Tagline: What happens when the numbers run out?
Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Leaving Las Vegas) stars in Knowing, a gripping action-thriller of global proportions about a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions about the future and sets out to prevent them from coming true.
Rose Byrne (Troy, “Damages”), Chandler Canterbury (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Repossession Mambo) and Lara Robinson (“Saved”) also star in director Alex Proyas. (I, Robot) riveting feature about a father.s desperate battle to save his child—and the world.
In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures of what they think the future will look like. Their drawings will be sealed into a time capsule and stored for 50 years. But one mysterious girl fills her paper with rows of apparently random numbers, which she says are being whispered to her by unseen people.
A half-century later, a new generation of students examines the capsule.s contents and the girl’s cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury), but it.s Caleb’s father, astrophysics professor John Koestler (Nicolas Cage), who makes a startling discovery: the encoded message predicts the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years with pinpoint accuracy. As he further unravels the document’s secrets, John discovers that it foretells three additional catastrophes—the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale.
John.s efforts to alert the authorities about the impending catastrophes fall on deaf ears and his fears intensify with the realization that Caleb is somehow connected to the mystery. Enlisting the help of Diana Whelan (Rose Byrne) and Abby (Lara Robinson), the daughter and granddaughter of the prophetic message.s author, he embarks on a ace against time to prevent the ultimate disaster.
About the Production
A single father desperately trying to defend his only child and a half-century old encoded message written by a young schoolgirl may be all that stand in the way of impending global disaster in the captivating sci-fi thriller Knowing. From the moment they heard Ryne Douglas Pearson’s (Mercury Rising) idea for the screenplay, producing partners Jason Blumenthal and Todd Black knew they had an unforgettable story to tell.
“We spent eight years developing the script,” recalls Blumenthal. “We bought it as an original pitch. Ryne had an idea that started with a time capsule that was buried in the 1950s and unearthed in the present day. The capsule contains a series of predictions that would come true. We knew immediately we had something very special.”
For the last five years, the partners have been working with Alex Proyas, the acclaimed director of I, Robot, to develop the idea into a feature film. “With a pitch, you never know how the final screenplay is going to turn out,” says Blumenthal. “The story has changed in small places, but the larger overall themes have always remained the same. The idea of the time capsule and the predictions was such an intriguing and unique idea that we knew we had something to build on. It’s as exciting to us today as it was eight years ago. And seeing it come to life is amazing.”
Proyas was chosen to direct Knowing based on the singular filmmaking style he has honed since his 1994 breakthrough film, The Crow. “We knew we found the right director in Alex,” says Blumenthal. “His vision for this picture far surpassed anything that we could ever realize on the page. He brought in a whole host of scientific, spiritual and philosophical ideas that helped bring the script together.”
For Blumenthal, real-life events of the past eight years have caused a shift in what he sees as the most compelling aspects of the film. Initially he was intrigued by the concept of the time capsule: “I remember hearing about them as a kid. It sounded so sci-fi and out there, and when I realized that it was something that was going to be opened many years from that date, I was hooked. When I.m looking at ideas I want to develop, I look for things that have an emotional connection for me, and that one did it for me.”
Then during the development period, Blumenthal’s life changed dramatically. “Eight years ago I was not a father. I have two young children now. And at its core, the movie has become a parent and child story. That central family issue is very important to me and many other people on this film.
“Knowing is an edge-of-the-seat psychological thriller with special effects that are going to blow your mind,” he says. “But it.s more than that. This movie poses the ultimate question: How far would you go to protect your child? Would you be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?
“It’s an emotional rollercoaster that leaves you guessing at every turn. It.s a story that people will want to talk about because it poses many questions that will stay with them when they leave the theater. And for me, those are the best stories to tell.”
For Proyas, that meant finding a balance between the over-the-top action and visual effects of a top-flight thriller and the nuanced emotional journey of his characters. “For me, every film is a big film,” he says. “I, Robot was a hugely complex technical exercise, but every film has its own levels of complexity. The great thing about Knowing is that is it has this bedrock of emotions and human interaction. Reality is what this story is all about what. We don.t ask you to suspend disbelief. Everything that we.ve addressed in this could possibly happen.”
Actor Nicolas Cage, who plays Professor John Koestler, compares the script to an enduring American icon. “The script reminded me of one of Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” teleplays, and the powerful feeling that those shows had,” he says. “It.s a science fiction-mystery-thriller, but there are also some intensely dramatic moments.”
Rose Byrne, the actress who plays Diana, agrees that it is hard to place Knowing in a single genre, a quality she sees as one of the film.s strengths. “The storyline unfolds really cleverly and the time capsule is fascinating. This is not just a straight thriller or a straight horror or a straight science fiction film. It.s a dead-even combination of those things.”
“It’s a movie that has the ability to change people.s minds,” says Cage. “I remember seeing The China Syndrome as a boy and it made me very aware that nuclear energy was a power to be respected. This calls people.s attention to issues that we can all affect in some way.
“The end of the world is on people’s minds,” he goes on. “We have the power to do it ourselves. The question is, what do you do with that responsibility?”
Movies with apocalyptic themes are particularly resonant with audiences because of the environmental issues the world is dealing with, says Byrne. “It’s a constant human desire to want to understand as much as we can about how long we’re going to be around,” she says. “People have been trying to figure it out forever. And whether it’s Mayans or Muslims or Hindus, everyone has a theory on what’s going to happen.”
The filmmakers hope that Knowing will be the kind of film that starts conversations that continue long after audiences have left the theater. “People go to movies to see something big, something fun, something kind of special that they haven.t seen before,” says Blumenthal. “And we think we.re giving them that.
“I believe audiences want to be challenged to come to their own conclusions,” he adds. “This movie has a definitive ending, but it leaves a lot open for debate. A movie that ends when the credits roll is not as important to me as one that keeps you talking when you get in the car. I want people to talk about this movie, and ask themselves, „Would I have done that?. This is a story that I believe people are going to want to talk about. And that.s the kind of movie that I want to make.”
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
Knowing (2009)
Directed by: Alex Proyas
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Lara Robinson, Nadia Townsend, Adrienne Pickering, D.G. Maloney, Chandler Canterbury, Joshua Long, Danielle Carter
Screenplay by: Alex Proyas, Stuart Hazeldine, Juliet Snowden
Production Design by: Steven Jones-Evans
Cinematography by: Simon Duggan
Film Editing by: Richard Learoyd
Costume Design byı Terry Ryan
Art Direction by: Sam Lennox
Music by: Marco Beltrami
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.
Distributed by: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: March 20, 2009
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