Cover Story: The end of days

2009/11/05

RADIN SRI GHAZALI

RADIN SRI GHAZALI talks to Roland Emmerich about what inspired him to make the apocalyptic movie 2012.

DIRECTOR Roland Emmerich is fascinated with the idea that the world will one day end. Not that he believes it — not one bit.

“I am not a religious person,” said Emmerich, shrugging his shoulders in the hotel room in Tokyo recently.

“People only seek refuge in religion when bad things happen to them.”

In his latest movie, 2012, (which opens in cinemas nationwide on Nov 12), religion is offered as humanity’s last resort for redemption.

“The end of the world is feared by people all over the world. This common belief somehow unifies them, regardless of cultures and ideologies. For scientists, the world will be destroyed through a series of cataclysmic events. That fuelled me into making the movie,” he said.

German-born Emmerich established himself as the director/producer/writer for the disaster movie genre following a string of box-office successes including Independence Day (1996) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004).

With 2012, Emmerich turned to the Mayan civilisation (which came into existence from 2000 BC to 250 AD), which predicted that the world will end in 2012, when the cycle of their calendar ends.

The hype surrounding the 2012 prediction has grown rapidly through the Internet as thousand of forums and web pages have mushroomed among believers and sceptics.

The phenomenon impressed the 54-year-old director so much that he decided to make the movie although he insisted that he doesn’t belong to any cult organisations, religious sects or underground scientific communities.

“Clearly, we have a pool of audience there,” said the director whose last work, 10,000 BC (2008), took the viewers back into the Stone Age.

2012 is also a channel for the director to voice his views on the deterioration of the Earth due to global warming as well as human atrocities in the form of war and destitution.

“If The Day After Tomorrow addressed my concerns about global warming, 2012 is no different. It reflects on what I feel about the world. If we don’t do something now, we will end up destroying the world,” he said.

In 2012, two men from very different backgrounds — a high-powered world leader and politician with moral obligations, and an ordinary father who is seeking to redeem himself — discover that humanity will face the destruction of their home planet and that it is inevitable.

“For me, it is essential to have human and moral values in a movie. The conflicts are depicted by these two men.

“I asked myself, what if a world leader knows that the world was going to end soon? Would he take the moral and social responsibility of informing his people? And what if he is asked to keep it a secret? That is what the United States president has to face in 2012,” he explained.

John Cusack (left) and Woody Harrelson in 2012.

He also enjoys exploring the dynamics of human relationships in times of crisis.

“In the movie, Jackson Curtis (played by John Cusack) is a divorced writer who finds out, coincidentally, that the end is upon us. The film shows his efforts to rescue his ex-wife and two children, who sadly resent him, and his ex’s new partner,” he said.

“If they make it at the end of the movie, they may have a chance to be together again,” said Emmerich, painting a picture of hope in all the hopelessness.

It was a surprise when Cusack was roped in as the lead role for the big-budget movie.

Known for the dark and dramatic roles in smaller, independent films such as Grace Is Gone and High Fidelity, Cusack does not have the box-office draw of Will Smith or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But Emmerich has confidence in his 43-year-old lead actor.

“I like John. I think he is the perfect choice to play Jackson. He is extremely talented and he needs no buffing up to be a hero in this movie. Plus, it has been a while since I last saw him in a movie,” he said.

The film also stars Thandie Newton, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover and Oliver Platt .

“I like developing the characters, no matter how big or small they are. They are important as they are responsible in telling the story. No matter how good the visual effects are, it’s all pointless when you don’t believe in the characters,” he said.

“We had fun on the set. We had a lot of laughs but at the same time, we knew how serious the story is,” he said.

The film also generated a lot of buzz for its overblown budget. It reportedly costs US$200 million (RM684 million) and is said to be one of the most expensive movies this year.

2012 is a CGI (computer generated images) smorgasbord and a visual feast, thanks to visual supervisor and Emmerich's old friend, Volker Engel, who worked with the director on Independence Day and Godzilla (1998).

From gigantic tsunamis hitting the Himalayas and the making of a ship that resembles Noah’s ark to watching the Earth disintegrating, the visuals are nothing short of spectacular.

“This has the most number of visual effects shots of all of my movies. We had so many different types of effects. We had at least 1,400 to 1,500 shots. It was tedious but I wanted perfection,” he said.

Critics haven’t been kind. Some claimed that the visual effects were “unrealistic”, while others predicted that it has “doom” written all over it.

Whatever it is, Emmerich is more than happy with the results.

“I don’t do a movie to have people like me. I just want to reach out,” he said.

• The writer’s trip to Japan is courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing International

2012 trivia

• Nov 12, 2009, marks a year since the release of 2012’s first film trailer. Sony Pictures Releasing International released the infamous scene where a tsunami surging over the Himalayas on Nov 12, 2008. It was 75 seconds long.

• 2012 was intended to be a summer release. It was scheduled for July 10, 2009, but was pushed to Nov 12, hoping for better results and perhaps less competition.

• 2012’s teaser used the same ambient music score from The Shinning’s trailer that was released in 1980.
• The Mayans never came up with the theory of doomsday in 2012. The idea originated from the Western community.

• A shot of an erupting volcano from the film’s trailer was taken from Pierce Brosnan’s Dante’s Peak, which was released in 1997.

• Farewell Atlantis was the original working title of 2012.

• Danny Glover plays the president of the United States in the movie (pre-production work started in 2007 and filming took place a year later). It looks like Emmerich had predicted that an African-American would occupy the White House one day.

• Emmerich has a thing for destroying famous landmarks. He did it in Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and of course, 2012.

• This is Emmerich’s longest movie to date. It runs for two hours and 38 minutes. It is going to be a long ride!

• Do not be confused with another movie of the same name. 2012 Doomsday is a low budget movie released in 2008.

Emmerich’s other directorial works:

1. Universal Soldier (1992): Emmerich’s earlier work for Hollywood that has Jean-Claude Van Damme as the leading man. It might not be earth-shattering, but the world had fun with the “Muscles from Brussels”.

2. Stargate (1994): A classic. Emmerich did wonders in exploring the realms of sci-fi in this movie which theorises that aliens were responsible for the pyramids in Egypt. The movie has a massive legion of sci-fi fans. The visual effects were stunning, for the ‘90s, of course.

3. Independence Day (1996): The film cemented Emmerich’s reputation in Hollywood. It also turned Will Smith into a bonafide A-lister. The film received an Oscar nod.

4. Godzilla (1998): It may not be his best work but Emmerich brought the legendary Japanese monster to the big screen. The film also stars an unlikely hero, Matthew Broderick.

5. The Patriot (2000): Emmerich tried his hands at drama with this heart-warming tale set against the backdrop of the American Revolution. It has two of Australia’s leading actors, Mel Gibson and the late Heath Ledger and tells about the relationship between a father and his son.

6. The Day After Tomorrow (2004): The world pays the price for man’s folly — global warming — in this cautionary tale. This movie highlights Emmerich’s fascination with floods and gigantic waves. The film, which stars Dennis Quaid and hunky Jake Gyllenhaal, reflects the director's passion for the environment.

7. 10,000 BC (2008): Mammoths, sabre-tooths, giant birds, pyraminds. Pre-historic creatures and CGI wonders meet a bunch of unknown cast in this fantasy/drama/action flick that sadly doesn't really leave the audience in awe.

Danny Glover (right) and Thandie Newton in a scene from the movie.