Will there be a day after 2012?

MANILA, Philippines - Centuries ago, the Mayans left us their calendar with a clear end date and all that it implies. Since then, astrologists have discovered it, numerologists have found patterns that depict it, geologists say the earth is overdue for it, and even government scientists cannot deny the cataclysm of epic proportions that awaits the earth in 2012. A prophecy that began with the Mayans has now been well-chronicled, discussed, taken apart and examined. By 2012, we’ll know — we were warned.

Columbia Pictures presents the Roland Emmerich film, 2012 starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, with Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson.

The idea for 2012 first occurred to writer/producer/ Harald Kloser, Roland Emmerich’s writing partner. “Every civilization on Earth has a flood myth,” says Kloser. “Things are going wrong, society isn’t working anymore, and the planet starts over. Some people get a second chance to start a new culture, a new society, a new civilization.”

The idea crystallized as Kloser and Emmerich discovered a compelling hook on which to hang their contemporary flood story. The Mayan calendar is set to reach the end of its 13th cycle on Dec. 21, 2012 and nothing follows that date. That, of course, leads to the question — if the calendar doesn’t continue, what will follow?

The key for the director, who is known for box-office hits such as Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, would be to find a way to set 2012 apart from those disaster epics. “The more I talked with Harald about the story, the more I realized this is really something people today can relate to. There are a lot of philosophical and political elements, which I think add to the disaster element.”

Central to that was creating characters that would experience those philosophical and political upheavals, in effect creating the disaster on a human scale. At the very highest reaches of the world’s governments, there is a plan. They will not be able to save the entire human race, but they will be able to save some, and those few will have the chance to begin society anew.

The screenplay Kloser and Emmerich wrote is in many ways the largest scale that Emmerich has yet attempted. To bring it to the screen, he combines special and visual effects, which, the director says, allowed him the freedom to choose how best to bring a scene to life.

2012 ended up being an enormous production, even by Emmerich’s scale. According to Cusack, “The scope of it is bigger than anything I’ve seen. Every page of the script was a scene where you wondered just what Roland had in mind, because it seemed so ambitious, so huge. It’s pretty wild!”

Opening soon, 2012 is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games.