In the last part of my Alex Proyas series I want to present his latest movie and the one that prompted the series.
It is Knowing. A Sci-fi movie with Nicolas Cage that is not Alex’s best movie, but it is entertaining.
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Knowing was originally written by novelist Ryne Douglas Pearson, and the project was set up at Columbia Pictures. Director Alex Proyas was attached to direct the project in February 2005. Summit Entertainment took on the responsibility to fully finance and distribute the film. Proyas and Stuart Hazeldine rewrote the draft for production, which began on March 25, 2008 in Melbourne, Australia. The director hoped to emulate The Exorcist in melding “realism with a fantastical premise”.
The film is set in Boston, and to represent the city, filmmakers used Australian locations such as Geelong Ring Road, the Melbourne Museum, Mount Macedon, and Collins Street. Filming also took place at Camberwell High School, which was converted into William Dawes Elementary, set in Boston circa 1959. Interior shots took place at the Australian Synchrotron to represent an observatory. Filming also took place at the Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts. In addition to practical locations, filming also took place at the Melbourne Central City Studios in Docklands.
Proyas used a Red One digital camera, making the film the first time the director used digital cameras. He sought to capture a gritty and realistic look to the film, and his approach involved a continuous two-minute take in which Cage’s character sees a plane crash and attempts to rescue passengers. The take was an arduous task, taking two days to set up and two days to shoot. Proyas explained the goal, “I did that specifically to not let the artifice of visual effects and all the cuts and stuff we can do, get in the way of the emotion of the scene.”
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