Update: Emmerich and Kloser’s
script was purchased by Sony Pictures, it was
announced Thursday. The budget for 2012 is said
to be near $200 million.
Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel
Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver
Platt.
U.S. Release Date: July 10,
2009 (Wide)
Back in February, blockbuster director Roland
Emmerich revealed that his next big movie would
be one titled 2012, a disaster movie that takes
place in the year of the title. Emmerich's next
finished movie is actually 10,000 B.C., which
hits theaters this coming Friday. Our friend Steve
from Collider caught up with Emmerich last weekend
while he was promoting 10,000 B.C. and tried to
get him to reveal what exactly happens in 2012,
but still had no luck - he's keeping a very tight
lip. But if you're interested in trying to guess
what it might be or just want to know exactly
what Emmerich said, read on. And considering this
is the next big $200 million epic summer blockbuster,
we're sure you'll want to know.
The script for 2012 is apparently so good, that
the studios started a bidding war for distribution,
with Sony ending up the winner. Now it's heading
into production for a July 10th, 2009 opening.
Emmerich has said previously that "it will
be very expensive, you see the whole world go
to shit" and other sources reported that
the "project has more going for it than the
big idea that studios love," but what exactly
that means yet, no one knows. All that we do know
is that 2012 is the year that the Mayan calendar
(pictured to the right) ends and many others have
predicted that it will be the apocalyptic end
of the Earth. What Emmerich is depicting, however,
is a "natural disaster" of some sorts.
Before we get into the juicy details, Emmerich
explains his inspiration for the movie, and how
he convinced himself, after saying he'd never
do another disaster movie, to do 2012.
"…This whole movie I'm doing next
was inspired by just the phenomenon of the internet
when you type in Google, '2012', you get 240
million hits. That's a lot. And it's just, so
many people write about it, believe it, that
our world comes to an end in 2012. I said wow.
I kind of said before I will never do a disaster
movie again. I said, for this idea I have to
do it again."
When Collider asked Emmerich whether this would
achieve a new level of "blowing things up",
Emmerich responded with "it's not blowing
up, it's something else." And when prodded
further to explain himself, Emmerich almost gave
it away: "This time there's no blowing up.
It's a natural disaster. Well, actually yeah,
like a… I'm not saying it! I'm giving things
away." Damn, too close! If only he just finished
his sentence…
To be honest, Emmerich has done such a great
job of teasing 2012, that I'm getting into it
almost as much as Cloverfield, where it's become
all about figuring out "what it is"
more than anything else. Unfortunately we'll have
to wait until we see the first teaser trailer
or hear reports from the set to get to that point.
Emmerich goes on talking to Collider about how
"undoable" this is, especially considering
they're going to, basically, destroy the entire
world. Check out what he had to say!
"Yes, it will be very expensive, but I
think it will be for a price because people
who read the script said this is undoable. And
I said, well but we'll do it. I mean, it's one
of these things that everybody says it's undoable
because it's like, you see the whole world go
to shit… It's kind of one of these things
when I write a script, and I wrote it again
with Harald [Kloser] together, we just said
no, we'll not think if it's doable or not, we'll
just write it. We'll just come up with it. And
then we'll figure out how we'll do it. I think
it's worth doing it because it's also when you
have something where you have adrenaline because
you are nervous about it, that's good. That's
a little bit like… it's good when actors
have this adrenaline when they go on stage.
I think they do their best work, and for us
it's the same thing…"
I love the way he thinks - don't write it with
"is it doable?" in mind, just write
it, and then figure out how to do it. And even
be nervous about it, challenge yourself - that's
awesome. As much as we all know that Emmerich
is a filmmaker who writes/directs films that are
nothing but storyless blockbusters, at least they're
entertaining. And although I'm not that excited
for 10,000 B.C., I'm already very excited for
2012. I'm really wondering what the hell is going
to happen, and how the entire world is going to
get destroyed! This should be fun!
Any guesses as to what kind(s) of natural disaster(s)
will be destroying the Earth in 2012?
