Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor Cast in Roland Emmerich’s 2012
Posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Redbelt) have been cast in Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi summer blockbuster movie 2012. An academic researcher opens a portal into a parallel universe and makes contact with his double in order to prevent an apocalypse predicted by the ancient Mayans. December 21st 2012 is the last day of the Mayan calendar, believed to be the end of the world.
Emmerich is best known as the director of Independence Day, Stargate and Universal Soldier. But as of recent years the German director has produced lackluster efforts: Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and 10,000 BC. Bad news is that Emmerich penned the screenplay with composer turned writer Harald Kloser, the same guy behind 10,000 BC. Hopefully the addition of Cusack will raise the level of this project.
2012 begins filming shooting in February 2009.
source: Variety
Roland Emmerich to Direct 2012 Apocalypse Movie, Now Being Shopped to Studios
Posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
“Michael Bay, go direct your 2012 movie over there.”
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.
Roland Emmerich, director of spectacle event films like Independence Day, Godzilla and the upcoming 10,000 B.C., is currently in search of a studio to park his latest film, 2012. Apparently this similarly big budget flick has nothing to do with Michael Bay’s project, 2012: The War For Souls, beyond using the Mayan calendar, which indicates bad things coming our way in four years, as inspiration. The script currently being pitched to studios was written by Emmerich and composer-writer Harald Kloser, and, save for a SGA strike, Variety says to expect the movie to hit theaters in 2009. Bay’s film, based on Whitley Strieber’s novel, is currently scheduled on IMDB for 2010.
If this is another Deep Impact vs. Armageddon showdown, it’s less intense, but if anyone’s contracted to blow up the world, it should be Bay in my estimation. Didn’t Emmerich already have his shot with 2004’s terrible The Day After Tomorrow, or was that his ice-apocalypse, while this one will be fire-related? Wikipedia says that dire Mayan-related predictions for 2012 range from super-volcanoes, earthquakes and cosmic rays to a dramatic shift in human consciousness. I predict a Black Eyed Peas reunion and Uwe Boll’s 2013. Random factoid: Some of you will recall that I Am Legend takes place in 2012.
Discuss: Bay vs. Emmerich. What’s the difference?
