Johnny Depp undergoes one of his most radical onscreen transformations to date in the trailer for his new film Transcendence.

The 60-year-old shaves his head and attaches wires to his skull as he attempts to become immortal via an advanced computer programme after his character Will Caster is shot by a bullet laced with radiation.

The normally thick maned star is almost unrecognisable as he looks gaunt and pale with his scalp riddled with small metallic probes in the paranoid clip.

Becoming immortal: Johnny Depp undergoes a cyber transformation in the trailer for Transcendence

The teaser begins with Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) introducing Depp: ‘Please welcome my partner in science and in life Dr Will Caster.’

Caster enters the stage to address a packed university audience: ‘The path to building super intelligence requires us to unlock the most fundamental secrets of the universe.

‘Imagine a machine with the full range of human emotion.’

The man before the machine: The 50-year-old star portrays futurist Dr Will Casters in the film

Final moment: In the clip Wlll shot by a member of a radical group

The futurist goes on to add: ‘For one hundred thirty thousand years our capacity for reason has remained unchanged.

‘The combined intellect of the neuroscientists, engineers and mathematicians pales in comparison to even the most basic AI.

‘Once online a sentient machine will overcome the limits of biology. In a short time its analytical power will be greater than the collective intelligence of every human being born in the history of the world.’

The killer: Lukas Haas commits suicide after shooting Depp

Deathbed: Casters is revealed to have been shot with a radiation laced bullet, pictured with Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany

The words soon become a self-fulfilling prophecy as Dr Casters is shot by a member of a suicidal anti-technology group.

It is then revealed that Will is dying from radiation poisoning, as the bullet was laced with the toxic materials.

Evelyn comes up with a solution, as she says: ‘Will’s body is dying but his mind is a pattern of electrical signals, we can upload his consciousness. We can save him.

Passionate memories: Depp enjoys a romance with Rebecca who plays his partner Evelyn

Sealing their fate: Evelyn decides to save Will by transferring his consciousness online

But Caster’s colleague Max (Paul Bettany) warns that it is a dangerous game they are playing, potentially creating an unknown and unstoppable intelligence.

It is then that Depp shaves his head and connects wires to his skull to transfer his mind, memories, and emotions into a computer programme.

Once the transformation is complete, Caster’s body dies and Will is now an artificial intelligence.

Transformation complete: When Will dies he becomes a virtual person

Growing power: Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy become concerned when Will’s power as an AI reaches godlike proportions

He then appears to grow sick with the unlimited power he is now in possession of and tries to transform the world into something of his own making.

Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Kate Mara attempt to stop the malevolent force that Caster has has now become.

But he appears to be nearly unstoppable, now that he is an unlimited being living entirely in cyberspace.

A mind of his own: Caster becomes an entity capable of threatening the whole planet

Ominous power: Depp as a pixelated version of Will

The same day three other clips for the film were released, highlighting the futurist angle of the film, which appears to have been modelled after the thoughts of Singularity theorist Ray Kurzweil.

Freeman in one of the accompanying trailers states: ‘For two million years human beings have evolved more than any other species in existence.

‘But what if all our knowledge and all our achievements could be learned in mere minutes? What if humanities next step in evolution wasn’t human at all?

What happens when artificial intellgience becomes self aware? Is it the key to immortality or is it the path to self-annihilation?’

The rebel: Kate Mara plays Bree who defies Will’s reign

Technological singularity: The computer driven sci-fi movie is set to hit theaters next year on April 18

The synopsis of the film revolves around two computer scientists who work toward their goal of ‘technological singularity.’

Depp plays one of those aforementioned scientists (Caster), who is an illustrious artificial intelligence researcher obsessed with creating a sentient machine.

The conflict in the film comes from a radical anti-technology organisation named RIFT, or the Revolutionary Independence From Technology, that combats the scientists from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.

Transcendence marks Wally Pfister’s directorial debut, he is the longtime cinematographer for filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who is serving as an executive producer for the film.

Transcendence is currently in post-production and is set for release on April 18, 2014.

Luxurious mane: Depp pictured in the film with a full head of hair