Roland Emmerich’s ‘Stonewall’ Makes History in This Exclusive Preview

Jeremy Irvine says the Stonewall trailer was misleading at the world premiere of the film at the Toronto global Film festival.

Roland Emmerich fails to capture the energy and passion his latest film so desperately needs. When you cast a movie, you probe around. What’s more, he’s telling the story of a historical event. Really? Subtle has never been a tool that Emmerich has utilized, and when you look at the work he does in “Independence Day”, the blockbuster success that put him on the map, he obviously paints in broad stereotypes. Thus, Irvine’s Danny seems more like a tight t-shirt-wearing Superman who arrives in time to light the path to truth, justice, and a more fabulous way of life, rather than a gay Luke Skywalker trained in the ways of the fierce by a family of gender nonconforming Obi-Wan Kenobis. Add corrupt cops, homophobia and a mafia-run prostitution ring, and it all combusts on a balmy June night during a police raid on the Stonewall… Published to his Facebook page, it read in part: …when this film – which is truly a labor of love for me – finally comes to theaters, audiences will see that it deeply honors the real-life activists who were there — including Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Ray Castro — and all the courageous people who sparked the civil rights movement which continues to this day. This includes numerous, angst-ridden flashbacks to Danny’s former life in Indiana that have nothing to do with the riots nor any of the other characters. Openly gay, Alexis is a native of Montreal, where the film was shot. The stagey film grazes over that and pays more attention to what happens afterward for Danny. Alexis describes Congo Woman as “a nasty Black drag queen that steals things, throws bricks and breaks windows just to survive”.

I also wanted to do a coming-of-age story.

But the Stonewall riots were real. Once cast, he immersed himself in research and drew personal inspiration and details from someone involved with the production. While Irvine also declines to divulge whether he ever questioned his own sexuality, he freely admits that his mother is pleased that Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays his onscreen love interest.

“It’s a good thing the film is out there now, but I never quite understood the fuss”, Emmerich says.

Speaking to Buzzfeed, the director claimed that the film has a white, male, cis “straight-acting” protagonist because he is, for all intents and purposes, using one of the most iconic moments in queer history to… reach straight people.

Hollywood didn’t exactly embrace the idea of backing such a film, so Emmerich financed Stonewall independently with friends, and brought on Baitz as screenwriter. By the time we get to the guy for whom Danny has been kidnapped to provide sexual favors-a closeted man in a dress and lipstick, playing opera music on the stereo as he drops hints that he may be a murderer-Emmerich’s attempt to create a scene ostensibly meant to be menacing instead turns unintentionally hilarious. Many people who were actually on the ground during the riots are unknown or have passed — some because of complications with AIDS. While the director’s distinct style helps mask some of the cheap sets, Stonewall’s ham-fisted dialogue, inconsistent tone and one-note characters undermine what little substance there is.

“I told my friends before I started doing the project, I might not see you much this summer because I will be unbearable”, Alexis recalled, laughing.

“I’m glad that there’s been such a strong reaction”, he adds. Give us a movie about us that’s made for us. “He understood and we shook hands after”.

Is there a target audience for Stonewall? With “Stonewall“, there’s this profound desire to tell a larger story about what it meant to be homosexual at that particular time in that particular place, using Danny as a way in.

“I wish I could have!” he laments. Because, you know, I could really identity with Danny a lot. “Some insane method acting to steal from the set”.

‘Stonewall, ‘ directed by Roland Emmerich, explores the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots. When they approved of it, I was very happy. “Already we made our goal-people are talking about who threw bricks, who was there and not”.