Hollywood brings novel to life in $100m movie (From Malvern Gazette)

Hollywood brings novel to life in $100m movie

DARK visions of the future from the pen of a county author are being brought to the silver screen in a multi-million dollar production by the makers of the Matrix movies.

THE BIG TIME: David Mitchell.

David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas was short-listed for the Booker Prize when it was published in 2004.

Now it has been made into a full-blown feature film, due for release in October, featuring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Jim Broadbent, as well as Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon and Hugo Weaving. The book was critically acclaimed for its complex plot which interweaves stories from the 19th century to a totalitarian near future.

Now Andy and Lana Wachowski, the producers and directors of the Matrix film series, have turned the book into a screen production for Warner Brothers.

Along with German director Tom Tykwer, they have directed, produced and written the screenplay for the film. The official synopsis describes the film as an epic story of humankind in which the actions and consequences of our lives impact one another throughout the past, present and future as one soul is shaped from a murderer into a saviour and a single act of kindness ripples out for centuries to ins-pire a revolution.

The 43-year-old Mitchell grew up in Hanley Swan, Upton-upon-Severn and Malvern and went to Hanley Castle High School. He has subsequently lived in Japan and Eire.

A spokesman for his agent, the Curtis Brown Group, said Mr Mitchell was currently busy writing and was unavailable for comment.

His other novels include number9dream and Black Swan Green, the latter based on his memories of growing up in the Malvern area.

Cloud Atlas is reported to have a $100 million budget, with filming taking place at a studio in Germany, as well as on location in Scotland and Mallorca.

A trailer titillating cinema-goers was released on the internet last week.