Hi, hi. Look, he began, Im not quite sure what were supposed to be doing on this call. I gather people are going to be asking questions and Im going to be answering them, which is what Im quite experienced at doing. So what Id like to do is, you know, have people begin.
Nicolas Cage stars in Knowing as a professor who discovers that the contents of a time capsule at his sons elementary school accurately predicts future events, eventually coming to believe that the world is ending, and that he and his son play a part in the apocalypse.
From his eccentric introduction to his eloquent responses throughout the interview, Proyas proved himself an interesting personality and thoughtful director. Following is the abridged version of the interview. Since, as his films tagline suggests, Knowing is everything, it would be in your best interest to check out the full interview at The CW online.
Q: What is it about sci-fi as a genre that allows you to tell the story better than fantasy?
Proyas: As much as I enjoy fantasy films, science fiction is often a bit more grounded in the real world and I like the confines of that world. When you often in movies generally but in fantasy and science fiction in particular youre creating an entire world with its own set of rules. I just like the limitations that science fiction imposes upon me.
Q: How did you go about the casting process? Did you already have in mind who you wanted to cast for each role?
Proyas: It depends on the particular role. You know, with Nic Cage, for example. Hes somebody that Ive been wanting to work with for a long time. And this instance Nic read the script and loved it and he was very interested in working with me. I thought he was a perfect match for that character. And then, with Rose Byrne, Rosie is someone who Ive known a very long time.
Q: In recent years, apocalyptic movies such as Knowing have become extremely popular. Why do you think that is?
Proyas: I think whenever people live in uncertain times I guess its something that we dwell upon and theres obviously something, you know, we all know what the current potential doom scenarios are for our civilization. And I think everyones genuinely concerned and movies are a reflection of that. You know, a way of analyzing the situation in whatever dramatic form and helping us perhaps find a solution. Or at worse, prepare ourselves, you know. So I think it really is a sign of the times, perhaps, you know.
Q: Youre obviously very familiar with the science fiction and fantasy filmmaking genres. With the rate at which technology is always increasing these days, do you have to go back to school every time you do an effects film or are you able to carry over what youve learned from the previous one?
Proyas: Its usually a sort of evolutionary process. You know, the one thing that I have done in this film for the first time is I shot the movie digitally and its my first ever digitally photographed film. Ive always tested all the latest digital cameras on every project and Ive always gone back to film. And in this instance I used a camera called a red camera, which I was really impressed with it at an early stage. It was a bit learning curve for me and for my entire crew. And were very pleased with the results. So that definitely felt like I was back in film school for a while, we all were, you know.
Q: Youve used Philip K. Dick as an inspiration for some of your other movies, especially Dark City. Knowing seems to also have that Philip K. Dick overtone. I was just wondering if you used him as an inspiration for this?
Proyas: Not really. And nor did I really use Philip Dick specifically as an inspiration on Dark City, but hes one of the guys that I absolutely idolized when I was much younger and I read, you know, science fiction voraciously. And hes seeped in to my psyche I think and hes someone that is always eternally inspirational to me. But there were quite a few other science fiction authors of that same era like Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein and many more who I think also have kind of done the same thing for me.
Q: With the red camera that youre using, I know you talked a little bit about how that was a big learning curve for you. How do you think just the red camera specifically and maybe just digital cinema in general is kind of changing the industry. Maybe for, you know, smaller filmmakers, lower budget projects, and just kind of the industry in general?
Proyas: Well I think its definitely going to give us even more playing field in terms of big and small budgets because one of the aspects of the red camera, for example, is that it cost $50,000 to purchase outright which is certainly a lot of money to many younger filmmakers, of course, but compared to the hundreds and thousands of dollars that camera equipment has cost to this point of that quality, its becoming a very affordable medium, which his great. I think anything that makes filmmaking less expensive is good for everybody.
Q: Just touching a little bit on the message of the film, is there any specific message moral or environmental or otherwise that your you want to be conveyed to the audience who plotted this film?
