See the Future Of Korea In Wachowski's 'Cloud Atlas' Concept Art

Concept art from the Wachowski's newest film Cloud Atlas (2012) has shown up online and it looks like a surprisingly new take on the world of tomorrow. The film, coming out in October of next year is based on a best-selling book by David Mitchell and stars Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving and Jim Sturgess.

The novel consists of six nested stories that take the reader from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Each tale is revealed to be a story that is read (or watched) by the main character in the next. All stories but the last one get interrupted at some moment, and after the sixth story concludes at the center of the book, the novel "goes back" in time, "closing" each story as the book progresses in terms of pages but regresses in terms of the historical period in which the action takes place. Eventually, readers end where they started, with Adam Ewing in the Pacific Ocean, circa 1850.

The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing

Pacific Ocean, circa 1850. Adam Ewing, an American notary's account of a voyage home from the remote Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand. The next character discovers this story as a diary on his patron's bookshelf.

Letters from Zedelghem
Zedelgem, Belgium, 1931. Robert Frobisher, a penniless young English musician, finds work as an amanuensis to a composer living in Belgium. This story is saved in the form of letters to his friend (and implied lover) Rufus Sixsmith, which the next character discovers after meeting Sixsmith.

Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery.
Buenas Yerbas, California, 1975. Luisa Rey, a journalist, investigates reports of corruption and murder at a nuclear power plant. The next character is sent this story in the mail, in the form of a manuscript for a novel.

The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish

United Kingdom, early 21st century. Timothy Cavendish, a vanity press publisher, flees the brothers of his gangster client. He gets confined against his will in a nursing home from which he cannot escape. The next character watches a movie dramatisation of this story.

An Orison of Sonmi~451

Nea So Copros (Korea), dystopian near future. Sonmi~451, a genetically-engineered fabricant (clone) server at Papa Song's diner (a proxy for McDonald's), is interviewed before her execution after she rebels against the capitalist totalitarian society that created and exploited her kind. The next character watches Sonmi's story projected holographically in an "orison," a futuristic recording device.

Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After

Hawaii, post-apocalyptic distant future. Zachry, a tribesman living a primitive life after most of humanity dies during "the Fall," is visited by Meronym, a member of the last remnants of technologically-advanced civilization. This story is told when the protagonist is an old man, to seemingly random strangers around a camp-fire. - Wikipedia

From the description it looks like these are from Korea and possibly Hawaii

No word on who exactly created these yet, but there are some amazing concept artists on this project. George Hull worked with the Wachowski's on both The Matrix Reloaded (2003), V for Vendetta (2006) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and Ed Natividad worked on the Star Wars prequels.

Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski

Production Design by Hugh Bateup and Uli Hanisch

Concept artist

• Daniele Auber
• Jonas De Ro
• Adam Kuczek
• Monica Manganelli
• Peter Popken
• Gloria Shih
• Rainer Stock

Conceptual designer

• George Hull
• Ed Natividad
• Emmanuel Shiu

 Storyboard artist Kurt Van Der Basch

Via Collider