Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Filmmaker Roland Emmerich is at home in the 'disaster movie' genre withhit films like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and Godzilla among his credits. Now, he ratchets his trademark mayhem upto a global scale, destroying landmarks the world over in his newaction-adventure film. Here's a look at 2012.
"In ancient times, the Mayan people were the first people to discover that this planet had an expiration date. According to their calendar, in the year 2012 a cataclysmic event will unfold caused by an alignment of the planets in our solar system that only happens every 640,000 years. "
Those events will unfold on December 21, 2012 …accordingto scholars and enthusiasts who have pored through the ancient texts.All that is needed to get the movie started is some cause for thisworldwide catastrophe.
Director Roland Emmerich on the set of the movieMix a little pseudo-science with an intriguing legend and Roland Emmerich says action is bound to happen.
"Wheneveryou have a myth out there, first of all it's a starting point, whichmakes people it is real," Emmerich says. "It was interestingfor me when I did some sort of research. I read, like, ten books …or atleast flipped through them …and I realized that every book about 2012says something different. You have a lot of freedom there and it's justa fact that so many people are fascinated. I think I know where thisfascination comes from: it's because it is such an exact date."
"It's the apocalypse...end of days...the judgment day...the end of the world, my friend. Christians called it 'The Rapture,' but the Mayans knew about it, the Hopis, the I Ching, the bible.....kind of."
Woody Harrelson in scene from 2012Woody Harrelson plays a radio talk show host whose own extensive research leads him to the inescapable conclusion.
"Hebelieves that the world is going to come to an end and he has anattitude about how it's going to happen. Of course, a lot of peoplethink he's nuts, but he turns out to be not so far off," Harrelsonexplains.
John Cusack stars as a divorced father desperatelytrying to save his ex-wife and kids as Southern California falls downaround them. Cusack thinks, like much science fiction, 2012 taps intoa widespread concern - maybe even paranoia - about the future.
John Cusack and Woody Harrelson in scene from 2012"Ithink in today's society this is something that probably gives voice toa lot of collective fears and paranoia …and also, I think, shouldprobably entertain and distract from some of the woes that people areexperiencing," Cusack says. "I think this is escapist entertainmentwith a little bit of a social conscience that, hopefully, gets peopleto react towards global warming and some of those things; but today,right now, I think people just want to have a good time at the moviesbecause there are so many troubles going on in the world right now."
ChewitelEjiofor co-stars as a scientist frantically trying to convincegovernment authorities to save as many people as possible. 'Frantic'fits this role and the circumstances, according to the English actor.
"Yessure. If the world is coming to an end and everything is gettingdestroyed, it's hard to take it lightly and do it in a very nuancedstyle," Ejiofor says. "You've just got to focus on the situation thatthe character is in. It does require a certain imaginative leap andyou've just got to go for it and you hope that the audience is carriedwith you; but the circumstances are extraordinary and incrediblyheightened and you kind of have to play to that and get on the ride andhave a go at it."
Scene from 20122012 also includes plenty of melodrama -scenes of emotional, tearful goodbyes, for instance; butwriter-director Emmerich says it's all part of the package.
"Somepeople call in melodramatic," Emmerich says. "I call it very heartfeltand true. I think when you make movies like this you have to makepeople laugh, you have to make people cry and you have to make peoplescared. I try to do that."
2012 is co-written by Austrian-bornHarald Kloser, who also composed some of the soundtrack music. Theinternational cast includes Danny Glover as the troubled US presidentwith Thandie Newton as his headstrong daughter; and Jimi Mistry is theIndian scientist who first recognizes the phenomenon that is changingthe world. But the real stars of the film may be the digital specialeffects wizards who create scenes of disaster ranging from Californiasliding into the sea to the eruption of a super-volcano underYellowstone National Park and the collapse of the Vatican atopthousands of worshipers.Watch the movie trailer
