House of Cards star Kate Mara has been cast alongside Johnny Depp in Transcendence, the directorial debut of cinematographer Wally Pfister which will be produced by frequent collaborator Christopher Nolan. There's no word on who Mara is playing specifically, but the movie sounds like it's going to be really cool, and she makes a terrific addition to the cast which also includes Rebecca Hall.
From what we know of the film right now, the story revolves around three scientists, Max and a husband and wife team, Will and Evelyn, who "have been developing a programming code for the world’s first fully self-aware computer." Depp plays a scientist whose brain is uploaded into the supercomputer creating the world’s first machine that can think for itself. The story contains themes of singularity and nanotechnology. Here's a more detailed breakdown of the story that was previously released,
A group of anti-technology terrorists assassinate Will, Evelyn uploads his brain into a prototype supercomputer. Although she at first finds the experiment seems to have gone wrong, before too long Evelyn finds Will responding in computer form.
She goes on to connect Will to the Internet so he can help make further scientific breakthroughs. Will asks Evelyn to connect a microphone and a camera up to the computer so he can see and speak to her as well.
Will creates a backup of himself to every computer in the world, and furthers his work through accessing online indexes. (Kosove told TheWrap this plot point is no longer in the script.) When the anti-technology organization finds out, they try to steal the supercomputer and destroy it, but Will no longer needs the computer to survive.
The film is scheduled to be released on April 25th, 2014.