'2012': The End Of The World As Hollywood Knows It?

By Jenna Busch Posted Nov 5th 2009 11:30AM

PopEater hit the red carpet for the premiere of the upcoming disaster flick, '2012' Tuesday night in downtown Los Angeles. The film refers, of course, to the ancient Mayan calendar that ends on December 21st of that year. There are all sorts of theories about the prophecy, from mass destruction to a giant shift in global consciousness. Everyone has a different idea about what's going to happen...or if anything is going to happen at all. We asked everyone whether or not they were preparing for the worst. Here's what they told us.

Executive producer Mark Gordon, who made another little disaster film you may remember, 'The Day After Tomorrow' told us, "I never really paid much attention to it. Both because it's been so long since I first heard about it, and also, I don't generally take these things too seriously because there's nothing we can do. So we might as well enjoy our lives and move on." He also told us his favorite city to blow up in films is his hometown, good old NYC.

Johann Urb, who plays Sasha (the poor pilot who has to deal with the bratty Oligarch's kids) and also stars as Will St. David on 'Eastwick' thinks it's all about our minds. "End of the world? No, I think it's...I can't say no. I think it's possible, but I think there's going to be hopefully some sort of shift in consciousness instead, which I think that we desperately need as a human race to survive."

Star John Cusack agrees. "I think it's more like a shift in consciousness."

Chin Han, who plays Tenzin didn't say whether or not he believed in the prophecy, but he did say the timing would be bad. He joked, "I would be very disappointed after having done these two big movies, and continuing to receive residuals on them, I would be very disappointed that the world would end in 2012."

The kids got in on it too. Twins Alex and Philippe Haussman, who play bratty, privileged children of a Russian oligarch in the film, told us that they'd either build a bunker or "just run...just keep running" if it happened. When I asked them if they actually believed it, Philippe said, "No, I mean the end of the world has been predicted a whole bunch of times throughout the history of mankind. We don't know whether the world is going to end or not. It's possible, but we just can't be sure." Alex added, "The would could end in 2012, and it could also end tomorrow.

Thirteen-year-old Liam James, who plays John Cusack and Amanda Peet's son in the film, was a little more freaked out. "I have my doubts about it," he said, "but at the same time, it's pretty scary."

Director Roland Emmerich isn't quite sure. "It's like this thing where you read one book and you get really scared, and you read another book and, oh, this is all wrong. It will be a rise of consciousness. There are so many theories out there. But I kind of am amazed how big of a deal it is for people. And I always like to tie my movies into something like that."

Do you believe in the prophecy? Have you started building your bunker? Or is the world going to join hands and sing like we're all in a Coke commercial? Let us know what you think!