After serving as Christopher Nolan’s director of photography on blockbusters like The Dark Knight and Inception, Academy Award-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister is finally moving into the director’s chair for his own science-fiction adventure, the upcoming thriller Transcendence.
Pfister appears to have been taking pointers from Nolan when it comes to marketing, as details about the project have been kept under lock and key. Now, however, Alcon Entertainment has unveiled the first official plot synopsis for the film, which you can check out below:
Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed—to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can…but if they should. Their worst fears are realized as Will’s thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.
I’m very excited for this one, though the ‘power-crazed scientist’ angle is unquestionably familiar. Pfister’s knack for beautiful, evocative shots is well-documented, and his all-star cast is highly promising. In addition to Depp, Hall and Bettany, Transcendence also stars Kate Mara, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Clifton Collins Jr. Murphy is rumored to play the leader of those “anti-technology extremists,” while Mara’s character will be a key player named Bree.
Pfister tapped Jess Hall (The Spectacular Now) to serve as his director of photography on Transcendence, but the film will almost certainly feature the same kind of impressively massive cinematography that Pfister brought to his previous projects. Transcendence boasts a script from up-and-comer Jake Paglen, who is also penning the screenplay for Ridley Scott’s recently-announced sequel to Prometheus.
Tell us, are you excited for this sci-fi thriller? And what do you make of that plot synopsis?
Transcendence opens in regular theaters and IMAX on April 18th, 2014.