Cloud Atlas Behind-The-Scenes Featurette Reveals A Complex Structure

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

With only a week until the release of Cloud Atlas, directors Andy & Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer have come together (in the spirit of the film) to explain what exactly they’re trying to do as a collective. The film is very ambitious in scope, spanning over 1000 years of narrative and intersecting six separate storylines into one cohesive film. Next week we’ll finally see if the directing trio pulled off the nearly impossible by adapting David Mitchell’s “unfilmable” novel. In the meantime, however, a behind-the-scenes video from IGN explores the motivation behind Cloud Atlas, not only from its filmmakers and author, but also from the actors involved with the demanding narrative and production.

Each actor had to play six separate characters in different time periods, while each segment was also part of a larger genre. It seems fitting that author David Mitchell describes the story as a “Russian Doll of nesting interrupted narratives.” Check out the six-minute featurette:

Will Cloud Atlas‘ ambition be its undoing? The reaction to the film after the Toronto International Film Festival a month ago, where the film premiered, seemed mixed at best. The film is connected thematically throughout, but presenting Cloud Atlas as one movie will be like walking across a tightrope on fire. Then again, the Wachowskis changed the face of modern action films with the release of the original Matrix in 1999, so maybe they can pull this off.

Cloud Atlas opens in theaters everywhere on October 26th 2012 in IMAX.