Paul Bettany is in negotiations to star alongside Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp in Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister's directorial debut, Transcendence, it was announced by Broderick Johnson and Andrew A. Kosove, co-founders and co-CEOs of Alcon Entertainment, which is financing and producing the project.

Principal photography is set to begin in April in Los Angeles. Warner Bros. will release in mid 2014 via its output deal with Alcon.

The screenplay, written by Jack Paglen, was developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose company principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. Polvino, Marter and Cohen will produce along with David Valdes (The Book of Eli), Johnson and Kosove. Boies will co-produce.

Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas and Aaron Ryder are serving as executive producers.

Bettany most recently appeared in the box office mega hit Marvel's The Avengers, and will next be reprising the voice of "Jarvis" in Iron Man 3 for Paramount. Bettany notably starred in A Beautiful Mind, which earned him a SAG nomination, Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, for which he received a BAFTA nomination, The Da Vinci Code, and The Young Victoria, among many others.

Pfister most recently served as cinematographer on The Dark Knight Rises, and on last year's best picture nominee, Moneyball. Other credits include such films as The Italian Job and Laurel Canyon.

Bettany is repped by UTA and Affirmative Entertainment.