If we were to rundown the list of potential directors to handle the story of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, Roland Emmerich wouldn’t be among the first to come to mind. But the director of Independence Day, Godzilla (1998), and The Day After Tomorrow is the director behind the camera for Stonewall. Starring Jeremy Irvine, Ron Perlman, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Joey King, Stonewall is the true story of when the oppressed minority of LGBT individuals decided to fight back in the streets of New York. It’s a landmark moment in history, and hasn’t been properly represented in the cinema over the 45 years since.
But despite its historical importance, I have numerous doubts that Emmerich is the right person for the job with his over-the-top pedigree in large scale blockbusters. As you can see in the trailer, the film appears to have a kind of synthetic look, a CG’d texture to the ’60s aesthetic. We’ll see if Emmerich is up to the smaller scaled task when Stonewall opens on September 25th, 2015.
The official synopsis for Stonewall:
STONEWALL is a drama about a fictional young man caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Danny Winters (Jeremy Irvine) is forced to leave behind friends and loved ones when he is kicked out of his parent’s home and flees to New York. Alone in Greenwich Village, homeless and destitute, he befriends a group of street kids who soon introduce him to the local watering hole The Stonewall Inn; however, this shady, mafia-run club is far from a safe-haven. As Danny and his friends experience discrimination, endure atrocities and are repeatedly harassed by the police, we see a rage begin to build. This emotion runs through Danny and the entire community of young gays, lesbians and drag queens who populate the Stonewall Inn and erupts in a storm of anger. With the toss of a single brick, a riot ensues and a crusade for equality is born.