Proyas: Not in certainly not environmental. It is the disasters that happen in the movie are kind of come from left field, really. Thats all I can really say at this stage. But for me the movie is a spiritual question on the part of Nicolas Cages character. You know, he starts off believing that the universe is a meaningless place that functions on the basis of randomness and chaos and comes to realize that perhaps there is meaning to his life on earth. And that to me is, you know, a deeply spiritual aspect of the film and thats why Im making the movie. It takes a very unexpected path to tell its story and again I feel like in, you know, current movie making where often you can see whats going to happen in the first ten minutes you know how its going to end.
Q: This film deals with numerological prediction, I believe. Are there any prophecies that you personally adhere to?
Proyas: No, because I think I would then be a little insane. You know, Nics character being a man of science in the film, so hes the last guy whos going to jump on the prophecy bandwagon. Hes not the guy who immediately starts to cry wolf. Hes very analytical and he goes okay so if theres a piece of paper with all these numbers on it, you know, maybe someone has played some sort of a sick joke or maybe theres some other explanation, you know. So hell do everything to undermine the system and try and poke holes in it before he eventually has to admit to himself.
Q: In the trailer theres a plane crash and I was wondering what process and process went into that theme. Like how did you guys shoot it and just the balance of time I mean special effects and tactical effects, for example.
Proyas: That particular sequence caused me no end of headaches and nightmares because we I decided at an early stage to get it all in one continuous shot.
And theres burning bodies and exploding fuselage and all sorts of things, mayhem, going on. I did that all in one shot. And so it was a major sequence to do that way. You know, when you dont have the luxury of stopping a shot and resetting and doing it again in easy bite sized pieces you encounter all sorts of issues trying to just coordinate multiple exposures, multiple stunt people on fire.
A reign, a camera thats pointing 360 direction so you dont know where to put your film crew, all this other stuff makes the sequence particularly difficult to achieve. And we spent two days setting it up and then two days shooting it just to get this one shot effectively. So I think it was the longest amount of time its ever taken to do a single shot.
But when you see the shot its theres a lot of stuff going on obviously. Its 2-1/2 minutes of mayhem which I think works quite effectively. And the reason I did it that way is I just wanted to put people right in the situation and not have - not give them a chance to look away or breath or to take, you know, take stock of whats going on. Or feel like we were hiding behind the artifice of editing, you know.
I feel it works quite well. A lot of the times people dont even realize its a single shot because its so disturbing whats happening. But it I think its it feels right to most people for that reason.
Q: Did the making of this movie influence you in any way to change something about your life or your, like, yourself?
Alex Proyas: You know, the movies not just about entertaining an audience. I hope we can do that but it is about its a quest, you know, the characters are on a quest for meaning, as Ive said before. And to a certain extent I think thats what Im on a quest on and I think a lot of us are to understand the whys and wherefores of this life and the world we live in, you know.
Im trying to construct worlds that are certainly challenging and dramatic and I dont know that Id necessarily want to be living in the world of knowing but I - its definitely something that I am very happy to explore. And to understand and to try and get to the logical end of the philosophical thoughts that we have and questions that weve created in the story.
Q: How does Nicolas Cage fit the role? Like what are some of his gestures, intonations, that really make his character come to life. Is there any specific moment that they think that like wow, he really caught my meaning?
Alex Proyas: Well Nic is, I think, an incredibly versatile actor. Thats really why Im such a fan of his work because hes always different, you know. He really embraces his characters and runs with them, you know. And this is no different in that respect.
I mean hes created a very strong character, I think, you know. And its not about Nic Cage, its about the character. And thats really important I think. Its an incredibly important thing for a director to know also that your leading actor understands what youre trying to do in terms of the movie and is a collaborator with you. And were telling a story together which I think Nic was so great at.
You know, from a very early point when he first read the script he embraced this story and he really made it his own. He really felt it spoke to him as an individual. Just as I felt. And so we really we felt, you know, compelled to tell the story together and I think that really shows in the movie.
