So just how messed up and bonkers will The Wachowskis' and Tom Tykwer's adaptation of David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" be? Well, Hugh Grant will apparently be doing a lot of "killing and raping," and as for Susan Sarandon? She tells Postmedia that her small role finds her playing "an Indian man." Huh? We're getting ahead ourselves a bit, because the good news is you'll be seeing this sooner than expected.
While initially tagged for a December release, Warner Bros. has officially announced today that "Cloud Atlas" will hit theaters on October 26th, where the starry cast that also includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Zhou Xun and Keith David should trounce the competition that weekend that includes the Lionsgate comedy "The Big Wedding" with Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and Katherine Heigl, the tween thingy "Fun Size," Curtis Hanson's surfing drama "Of Men And Mavericks" and "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D."
Warner Bros. has been buoyed by early audience response (yes, it has been screening) with honcho Dan Fellman saying: “Audiences who have seen an early screening of ‘Cloud Atlas’ have been elated by its powerful and inspiring story, as well as its breathtaking visuals. An October release in North America is the perfect window to showcase this epic film.” But don't just take his word for it.
Sarandon, who has seen a sizzle reel of the film, couldn't help but gush about what she's seen so far. "I saw a 10- or 15-minute reel at a party I was at in Berlin and it looked like the trailer for an entire season the studio had done – like it had so many different locales and periods, and it was just gorgeous," she said. And yeah, in case you forgot, this thing spans centuries, with the story following a variety of plot threads including: a 19th century notary on a Pacific expedition, a bisexual musician in the 1930s, a female journalist embroiled in a thriller in 1970s California, an aging publisher in London in the present, a clone in a futuristic dystopia, and a Pacific survivor in a post-apocalyptic world.
So, with a release date now firmed up, we should start seeing a marketing campaign begin to roll out and our first guess is that Comic-Con may be a place where Warner Bros. will kick things off in grand fashion. And yeah, a trailer in front of "The Dark Knight Rises" seems like a no-brainer too. But no matter if this is genius or a trainwreck, it will be one to watch.