Morgan Freeman is in final negotiations to star alongside Johnny Depp in Transcendence, the first movie to be directed by Wally Pfister (the cinematographer of The Dark Knight Rises). Christopher Nolan is one of the executive producers, so it seems inevitable Morgan Freeman would be in this.
Transcendence is a black list script by Jack Paglen. Johnny Depp is playing a supercomputer imbued with the consciousness of a murdered scientist. We already spoiled the plot last time we talked about it, so let’s move on to the other casting news.
Kate Mara and Rebecca Hall are playing the two female leads. Kate Mara’s sister Rooney Mara was nearly cast in the role Hall became available for after Iron Man 3 wrapped. Hall is playing Johnny Depp’s wife, which means Mara is likely playing a terrorist (the other female lead role).
Given that there were only two female roles of any significance in the script we read, it’s likely that Mara is Bree, one of a group of terrorists determined to stop the artificial intelligence project run by Depp and Hall’s characters, and introduced in the script as ‘the tattooed baker’ (it’s possible that the script’s changed, though, but everything else we’ve heard syncs up). [The Playlist]
If all anti-computer terrorists looked like Kate Mara, we’d be smashing our servers right now.
Rounding out the announced cast members is another Iron Man 3 alum, Paul Bettany. He’ll be playing a scientist. A pale, skinny guy with an English accent playing a scientist? That’s a first.
Transcendence starts shooting in LA next month with a release date set for April 25th, 2014.
[Sources: THR, CBM, Deadline, The Playlist, Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com, marcello farina / Shutterstock.com, cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com]