Sometimes once a film lands a big Hollywood star the other pieces just sort of fall into place. Yesterday we learned Johnny Depp had signed onto TRANSCENDENCE (as well as the Whitey Bulger flick BLACK MASS) and the world celebrated a little because Depp is doing a film not involving Tim Burton.
Now THR is reporting that Paul Bettany is in negotiations to join Depp and first time director Wally Pfister in TRANSCENDENCE. There’s no word on who Bettany will be playing since they’ve been pretty secretive about the details of the movie. There have been a couple of slightly different synopsis floating around (yesterday THR said Depp would play a character who’s conscious is uploaded into a computer, but the article about Bettany today describes Depp’s character as a man who invents an evil computer) and the film is said to be “in the same vein as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and INCEPTION.”
Paul Bettany should be getting more work like this and I’m glad he’s interested in a role in the film. He previously worked with Johnny Depp in THE TOURIST but I’m expecting much, much more out of TRANSCENDENCE.