Paul Bettany joins Johnny Depp In “Transcendence”
Published on: February 28, 2013
LOS ANGELES, CA, FEBRUARY 28, 2013- Paul Bettany is in negotiations to star with Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp in Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister's directorial debut, TRANSCENDENCE, it was announced by Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, co-founders and co-CEOs of Alcon Entertainment, which is financing and producing the project.
Principal photography is set to begin in April in Los Angeles. Warner Bros. will release in mid 2014 via its output deal with Alcon.
The screenplay, written by Jack Paglen, was developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose company principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. Polvino, Marter and Cohen will produce along with David Valdes ("Book of Eli"), Johnson and Kosove. Boies will co-produce.
Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas and Aaron Ryder are serving as executive producers.
Bettany most recently appeared in the box office mega hit "The Avengers," and will next be reprising the voice of "Jarvis" in "Iron Man 3" for Paramount. Bettany notably starred in "A Beautiful Mind," which earned him a SAG nomination, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the Moon," for which he received a BAFTA nomination, "The Da Vinci Code," and "The Young Victoria," among many others.
Pfister most recently served as cinematographer on "The Dark Knight Rises," and on last year's best picture nominee, "Moneyball." Other credits include such films as "The Italian Job" and "Laurel Canyon."
Bettany is repped by UTA and Affirmative Entertainment.
ABOUT ALCON ENTERTAINMENT
Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEO's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded the Company in 1997 with financial backing from Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx. Alcon, which is named after a mythological archer and ally of Hercules, has financed, and/or co-financed/produced over 19 films, including "My Dog Skip," "Dude, Where's My Car?," "Insomnia," "Racing Stripes," the Academy Award nominated Best Picture "The Blind Side," which earned Sandra Bullock a Best Actress Oscar; "The Book of Eli," starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman; "Insomnia," starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank and directed by Chris Nolan; "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," "P.S. I Love You," starring Hilary Swank, and the box-office success "Dolphin Tale," a 3-D family film starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson.
Alcon's most recent release "Beautiful Creatures," opened February 14, 2013. The film is based on theNew York Timesbestselling novel of the same name by authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons, among others. Richard LaGravenese directed from his adaptation of the novel, which is the first of a hugely popular series. The Company is currently in production on "Prisoners," a dramatic film about abduction starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhall, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, and Paul Dano.
ABOUT STRAIGHT UP FILMS
Straight Up Films is a boutique development, production and financing company that produces innovative commercial content across multiple media platforms. Up next is the untitled sci-fi thriller to be directed by the Purchase Brothers and co-produced with Barry Josephson.