With a slimmed down budget, Cloud Atlas to begin shooting in mid-September

In the grand scheme of things, The Wachowskis track record a filmmakers is pretty damn spotty. They've only directed five films, and maybe out of that two of them are well-regarded, with The Matrix becoming one of the most beloved(and copied) sci-fi films of all time. It's been three years since they've done anything, the last film being 2008's candy coated Speed Racer.  I actually liked it, but compared to The Matrix it was hardly scintillating stuff. The Wachowskis next project, the super complex adaptation of Cloud Atlas, has been gearing up for months with director Tom Tykwer(Run Lola Run) in tow. Now we know when shooting will begin, and exactly how they plan to tackle the intricate material.

THR reports that shooting on the big budget German production will kick off in mid-September. The multi-faceted story will take on six connected stories across time, from the 19th century into a post-apocalyptic future. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, and Bae Doona(The Host) are all on board.  Once budgeted at around $150M, making it one of the biggest German productions ever, the cost has been scaled back a little bit, down to around $100M. That doesn't appear to have slowed anybody down, though.

In fact, Cloud Atlas appears to be bigger than ever. The Wachowskis and Tykwer are approaching this in unique fashion. Each director will have their own personal production team shootin in parallel, with the Wachowskis directing the futuristic sequences, and Tykwer handling the historical bits.

I consider myself a big fan of the Wachowskis, despite the crappiness of the last two Matrix films. They have a unique vision and style that I think we've seen mimicked by guys like Zack Snyder over the last few years. I'd like to see them step back into the spotlight and push the envelope again. This might be the film to do it.