Toronto - Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and their castmates have put in some serious overtime on their genre-bending film Cloud Atlas.
Members of the large ensemble of actors take on multiple roles in the epic tale that premiered on Saturday night at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Hanks, Berry and their co-stars play as many as half a dozen different characters in Cloud Atlas, whose action stretches across centuries from the mid-1800s to the distant future.
Directors Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer thanked their financial backers for getting behind the daring film. But Lana Wachowski told the festival audience that the real courage came from the actors because of the heavy demands of their roles.
The cast also includes Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw and Susan Sarandon.
Cloud Atlas opens in the US and South Africa on 26 October.
Watch the extended Cloud Atlas trailer here: