According to the Mayan calendar, one of the cycles of our Solar System is scheduled to end on December 21, 2012. Scientific predictions such as a "solar flare," as well as spiritual speculations about a renewal and rebirth, are generating more and more attention. After I attended a screening of the Titanic-sized, Columbia Pictures movie 2012, I sat down with the filmmakers to discuss the movie and get their take on the subject of this ominous date. From director Roland Emmerich (10,000 B.C., The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day) and actors John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and Chiwetel Ejiofor are some thoughts about the movie 2012 and its proposed end of the world.

Keeping it simple, actress Amanda Peet could not be more unmoved about the proposed apocalyptic events. When asked if she thought these kinds of disastrous predictions were real or not, she shook her head "no," stating, "We have enough in life to worry about."

Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor had a similar attitude as Peet about the 2012 date, but adds a bit of optimism with it, saying:

Obviously, we all hope it is not anything like this. This is a kind of fantastical adventure ride of a movie with a sort of imaginative leap into a possible future... Ultimately, I hope that it is possible that people interpret the Mayan calendar as that kind of change in consciousness and new way of looking at the world.

Actor John Cusack also holds an optimistic view of that date. When I asked his opinion about the Mayan prophecies, he said:

I knew about the Mayan prophecies and how intricate their calendar was, that those pyramids were sundials and calendars. People tell you about how intricate and exact they were... and then it just stops in 2012. So, there are different theories. People think it is just the end of an epoch and a shift in consciousness. Then some people take it literally and think it will be "the end." I think it is more like the former.

Unlike the other actors, Cusack expounded on his ideas. Referencing the Book of Revelation from the Bible with its imagery and symbolism from the Catholic tradition, Cusack contrasts it with the production 2012, calling it a "popcorn movie." He says, "It sort of allows you to go through the experience of a horrible tragedy and the release of that, and have a voyeuristic thrill about it."

But Cusack also explains a bigger message this movie seems to be sending, too. Referring to the sequence in the movie after the world is destroyed, he says:

But what happens after that, which is that sort of feeling of unity you get where there is no more Russia, and there is no more United States or China, and there are no Jews and Palestinians, there are no Christians and Muslims—there is none of that. Everyone is in the same boat ... There is that sense of final equal justice... where everybody will be the same. The last will be first and the first will be last.

While it is obvious that the movie 2012 is intended for entertainment, there are still some very poignant and provocative images. For example, the U.S.S. J.F.K. is lifted by a tidal wave and comes crashing down on the White House. In another scene a tsunami rages and engulfs the Vatican City full of people praying during a late night vigil. And one the strongest images Emmerich says he imagined for the movie was seeing water covering the Himalayas, the "roof of the world."

While these images and more were dreamed up by director Roland Emmerich and his writing partner during their preparation, perhaps the most provocative one in the movie is the inside of the Sistine Chapel as it falls apart. Emmerich recalls:

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