Most of us know Roland Emmerich as the filmmaker behind such Earth-shattering blockbusters as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and White House Down. Now, however, he’s telling a small story with bigger real-world implications with the gay rights drama Stonewall.
Emmerich, a long-time equal rights advocate and member of the LGBT community, directed the film from writer Jon Robin Baitz (TV’s Brothers & Sisteres, The Slap). Starring Jeremy Irvine (War Horse, The Woman in Black 2) alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Joey King, and Ron Perlman, the story is a fictional retelling of the Stonewall riots of 1969, the events that sparked the LGBT riots movement in America. Though the film appears to replace many of the actual activists who were present for the real riots (Marsha P. Johnson is played by Otoja Abit, though the size of the role is unclear) with fictional characters, Emmerich hopes to tell a stirring, hard-hitting tale about “Where Pride Began.”
Check out the first trailer below.
Stonewall opens in theaters on September 25th. Find the official plot synopsis below.
“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.”
