Crackle, Sony Pictures Television Networks’ free, ad supported streaming network, today announced that it has cast Nora Arnezeder (Safe House, The Words, Mozart in the Jungle), Gabriel Byrne (An L.A. Minute, The Usual Suspects), Justin Chatwin (Shameless, War of the Worlds), Tomiwa Edun (The Hour, Merlin, Bates Motel) and Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad) in Crackle’s upcoming original movie, In the Cloud, from Imperative Entertainment and Automatik. Production is underway in London and Manchester, England. The 90-minute feature is expected to release this December on the streaming network.
A Crackle original movie from Imperative Entertainment and Automatik, In the Cloud is a high-octane, international, sci-fi thriller that takes place in the near future after dozens of people are killed in attacks by a serial terrorist bomber. An exploration of the inevitable evolution of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence and the dramatic implications when it is used by those with questionable interests, In the Cloud tells the story of two estranged tech geniuses. Brought together by the mysterious death of their mentor, they overcome their differences to create a perfect cutting-edge technology with the goal of invading the terrorist’s memories using a VR environment to pinpoint the remaining bombs and prevent countless more casualties. But hiding in the shadows are those with secret agendas who seek to utilize the “memory cloud” to create and control what can only be described as a digital afterlife. In their race to thwart the attacks, our heroes will inadvertently create an AI so powerful it may change the very meaning of life and death for the future of humanity.
In the Cloud is directed by Robert Scott Wildes (Poor Boy) and written by Vanya Asher. The movie is produced by Imperative Entertainment’s Dan Friedkin, Tim Kring, Bradley Thomas, Justin Levy, Automatik’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Little Island Productions in the U.K. Jillian Apfelbaum from Imperative Entertainment and Automatik’s Chris Goble also serve as co-producers.
Gabriel Byrne plays Doc Wolff, an old-school Jewish New York City transplant. He is the brilliant mind behind the most advanced privately funded neuroscience research lab in the United Kingdom. In addition, he’s a mentor to Theo and Hale who are more like his sons. That is, before they got into it over a girl and Hale ditched them to start his own venture.
Justin Chatwin portrays Hale (Halid), a neuroscientist and a brash anarchist pragmatist with a penchant for hallucinogens who, due to extreme post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), doesn’t remember anything about his life before landing on the shores of California as a child refugee from a war-torn Eastern European country. Eventually he ended up in London under the tutelage of Doc Wolff before he split off to develop his own technology. Hale runs a hackerspace for amateur neuroscientists and the like.
Tomiwa Edun plays Theo Jones, a brooding genius with a checkered past. Raised by his grandmother and the hard streets of South London. Like Hale, he never knew his parents. He’s a silver-tongued charmer who went through a wild streak after facing a lifetime of racism. He joined a street gang and started racking up a rap sheet before turning his attention to computer sciences. He was discovered through Doc Wolff’s coding outreach and engagement program, and Wolff helped him find his place.
Nora Arnezeder is Z (Suzanna), is a hardware tech guru and Hale’s girlfriend. She becomes integral in helping Hale and Theo crack Doc Wolff’s unfinished brain mapping code. As she and Theo work closely together, we realize they’re attraction is what drove a wedge between Theo and Hale years ago.
Laura Fraser is Ms. Mary, a grant representative for the Exer Foundation, which funds Doc Wolff’s lab. An assertive globetrotting businesswoman, Ms. Mary has become Doc Wolff’s confidant and sometime lover. She secretly works for a billionaire that is interested in Doc Wolff’s research.
