Tom Hanks in Cloud Atlas
If you haven't had chance to check out Cloud Atlas yet then you really should as it is not only one of the best movies of 2013 so far but also one of the most adventurous.
The movie saw Andy & Lana Wachowski team up with Tom Tykwer as the trio were in the director's chair.
Cloud Atlas was a big screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by David Mitchell and saw Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess and Ben Whishaw are all on the cast list.
And we have put together some facts about the film that you might not know.
1. Cloud Atlas' journey to the big screen began with Natalie Portman who gave the Wachowskis a copy of the book to read. She unfortunately had to pull out of filming due to falling pregnant
2. The Wachowskis hunkered down with co-director Tom Tykwer in a rented house in Costa Rica to discuss how to morph the novel's six unwieldy storylines into a coherent film.
3. A conversation about Herman Melville's Moby Dick convinced Hanks to star in the film
4. Features an original song that needed to be "one of the greatest songs ever written"
5. Draws key parallels between its storylines by reusing props
6. The sixth and final storyline features its own unique dialect
7. Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski directed the 1849, 2144 and 2321 segments of the film. Tom Tykwer directed the 1936, 1973 and 2012 segments. Shot will two parallel filming units
8. Tom Hanks called the Wachowskis ‘Mum and Dad’ whilst on set
9. Despite Sixmith and Frobischer’s intimate relationship in the film, they never actually speak to one another
10. Cloud Atlas is one of the most expensive independent films made to date
11. James McAvoy and Sir Ian McKellen were also in talks to star in Cloud Atlas
12. Cloud Atlas contains approximately two hours of original music
13. The film received a 10 minute standing ovation at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival
14. When approaching a so called ‘un-filmable’ story, the team spend days distilling scenes and relationships from the book onto index cards
15. Cloud Atlas was predominantly filmed in Berlin, but also used locations in Mallorca and Scotland
Check out all of our Cloud Atlas images
Cloud Atlas is out on Blu-ray, DVD and to download now, from Warner Home Video