Hello There! This is Adam Frazier and you are listening to Skull-Face Island, the official movie podcast of Geeks of Doom. As always I’m joined by Nintendo Entertainment System’s Ice Climber World Champion, David Allen. And the Miss Elizabeth to my Macho Man Randy Savage, producer Tim Grant.

Today on the Show: We’ll discuss the epic sci-fi/fantasy adventure-drama Cloud Atlas, written and directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. We’ll also boot-up the Geek-O-Matic TeleFax now and discuss Mark Millar‘s recent updates on X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Wolverine, and Deadpool.

We’ll also play The Sequel Game, or as it’s also known, The Sequel Game: First Blood Part II. Tim will present David and I with three films that, in no way, shape, or form NEED a sequel – and we will be forced to create theoretical sequels to appease the Gods. In celebration of Halloween, this week’s edition will challenge us to come up with horror sequels to non-horror films. Prepare for absurdity!

Cloud Atlas
Directed by: Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, Tom Tykwer
Written by: Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, Tom Tykwer
Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, Doona Bae, James D’Arcy
Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated R | 164 minutes
Release Date: October 26, 2012

Based on the 2004 novel by British author David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas is an epic story of the human condition in which the consequences of our decisions impact one another throughout the past, present, and future.

Written and directed by Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix Trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), Cloud Atlas is a collection of six stories that traverse time and space.

Within the first 20 minutes of this epic sci-fi adventure, you’ll be transported from post-apocalyptic Hawaii to the 19th-century South Pacific, to 2144’s Neo Seoul, where enslaved clones called ‘fabricants’ fight the status quo. You’ll then jump to 1931 Zedelgem, Belgium, to the estate of an eccentric composer, before visiting 1973 San Francisco and 21st-century London.

Each member of the film’s impressive ensemble cast, which includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, and Hugh Grant, plays upwards of six different characters throughout the film’s multiple narratives, often switching gender and ethnicity.

A slew of new promotional material for Cloud Atlas is hitting the marketing wire, and it does a great job of showing the ambitious scope of The Wachowskis‘ latest film. The project is difficult to describe largely because it features a large cast playing as multiple characters cross various time periods. In the film these actors play a variety of roles, some which requires the actor to play something outside of their own race, age, and even sexuality. Now seven promotional banners put these roles and time periods up on display. Check out the seven new banners, plus two tv spots here below.

There has been positive buzz circling around Cloud Atlas since it made its official debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. Critics have praised The Wachowskis (Andy and Lana) and Tom Twyker for creating a movie that is not limited to one genre. Others have praised the make-up used to change the actors’ appearances.

After watching the first trailer for Cloud Atlas for the first time, it was clear that this was going to be a very ambitious movie. In that trailer we saw actors playing multiple roles in six intersecting stories that span many generations from the Victorian era to a technologically sophisticated futuristic Korea.

Now, a much shorter more theatrically fitting trailer has appeared online. Check it out here below.

There is some new footage that has been included in this video, although it doesn’t really hamper or spoil the movie since they are just quick glimpses. I actually think that the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer are playing this one close to the vest and the first trailer they released is the real meat of the promotions, the rest they are holding off on until they release Cloud Atlas.

To avoid any confusion as to what the basic idea of what The Wachowski Siblings (Lana and Andy) and Tom Tykwer‘s adaptation of David Mitchell‘s Cloud Atlas might be, they released an extraordinarily long trailer – almost two and a half minutes longer than the average trailer. Still, a movie that has actors playing multiple characters in six multigenerational intersecting storylines may be a little difficult for the average audience member to grasp.

Now in a profiling interview with The New Yorker, the Wachowski Siblings are detailing the entire (the good and the bad) filmmaking process.