When it was announced that director Christopher Nolan’s longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister would be making his directorial debut on an original sci-fi project called Transcendence, it wasn’t exactly shocking that plot details were being kept under wraps.  Nolan’s films have been wrapped in a similar amount of intrigue and secrecy, with the initial logline for Inception describing the film only as “a thriller set within the architecture of the mind.”  We recently reported that Johnny Depp was in talks to star in the film, and along with the casting news a few plot details started to leak that involved the main character getting sucked into a supercomputer.  Now further story points have been revealed, giving us a better idea of what to expect from Transcendence.Hit the jump for more, including which actors Pfister has approached for other roles in the film.Producer Andrew Kosove confirmed the central plot of the film to The Wrap, describing it thusly:

“The plot involves a scientist whose brain gets uploaded into a supercomputer with the aim of creating the world’s first machine that can think for itself.”

Depp would play this lead scientist character, Will, and the central cast is rounded out by two other scientists: a character named Max, and Will’s wife Evelyn.  When last we heard, Pfister had met with Noomi Rapace to play the female lead while James McAvoy and Tobey Maguire were mentioned as possibilities for the other male lead.  Christoph Waltz was also mentioned as being eyed for a supporting role.

Kosove told The Wrap that Rapace is not in the running for a role, but notes that Ewan McGregor passed on an early draft and Tom Hardy is unavailable due to scheduling.  Kate Winslet is also not available.  Depp’s involvement was contingent upon Pfister making some changes to Jack Paglen’s existing script, so with Depp now onboard, one assumes the cast will fill out fairly soon.

You can read a much more detailed plot summary over at The Wrap, but I’m not posting it here because it’s incredibly spoilery.  Read at your own risk.