Creation, seen from all sides

The script is so complex that there were times that I was like, 'Wait, is this me as me? Who am I right now? And what are we doing?' " These existential questions ultimately form the heart of "The Nines." In Part 3 -- the TV pilot itself, about a video game designer and his family stranded in the woods -- it becomes clear that the movie is set in an expanding universe of creations and their creators and that each question answered leads only to bigger inquiries into the nature of existence.

"Weirdly, after we shot Part 3, the producers [Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen] and I had a long conversation about pitching 'Knowing' as a TV show to the networks because I actually know what happens in the real pilot," says August. "Gavin describes the show as sort of like 'Rosemary's Toddler.' To me, it's really like 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' gone really wrong.

"And we actually talked about [pitching] it, which would have been an extra meta-level because I'm sure we could have sold a pilot for it. We're not going to. It ended up being just too much of staring into a mirror."