Since he likely won’t be up for any Marvel director of photography job, Wally Pfister is spending his post-Batman days on a new venture. As we’ve reported on the last year, after shooting The Dark Knight Rises with Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning cinematographer is stepping behind the camera again, but this time as director.

Relatively little details have been unearthed for the science-fiction project, but we’ve now got word on a title and a main star. Pfister has bagged perhaps one of the top Hollywood celebrities for the film titled Transendence, as none other than Johnny Depp is in talks to lead the project. THR also updates, saying that the film’s style and story is being compared to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Inception as we follow a husband “who creates a computer that develops a malevolent awareness.” They also say that Noomi Rapace is being looked at for a major female role, as well as James McAvoy and Tobey Maguire for the other male roles and Christoph Waltz is being offered a supporting part.

Any other sort of plot details on the script coming from first-time writer Jack Paglen have yet to be unveiled, but this casting is a huge bump for the project. With Depp not starring in Wes Anderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotel, perhaps this is the film he decided to do instead, but for now we’ll just see him in The Lone Ranger summer. Shooting is set to begin early 2013, so hopefully we’ll get more details around then, but it’s safe to say we are greatly looking forward to this one.

Are you looking forward to Depp leading the project?