The idea that the end is indeed nigh has become a fixture of the contemporary zeitgeist and one that filmmakers are exploiting to the hilt in upcoming movies from Terminator Salvation to 2012 to Knowing. The director of Knowing, Alex Proyas, recently sat down with the crew of io9 and talked a bit about what made his take on the coming apocalypse different. The basic premise, he says, is "like an urban myth," that someone could have buried information, "like a message in a bottle," with a code that predicts disasters with total accuracy. Laid down in the 1950s and dug up in the present day, the time capsule device also allowed him to play with the idea that the future isn't what it used to be. Unlike the 1950s, where the specter of nuclear armageddon crowded out all other threats, he says, "Now, annihilation could come from so many different directions, it's hard to know which specter of destruction to be scared of." There was also a naive optimism about the future in the '50s that he brings out in a scene where the time capsule is being buried with everyone "talking brightly about the promise of a shining future, with the proverbial flying cars and personal rocket ships." We all know how that turned out.