Depp

After an acclaimed trilogy like The Dark Knight saga for Warner Brothers, where exactly do you go from there? That’s exactly what cinematographer Wally Pfister wants to discover with his directorial debut Transcendence. Housed over at Alcon Entertainment, Pfister will step out from Christopher Nolan’s shadows and look to make some mind bending blockbusters of his own with the first feature that has already entered casting. But now, the first plot details pin the future film in a sci-fi state of mind just as Johnny Depp enters talks to star as the lead character while a number of other impressive names are also being considered to join him in supporting roles.

Deadline reports that Depp has entered negotiations with Alcon to claim the lead role of Transcendence in a massive $20 million payday. The project is not only the debut for Pfister but also the writing debut for Jack Paglen as well, with Pfister performing rewrites on the script in order to shape it up for filming.

From there, THR takes over with our first plot details of the film by saying that it will be a sci-fi outing that blends tones of both2001: A Space Odyssey and Inception, but to me definitely sounds like it is including a possible Tron background as well. The film “centers on a man who creates a computer that develops a malevolent awareness. Depp will play a husband who gets sucked into the computer,” but that character inclusion could change as Pfister tools around with the story.

The site continues to reveal that Alcon is currently considering Noomi Rapace as the film’s female lead opposite Depp, while the other male lead is currently being tossed around to either James McAvoy or Tobey Maguire. Christoph Waltz already has a standing offer to join the film as a supporting role, but there is no word on whether or not he will take the job.

Production is scheduled to begin early next year, with Warner Brothers set to distribute at a time that has yet to be determined. Though details are still being kept mostly under wraps for the time being, with Christopher Nolan supporting his long time colleague in an executive producing capacity it’s safe to say that anticipation should start building as the tremendous cast is attached to the project.