Development
The film is based on the 2004 novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Filmmaker Tom Tykwer revealed in January 2009 his intent to adapt the novel and said he was working on a screenplay with the Wachowskis,[17] who optioned the novel.[18] By June 2010, Tykwer had asked actors Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, James McAvoy, and Ian McKellen to star in Cloud Atlas.[19] By April 2011, the Wachowskis joined Tykwer in co-directing the film.[20] In the following May, with Hanks and Berry confirmed in their roles, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon, and Jim Broadbent also joined the cast.[21][22] Actor Hugh Grant joined the cast days before the start of filming; he was originally supposed to have only five roles, but asked the Wachowskis for a sixth one, and subsequently was also cast as Denholme Cavendish in the 2012 storyline.[23][24] According to Berry, the character of Ovid she plays in the 2144 storyline was originally meant to be a female character played by Tom Hanks, until the directors felt that Ovid was a logical part of the journey of the soul played by Berry.[25]
It was financed by the German production companies A Company, ARD Degeto Film and X Filme. In May 2011, Variety reported that it had a production budget of $140 million.[26] The filmmakers secured approximately $20 million from the German government, including €10 million ($11.8 million) from the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF),[27][28] €100,000 ($118,000) development funding[29] and €1.5 million ($1.8 million) from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, a German funder, as part of their plans to film at Studio Babelsberg later in 2011.[26] The project also received €1 million ($1.2 million) financial support from Filmstiftung NRW,[30] €750,000 ($887,000) from Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, €30 million ($35.5 million) from UE-Fonds (the biggest proportion of the budget), and €300,000 ($355,000) from FFF Bayern, another German organization.[29] The Wachowskis contributed approximately $7 million to the project out of their own finances.[31] The budget was updated to $100 million.[5]
The Wachowskis stated that due to lack of financing, the film was almost abandoned several times. However, they noted how the crew was enthusiastic and determined: "They flew—even though their agents called them and said, 'They don't have the money, the money's not closed.'" They specifically praised Tom Hanks's enthusiasm: "Warner Bros. calls and, through our agent, says they've looked at the math and decided that they don't like this deal. They're pulling all of the money away, rescinding the offer. I was shaking. I heard, 'Are you saying the movie is dead?' They were like, 'Yes, the movie is dead.' ... At the end of the meeting, Tom says, 'Let's do it. I'm in. When do we start?' ... Tom said this unabashed, enthusiastic 'Yes!' which put our heart back together. We walked away thinking, this movie is dead but somehow, it's alive and we're going to make it."[32] "Every single time, Tom Hanks was the first who said, 'I'm getting on the plane.' And then once he said he was getting on the plane, basically everyone said, 'Well, Tom's on the plane, we're on the plane.' And so everyone flew [to Berlin to begin the film]. It was like this giant leap of faith. From all over the globe."[31]
Some German journalists called it "the first attempt at a German blockbuster".[33]
Principal photography
Tykwer and the Wachowskis filmed parallel to each other using separate camera crews.[34] Although all three shot scenes together when permitted by the schedule, the Wachowskis mostly directed the 1849 story and the two set in the future, while Tykwer directed the stories set in 1936, 1973, and 2012.[35] Tykwer said that the three directors planned every segment of the film together in pre-production, and continued to work closely together through post-production.[36] Warner Bros. Pictures representatives agreed to the film's 172-minute running time, after previously stating that it should not exceed 150 minutes.[37]
Filming began at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, on 16 September 2011, the base camp for the production.[38] Other German locations include the city of Düsseldorf and the Saxon Switzerland landscape,[39] furthermore sets[40] in and near Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland,[41] and the Mediterranean island of Majorca, Spain.[23] Glasgow doubled for both San Francisco and London.[38] Scenes filmed in Scotland feature the new Clackmannanshire Bridge[42] near Alloa. The "Big Island" and "Pacific Islands" stories were shot on Majorca, mostly in the World Heritage site of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains. Scenes were shot at Cala Tuent and near Formentor, amongst others.[40] The opening scene, when Adam Ewing meets Dr. Henry Goose, was filmed at Sa Calobra beach. Port de Sóller provided the setting for the scene when the 19th-century ship is mooring.[43]
The film was meant to be shot in chronological order; however, Berry broke her foot two days before she was supposed to start filming. Instead of replacing her, the Wachowskis and Tykwer heavily changed the initial filming schedule; Berry stated that "it involved travelling back and forth to Majorca and then Germany then we had to go back to Majorca when my foot got a little bit better and we were able to shoot some of that stuff on the mountainside when I could climb a little bit better. It was all over the place."[44] According to her, "Tom [Hanks] would play nurse to me. He really took care of me. He would bring me coffee and soup and just stay with me during breaks in shooting because it was difficult for me to move around, especially at the beginning ... I basically had to be helped back to my chair after every take, but you learn to adapt to the situation. But with Tom at my side, I was really able to go beyond my own expectations of what I was capable of as an actress."[44]
