Cameras To Roll On The Wachowski-Tykwer Directed CLOUD ATLAS; TOM HANKS, HALLE BERRY, HUGH GRANT Among Stellar Ensemble Cast

September 13th, 2011 – Producers Grant Hill and Stefan Arndt announced that CLOUD ATLAS will begin filming on September 16th. The ambitious, independently financed film will be co-directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski, directors/writers of the ground-breaking MATRIX trilogy, and Tom Tykwer, director/writer of PERFUME and RUN LOLA RUN.

Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks and Halle Berry lead an all-star ensemble that includes Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Keith David and David Gyasi. The film also stars Hugh Grant and Susan Sarandon, with Chinese actress Zhou Xun and Doona Bae from Korea rounding out the internationally acclaimed cast.

CLOUD ATLAS is an epic story of humankind in which the actions and consequences of our lives impact one another throughout the past, present and future as one soul is shaped from a murderer into a savior and a single act of kindness ripples out for centuries to inspire a revolution.

The Wachowskis and Tykwer co-wrote CLOUD ATLAS, an adaptation of the celebrated best-selling novel by David Mitchell. Their unique creative collaboration began several years ago and has resulted in a vision that involves simultaneous filming of two full units that will take them to Scotland, Spain and Germany.

Award-nominated producers Grant Hill and Stefan Arndt are producing, with Philip Lee and Uwe Schott serving as executive producers.

The Producers have assembled a number of strong distribution and equity partners. CLOUD ATLAS will be distributed in the United States and Canada by Warner Bros. Pictures and in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland by X-Filme-Verleih. Dreams of the Dragon Pictures is an equity partner and holds all rights in China. Media Asia Group is an equity partner and holds all rights in Hong Kong. Ascension Pictures is an equity partner and holds all rights in Singapore and Malaysia. A Company is an equity partner and holds all rights in Russia and Eastern Europe. Focus Features International has sold the remaining territories, other than Japan, France, the UK and Australia, which the Producers have held back. These will be marketed later in the year, as filming progresses.