Filming is underway on Transcendence, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister (Inception). The film revolves around a group of scientists trying to build the first self-aware supercomputer, and Depp plays a man who uploads his brain to the machine, but is then killed. The film is being co-financed by Beijing-based company DMG Entertainment, but unlike its previous collaborations on Iron Man 3 and Looper, there will be no Chinese-specific footage in Transcendence. DMG found Dan Mintz tells the L.A. Times that the movie “is about that moment when human consciousness and the insanely fast rise of computing power collide.” He continued that the story is “more science reality than science fiction” and that it something that is likely to happen in our lifetimes. That’s an interesting and also somewhat creepy concept, and I’m interested to see what Pfister will do with it.

Hit the jump to check out a photo from the set, a promo poster, and a brief international featurette that has Rebecca Hall giving a shout out to the people of China. The film also stars Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Paul Bettany, Clifton Collins Jr., Cole Hauser, and Morgan Freeman. Transcendence opens April 18, 2014.

Image via L.A. Times.

Poster and featurette via The Film Stage.