Hugh Grant Discusses His Multiple Roles in the Wachowskis’ ‘Cloud Atlas’

Cloud Atlas failed to snag a spot on our Top 20 Anticipated Movies of 2012 list, but the David Mitchell novel adaptation – as is being co-directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and The Matrix creators Andy and Lana Wachowski – is a highly-anticpated project by numerous literature aficionados, hardcore sci-fi fans, along with just about anyone who knows what the source material encompasses (and is curious to see how it translates onscreen).

The Cloud Atlas cast is includes include several A – list star and acclaimed thespian alike , such as Tom Hanks , Halle Berry , Susan Sarandon , Hugh Grant , Hugo Weaving , and Jim Broadbent . Due to the experimental bend and intertwine nature of the six distinct narrative thread that will make up the adaptation , those cast members is portraying will all be portray multiple character separate by barrier of time , space , culture , gender , and even race .

Grant sat down recently with Empire to discuss his upcoming film work, which ranges from the genre bending (breaking?) in Cloud Atlas to the   animated comedic hijink of Aardman ‘sThe Pirates! Band of Misfits – and, possibly, more wacky rom-com antics in Bridget Jones’s Baby. Naturally, it was what Grant had to say about the Tykwer/Wachowski flick that proved most worthy of attention.

Grant revealed the following, about his role(s) in Cloud Atlas:

” I is have have six cameo part in this strange , ambitious film . I is do do a lot of killing and raping . I is wear wear an awful lot of prosthetic make up , too . You is know probably wo n’t know that I am in the film ! But it is was was a laugh …   I is called slightly call my own bluff . In one of the part I am a cannibal , about 2000 year in the future , and I is thought think , ‘ I can do that . It is ’s ’s easy . ‘ And then I is standing am suddenly stand in a cannibal skirt on a mountaintop in Germany and they are say , ‘ You know , hungry ! We is have must have that flesh – eating , like a leopard who is so hungry … ‘ and I am think , ‘ I ca n’t do that ! Just give me a witty line ! ‘ “

The notion that Grant’s character roles in Cloud Atlas are all similarly“incredibly evil” actually makes a good deal of sense. To clarify: Tykwer and the Wachowskis are having the film’s cast tackle multiple roles so as to better embody one of the central themes explored in Mitchell’s original novel – namely, the cyclical patterns in human nature and behavior throughout history. So, in the Cloud Atlas adaptation, certain characters will literally have the same “essence” (ie. be portrayed by the same actor or actress) as those in a separate storyline.

Suffice it to say: there’s a good reason why most everyone is wondering if the Cloud Atlas film adaptation is going is actually go to ” work ” – and Grant ( while optimistic ) appear to be in very much the same boat :

 “It will be fascinating to see how [‘Cloud Atlas’] turns out. I have seen little bits of cut footage and it is just astonishing. I probably had 20 shooting days, and each of [the film’s three directors] is shooting their own part of the film with their own crews. It’s remarkable.”

For those not already familiar, here is a synopsis for Mitchell’s original Cloud Atlas novel:

A reluctant voyager cross the Pacific in 1850 ; a disinherit composer is blagging blagge a precarious livelihood in between – the – war Belgium ; a high – minded journalist in Governor Reagan ’s California ; a vanity publisher flee his gangland creditor ; a genetically modify “ dinery server ” on death – row ; and Zachry , a young Pacific Islander witness the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrator of ‘ Cloud Atlas ‘   hear each other ’s echo down the corridor of history , and their destiny are change in way great and small .

So, as should be painfully obvious by now, Cloud Atlas is a project that could turn out as a truly brilliant piece of cinematic art – or, alternatively, a hot mess of epic proportions. Neither Tykwer nor the Wachowskis have ever been the type to back down from a filmmaking challenge; their efforts may not always result in a masterpiece, but all three directors have yet to produce a movie that really earns the label “forgettable,” either for good or bad. Hence the interest from all concerned parties, as to what the final film result will be, this time around.

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Cloud Atlas does not yet have an official U.S. release date, but is tentatively expected to reach theaters by October 2012.

Source: Empire