Roland Emmerich may be best known for creating major disasters in everything from The Day After Tomorrow to 2012, but now the gay director is going for something that may be a little more Oscar friendly, with Stonewall.
He was apparently inspired to make the movie after working with young LGBT people in LA, which made him decide that having never really bothered to reflect his own sexuality in his films, it was time for a change.
Now the first poster has arrived, which puts the Stonewall Inn front and centre (perhaps to ward off the critcism that’s already started before anyone’s actually seen the movie, that it looks like it concentrates on young, largely white, cisgender gay men, despite drag queens, trans* and other queer people being front and centre in the 1969 protests – although we should perhaps wait until the film is complete before criticising it).
Here’s the synopsis: ‘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.’
It’ll be out later this year.
It speaks a lot to me that Roland Emmerich funded this movie out of his own pocket because he wanted to honor the men and women of the Stonewall Riots. I’ve read a lot of hate saying he’s neglected people of color and transgenders but in the IMDB credits Marsha P. Johnson is given a primary role. This doesn’t stand out because the actor Otoja Abit is a relative newcomer cast along side of Jeremy Irvine, Ron Perlman, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Joey King.
No one else in hollywood is trying to educate people and raise awareness for the Stonewall Riots, so I really am shocked by all the negativity I’ve read on other blogs.
Recently Roland posted this to his Facebook page: “I have always been surprised hearing how many people used the term Gay Pride without knowing about its origin. Stonewall is an attempt to give people a better idea of the history behind the gay rights movement.
It is also very much a tribute to the brave members of the LGBT community that had the courage to stand up for themselves and fight injustice on the night of the Stonewall Riots.”