Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments
Knowing
8/7/08 - Alex Proyas, director of the upcoming SF thriller film
Knowing, told SCI FI Wire that the movie tackles big ideas on an
intimate scale. "Well, the basic premise about Knowing is
that it's about a man who discovers a list of predictions that have
accurately predicted all of the major disasters that have happened
on the planet in the last 50 years, and then there are three further
predictions that apparently will come true," Proyas said in an
interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego last month. "So
it's 'knowing' the knowledge of what's about to happen and the
responsibility that that entails." The film stars Nicolas Cage as
Ted Myles, father of the boy who makes the discovery, and Rose Byrne
as Diana Whelan, daughter of the girl who made the predictions in
1958. "It's a very small cast because it's really about exploring
the relationship between Nic Cage's character and his son, [Caleb,
played by] a young lad called Chandler Canterbury," Proyas said.
"It's about fathers and sons, and it's about the cycle of life and
death and the hope that we pass down to our kids." The
Egyptian-born, Australian-raised Proyas is well-known to SF fans for
having helmed 1998's Dark City and 2004's I, Robot. "I
seem to always make science fiction mysteries, and this is no
different in that respect," Proyas said. "I think the mystery genre
and the science fiction genre, for me, go hand in hand. I think also
this film is about finding meaning." Proyas said that Cage's Ted
Myles is "a man who's lost his faith in the workings of the universe
and [has] to rediscover his understanding of whether there is
meaning to his life. So they're quite rich, philosophical questions,
and I think science fiction is a medium of ideas. Often, science
fiction movies are not so much a medium of ideas, but I think, from
my point of view, I've always tried to make films that are about
ideas and philosophies more so than anything else." Knowing
is slated for release on March 20, 2009. -- Patrick Lee, News
Editor, with Staci Layne Wilson
12/11/07 - Nicolas Cage will star in Knowing and directed by Alex Proyas. Cage will play a teacher who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions in the time capsule that have already come true lead him to believe the world is going to end at the close of the week and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction.
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