Latino Review report that the Dark Knight actor has nabbed one of the three male leads in Wally Pfister's directorial debut, Transcendence. They don't reveal any character details, but if the leaked synopsis below is anything to go by he could be playing the scientist named Max, unless that's Bettany's role of course.
Three scientists -- Max and the husband and wife team, Will and Evelyn -- have been developing a programming code for the world’s first fully self-aware computer. Depp will play one of the lead scientists, Will. The other two roles have not yet been cast. A group of anti-technology terrorists assassinate Will, Evelyn uploads his brain into a prototype supercomputer. Although she at first finds the experiment seems to have gone wrong, before too long Evelyn finds Will responding in computer form. She goes on to connect Will to the Internet so he can help make further scientific breakthroughs. Will asks Evelyn to connect a microphone and a camera up to the computer so he can see and speak to her as well. Will creates a backup of himself to every computer in the world, and furthers his work through accessing online indexes. (Kosove told TheWrap this plot point is no longer in the script.) When the anti-technology organization finds out, they try to steal the supercomputer and destroy it, but Will no longer needs the computer to survive.
Murphy will star alongside Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, and Morgan Freeman. Transcendence has a release date of April 25th, 2014.