Tom Hanks will star in Cloud Atlas, an adaptation of David Mitchell's novel. Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) will write and co-direct the film, Deadline.com reported. Shooting will begin in September.
The Los Angeles Times' Jacket Copy blog expressed skepticism regarding the casting choice. In a post headlined "Tom Hanks, we love you, but do you have to star in Cloud Atlas?" Carolyn Kellogg wrote that the actor has "made a lot of movies that are intelligent but not baffling, everyman rather than peculiar. Cloud Atlas is full of peculiarities.
"It is also going to be very hard to adapt. It is a book that is highly written, with elegant sentences that change as the sections change, and a story that depends a lot on the feel of paging through the book itself.... Maybe they've cast Hanks against type. Or maybe they think Cloud Atlas needs a name anchor as big as him to offset more quirky casting to come. I'm thinking they need someone with the right mix of canny intelligence and rakish charm to play composer Robert Frobisher. James Franco's not doing anything, is he?"
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A teaser trailer has been released for Daniel Radcliffe's first post-Potter movie The Woman in Black, adapted from the novel by Susan Hill. The film, which will be released next February 10, is directed by James Watkins (Eden Lake) and also stars Ciaran Hinds (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Janet McTeer (Tumbleweeds).