There is no doubt that the upcoming big screen adaptation of David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" is ambitious. Directed by The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, the sprawling time-spanning tale finds the directors each helming their own segements of the film, leading different units and working with an all-star cast — Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess — who will each to taking on multiple roles. It's clearly going to be unlike anything we've seen on the big screen and certainly, we're going to see a side to Hugh Grant we've never witnessed before.
The actor caught up with Empire and talked about this work in the movie and…well, let's just say for those looking for his usually rumpled comedic work, might need to take this as a warning. "I have six cameo parts in this strange, ambitious film," Grant explained. "I do a lot of killing and raping. I wear an awful lot of prosthetic make up, too. You probably won’t know that I am in the film!"
He went on to say that his roles in the movie are "incredibly evil," and that it was the Wachowski's idea to cast him against type, something he found a particular challenge. "In one of the parts I am a cannibal, about 2000 years in the future, and I thought, 'I can do that. It’s easy,' " he said. "And then I am suddenly standing in a cannibal skirt on a mountaintop in Germany and they are saying, 'You know, hungry! We must have that flesh-eating, like a leopard who is so hungry…' and I am thinking, 'I can’t do that! Just give me a witty line!' "
For the particular and picky Grant, doing something so far removed from his usual affable and befuddingly charming screen persona must have been a nice reprieve and we're more curious than ever to see what else the movie has in store. The running theme thus far seems to be turning the perceptions of the stars in the film on its head. As you might recall, Halle Berry previously revealed she plays a 1930s Jewish woman and a old tribal woman in her portions of the film.
Undoubtedly, "Cloud Atlas" is one of the more intriguing movie mysteries on the calendar this year. No firm release date, but it's expected to land in theaters this fall.