whose story is the funniest section in the novel. So Tykwer and Wachowskis have to find actors/actresses to play Robert Frobisher (bisexual conman composer in the 30s,) Luisa Rey (plucky journalist trying to prevent environmental catastrophe and solve a murder in 70s California) Rufus Sixsmith(a onetime lover of Robert Frobisher and  nuclear scientist in 70s California,) Vyvyan Ayers(a older British composer who Frobisher goes to live with in Belgium) and the young goatherd Zachry. They also have to find a new Sonmi 451, since Natalie Portman pulled out the film due to her pregnancy and is reportedly taking a break after making eight films in three years.

It’s only a few names but it could mean this is a reality, which is very exciting because it’s one of my favorite novels. It will be interesting to see how it’s done. Tom Tykwer is going to direct the film with Andy and Lana Wachowski. Tykwer has directed Perfume and Run Lola Run, two really good independent films.  Andy Wachowksi, who did The Matrix movies, and his sister Lana are also writing the script with Tykwer. The book is told forward then backward(1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1,) so we end where we began. It should be an interesting film. But why do I feel this never going to hit the theaters?

-The Lit Guy

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