Mon, 9 Nov '09

“We destroy almost everything on Earth”

Exec producer Michael Wimer adds to the anticipation building for 2012

After Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, director Roland Emmerich had to up the ante. And with a dire prediction from the Mayan calendar, he pulls it off in 2012, which hits theaters—and hits theaters hard—this Friday. Exec producer Michael Wimer spoke with us about one of this fall’s most anticipated releases . . .

GCD: The big set up for 2012 is that the Earth’s crust is shifting, and all these high-powered people are already aware of this.
Michael Wimer: Exactly. If you’re the President of the United States, you know full well you can’t go on and say, “Hey, everybody, we’ve got about five, 10 years to live. We’re gonna build some things and not everyone’s gonna get on it and the rest of you fend for yourself.”

GCD: Did you guys have brainstorming sessions about how to destroy certain things?
Wimer: We talked about the White House—you see in one of the trailers that there’s a huge aircraft carrier that gets hit by a tidal wave and then smashes the White House. I’m sure a bunch of people are gonna ask, “Is the scale right?” And, yes, if you took an aircraft carrier and put it on its side and dropped it on the White House, it would obliterate the White House. It would be much, much bigger.

GCD: In terms of destruction, how would you compare 2012 to Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow?
Wimer: We destroy almost everything on Earth. Day After Tomorrow did half of the Northern hemisphere and Independence Day bombed a few cities. This one is huge.