Knowing (2009)
- The original script for Knowing was written over a decade before production finally began in 2009.
- Before Nicolas Cage was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
Knowing is a 2009 American science fiction thriller directed by Alex Proyas. Nicolas Cage stars as John Koestler, an MIT astrophysics professor whose son receives a time capsule from his school containing a document written by a student 50 years ago โ a page covered in numbers that John discovers is a precise chronological list of every major disaster that has occurred since 1959, including the dates, death tolls, and coordinates. Three events on the list haven't happened yet.
As John races to prevent the predicted disasters, he uncovers a terrifying connection between the numbers, his son, and mysterious figures called the Whisper People who appear to children. Knowing started as a taut, Hitchcockian mystery and escalated into a genuinely surprising conclusion that divided audiences sharply. The plane crash sequence, filmed in a single, continuous take following Cage through the wreckage, was one of the most viscerally effective disaster scenes in modern cinema.
Knowing earned $186 million worldwide on a $50 million budget.
