It's the end of the world as we know it. And thanks to the greenhouse effect and global warming, the planet is rocked by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, floods and another Ice Age.

The movie is called "The Day after Tomorrow," and standing in front of the wild weather-making billboard on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip, Dennis Quaid described the big-budget sci-fi thriller this way: "It's the mother of all disaster movies."

Co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays Quaid's son, put it another way: "I'm going to swear, so get ready to beep it out -- this (bleep)ing movie rocks!"

Written and directed by "Independence Day's" Roland Emmerich, and with a reported budget of $125 million, the film features mind-blowing special effects.

"I had special effects guys blow wind, water and rain in my face. But I'm kind of masochistic so I was kind of into it," Gyllenhaal revealed. "That's why I did the movie; it was a lot of fun."

And speaking of fun, Jake downplayed the environmental message of the movie, and insisted people see it just for fun: "I hate when actors talk seriously about big summer movies."

But Jake was dead serious when he revealed he's glad he didn't have to fill Tobey Maguire's shoes for "Spider-Man 2," which was a possibility after Tobey suffered a back injury. "Thank God I didn't have to replace him, because he's "Spider-Man," he's awesome," Gyllenhaal admitted.

Of course Jake missed the chance to co-star with his real life leading lady, Kirsten Dunst, but he still has no regrets. "With Kirsten and I, we want to keep our life and our professional life separate," he insisted. "My movie's going to do better than yours -- none of that."

"The Day After Tomorrow" blows into theaters next week.