Roadside Attractions has set a September 25, 2015 release date for the dramatic film Stonewall directed by Roland Emmerich. Emmerich, who’s best known for big-budget action epics including Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, turned his attention to a more character-driven story with Stonewall which focuses on the 1969 riots in NYC. The Stonewall riots are credited with starting the LGBT movement in America.
The Stonewall screenplay was written by Brothers & Sisters creator Jon Robin Baitz. Emmerich, Michael Fossat, Marc Frydman, and Carsten Lorenz produced the film and Kirstin Winkler, Adam Press and Michael Roban executive produced. The cast includes Jeremy Irvine, Jonny Beauchamp, Caleb Landry Jones, Joey King, Karl Glusman, Vlademir Alexis, Alexandre Nachi, Matt Craven, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Ron Perlman.
“I was always interested and passionate about telling this important story, but I feel it has never been more timely than right now,” explained Emmerich. “It was the first time gay people said ‘Enough!’ They didn’t do it with leaflets or meetings, they took beer bottles and threw them at cops. Many pivotal political moments have been born by violence. If you look at the civil rights movement, at Selma and other events of that kind, it’s always the same thing. Stonewall was the first time gay people stood up and they did it in their own way. Something that really affected me when I read about Stonewall was that when the riot police showed up in their long line, these kids formed their own long line and sang a raunchy song. That, for me, was a gay riot, a gay rebellion.”
The Plot:
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.
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