Hugh Grant has been casually added to the stellar line up of the ambitious adaptation of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

A press release announcing the start of shooting dropped in the fact Grant would be joining stars Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in the time-spanning epic.

The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer co-wrote the adaptation, and they will film the adaptation with two full units shooting simultaneously, across locations in Scotland, Spain and Germany.

Grant hasn't been seen on screen since 2009's Did You Hear About The Morgans?, although he has lent his voice to Aardman upcoming animation The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists.

It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with, given the opportunity to perform outside of the constraints of a generic romcom. Source: www.totalfilm.com

Tom Hanks confirmed for Cloud Atlas [12th April 2011 23:30:42]

His name was linked to a potential casting wish-list some time ago, and it has now been confirmed that Tom Hanks will star in Cloud Atlas.

The film will be based on the award-winning novel by David Mitchell (not of Mitchell and Webb infamy), with an ambitious plot featuring six interconnected stories that take place over hundreds of years, beginning in the nineteenth century.

There's currently no confirmation as to who Hanks will be playing, but Adam Ewing seems the most likely contender.

Unusually, the film will be co-directed (and co-written) by Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) and the Matrix-creating Wachowski siblings.

Perhaps three directing heads were considered essential for such an epic tale, but let's hope it's not a case of too many cooks and the inevitable spoilt broth.

Cloud Atlas is set to begin shooting in September, so expect more casting announcements soon. Source: www.totalfilm.com