The greenhouse effect is a pretty scary thought and even more so when it effects the future of the world. In “The Day After Tomorrow” , the movie focuses on what would happen if extreme temperatures rocked the planet and caused incredible obstacles for humans to overcome. In this article, you will find information regarding this film, as well as trivia facts associated with behind-the-scenes magic.
“The Day After Tomorrow”
The Plot
A lot of money was spent on the special effects for a film that aimed to educate people on the dangers of how the world could end up if the greenhouse effect and global warming were allowed to continue on the course it is following now. Across the world , insurmountable disasters and catastrophes would arise, which would include more than one hurricane ravenging the earth at the same time, uncontrollable tornados, floods, tidal waves, and what seems like the start of another Ice Age.
The movie focuses on Professor Jack Hall (played by Dennis Quaid), a paleoclimatologist who studies weather patterns and how they have changed over time. After a series of unexplainable weather events , he spends his time in the movie, trying to save the world from a global warming backlash while trying to reach his son, Sam (played by Jack Gyllenhaal) who is trapped in New York City. His son is stuck in the part of the world that is hit with extreme cold temperatures. In other parts of the world , extreme heat has taken over the climate. Other characters in the movie include Dr. Lucy Hall (played by Sela Ward) and Laura Chapman (played by Emmy Rossum), who is fighting the elements with Sam Hall in New York.
Facts About “The Day After Tomorrow”
1) Before he set out to work on the film, director Roland Emmerich read “The Coming Global Superstorm” , a non-fiction novel penned by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber. He admits that to enhance the entertainment value of the movie , he did stretch the truth a bit. The time frame in which all of the weather-related events in the movie take place are unrealistic.
2) Roland Emmerich extended $200,000 of his own money to make the production of the film “carbon-neutral” , which became the first of its kind in the world of Hollywood. This meant that all of the carbon dioxide that was emitted during the production was offset by the planting of trees, as well as making strides towards renewable energy.
3) For the filming of the rescue scene at the end of the movie, the United States Army actually loaned a couple of UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters for the occasion.
4) In the United States, the Red Cross visited some of the movie theaters playing the film and set up stands where patrons could receive information on what to do in the event of a flood, tornado, blizzard, and other natural disasters.
5) The hurricane footage used in the movie came from Hurricane Iniki, which attacked Hawaii in 1992.
6) In the scene where British helicopters are crashing, the producer of the movie (Mark Gordon) steps in as the pilot who becomes instantly frozen.
7) In the “river-crossing” scene , crews shot the footage on the US-Mexico border. The extras were actually crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico.