Movie Trailer: Alex Proyas’ Knowing
IGN has the first trailer for Alex Proyas’ Knowing. My first impression is that the film looks rather generic and boring, which is sad considering how much I am rooting for Proyas. The director gained critical acclaim for his 1998 sci-fi thriller Dark City, but his follow-up efforts (I, Robot and Garage Days) have been pretty uninspired. The concept of Knowing sounds interesting, but this trailer is less than exciting, especially compared to DJ Caruso’s Eagle Eye. Tell me what you think in the comments below.
Watch the trailer in High Definition on IGN. Knowing is set to hit theaters on March 20th 2009.
Official Plot Synopsis: In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one of the students, a mysterious girl who seems to hear whispered voices, fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead.
Fast forward 50 years to the present: A new generation of students examines the contents of the time capsule and the girl’s cryptic message ends up in the hands of young CALEB MYLES. But it is Caleb’s father, professor TED MYLES (Nicolas Cage), who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As Ted further unravels the document’s secrets, he realizes it foretells three additional events-the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve Ted and his son. When Ted’s attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place.
This gripping supernatural thriller charts one man’s faltering steps towards belief in the ultimate order of the universe even as he finds himself surrounded by mounting chaos. With the reluctant help of DIANA WHELAN (Rose Byrne) and ABBY, the daughter and granddaughter of the now-deceased author of the cryptic prophecies, Ted’s increasingly desperate efforts take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster-and the ultimate sacrifice.
Dark City Director’s Cut
Warner Home Video has announced that they will be releasing a director’s cut of Alex Proyas‘ cult film Dark City on July 29th 2008 on both DVD and Blu-ray. The original 1998 release ran 96 minutes and the new director’s cut is about 15 minutes longer, clocking in at 111 minutes. The new cut supposedly has improved special effects and a new and improved sound mix.
Dark City has a huge cult following within film industry insiders and cinephile circles. Roger Ebert named Dark City the best film of 1998, and was even featured on the original dvd release in a commentary track, which is considered by some film enthusiasts to be one of the best DVD audio commentaries ever recorded. Ebert supposedly recorded a new audio commentary for the forthcoming release before his health problems.
The studio’s press information states that the new release also features two additional commentary tracks that “take you deeper than ever before into the world of one of sci-fis most exciting and revered tales.” No other information is known at this time.
source: ropeofsilicon
Bai Ling Biography
Bai Ling means “white spirit” in her Chinese dialect and she has become a rising actress on both sides of the Pacific. The delicate, almost ethereal actress was particularly memorable to USA audiences as Myca, the drug-pushing cannibal with a taste for eyeballs, in Alex Proyas’ thriller “The Crow” (1994) and as the President’s Chinese interpreter in Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” (1995). The latter role was almost ironic as Bai Ling had arrived in the USA just four years earlier not knowing one word of English.
Raised in a typical Chinese family, one accepting of the revolution, Bai Ling was a musical performer at age 14, inducted into the army and sent to Tibet to entertain the troops. In 1986, she also made her film debut in “Haitan” and subsequently appeared in films made in China. Worldwide audiences could catch a glimpse of her in Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Little Buddha” (1993), but it was her subsequent efforts in “Dead Funny” (1995) and her delightful turn as an Americanized immigrant in “Somewhere in the City” (1996) that brought her attention. Bai Ling made headlines when she landed the leading role opposite Richard Gere in the political thriller “Red Corner” (1997).
Her TV work has included “Nobody’s Girls” (PBS, 1994) a documentary with recreations in which Bai Ling was Mary Bong, a 15-year old Chinese woman who became famous as a midwife after she settled in Alaska. She made her American TV-movie debut in “Dead Weekend” (Showtime, 1995).
- Born:
on 10/10/70 in China - Job Titles:
Actor
Family
- Father: Bai Yu-xiang.
- Grandmother: Peng Zhi-jia.
- Mother: Chen Bin-bin.
- Sister: Bai Je.
Significant Others
- Companion: Chris Isaak. reportedly dating from late 1999
Education
- New York University, New York, New York
Milestones
- 1986 Entertained soldiers in Tibet (date approximate)
- 1986 Made film debut in “Haitan”
- 1990 Moved to USA (date approximate)
- 1993 Had cameo role in “Little Buddha”
- 1994 Made American TV debut in “Nobody’s Girls”
- 1994 Made American film debut with “The Crow”
- 1995 Made American TV movie debut in “Dead Weekend” (Showtime)
- 1995 Played interpreter in “Nixon”
- 1997 Snagged role of leading lady opposite Richard Gere in “Red Corner”
- 1999 Cast as Tuptim in the remake, “Anna and the King”
- 1999 Was virtually wasted in a stereotypical role of an Asian vamp in “Wild Wild West”
- 2001 Acted in “The Breed”, a vampire thriller, aired on Starz! in lieu of theatrical release
- 2001 Had featured role in the NBC miniseries “The Monkey King”
- 2003 Was one of the titular “Extreme Team” (lensed 2001), an ABC TV-movie that also served as a pilot for a potential series
- 2004 Appeared in Spike Lee’s comedy “She Hate Me”
- 2004 Featured in the comedy “My Baby’s Daddy”
- 2004 Played the Mysterious Woman in “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” starring Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow
- Will co-star with Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Cheri Oteri in Richard Kelly’s “Southland Tales” (lensed 2005)