Roland Emmerich (German:[ˈʁoːlantˈɛməʁɪç]ⓘ; born 10 November 1955) is a German-American filmmaker. Emmerich is widely known for his science fiction anddisaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the movie industry.[1] His films, most of which are English-languageHollywood productions, have made more than $3 billion worldwide, including just over $1 billion in the United States, making him the17th-highest-grossing Hollywood director of all time.[2][3]
Emmerich was born inStuttgart,West Germany, and grew up in the nearby town ofSindelfingen.[4] As a youth, he traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America on vacations financed by his father, Hans, the wealthy founder of a garden machinery production company.[5] In 1977, he began attendingUniversity of Television and Film Munich with the intention of studying to become a production designer.[5][6] After watchingStar Wars, he instead decided to enroll in the school's film director program.[5][7] Required to create a short film as his final thesis in 1981, he wrote and directed the full-length featureThe Noah's Ark Principle, which was screened as the opening film of the34th Berlin International Film Festival in 1984.[6]
In 1985, he founded Centropolis Film Productions (nowCentropolis Entertainment) in partnership with his sister, producer Ute Emmerich, and directed his major film debut, a fantasy feature namedJoey.[5] He subsequently directed the 1987 comedyHollywood-Monster and the 1990 science-fiction filmMoon 44. Theatrically, these were only released in and near his native country, although Emmerich filmed them in English and went againstconventional German styles in an attempt to appeal to a larger market.[5][8] This subsequently resulted inMoon 44 being releaseddirect-to-video in the U.S. in early 1991.Joey andHollywood-Monster eventually also saw home video releases in the U.S. (asMaking Contact andGhost Chase, respectively) once Emmerich achieved more prominence in America.
ProducerMario Kassar invited Emmerich to come to the United States to direct a futuristic action film entitledIsobar.[9]Dean Devlin, who appeared inMoon 44, soon joined Emmerich as his writing and producing partner, and served in this capacity until 2000.[8] Emmerich subsequently refused the offer to direct after producers rejected Devlin's re-write of the script, and theIsobar project was eventually scrapped.[9] Instead, Emmerich was hired to replace directorAndrew Davis for the action movieUniversal Soldier. The film was released in 1992.
Emmerich next directed the 1994 science-fiction filmStargate. At the time, it set a record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film released in the month of October.[10] It became more commercially successful than most film industry insiders had anticipated,[8][11] and spawned a highly popularmedia franchise.
Emmerich then directedIndependence Day, an alien invasion feature, released in 1996, that became the first film to gross $100 million in less than a week[12][13] and went on to become one of the most financially successful films of all time,[14] at one point having been the second-highest-grossing film in terms of worldwide box office.[15] Emmerich and Devlin then created the television seriesThe Visitor, which aired on theFox Network during 1997–1998 before being cancelled after one season.
His next film,Godzilla, opened in 1998. An extensive advertising and marketing campaign generated significant hype during the months leading up to the film's release. The film was a box office success but was met with negative reviews from critics and fans. It garnered a Saturn Award for Best Special Effects, a BMI Film Music Award, and the Audience Award for Best Director at the European Film Awards while also receiving a Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel. It has only a 16% rating onRotten Tomatoes.[16] Emmerich said that prior to getting involved withGodzilla he and Devlin had planned a disaster movie centered around an asteroid fall, which wound up cancelled afterArmageddon went for a similar idea.[1]
Taking a short break from science-fiction, Emmerich next directed theAmerican Revolutionary War epicThe Patriot (2000). One of only five films (Universal Soldier,Anonymous,White House Down, andMidway being the others) Emmerich has directed in which he did not contribute to the screenplay, the film received a generally favorable critical and commercial response,[17] and is Emmerich's best-reviewed film to date.[18][19] After teaming up with new screenwriting partnerHarald Kloser, Emmerich returned once again to directing a visual effects-laden adventure with 2004's blockbusterThe Day After Tomorrow, another disaster film about a rapidly oncomingice age brought upon by the effects ofglobal warming. Soon afterward, he founded Reelmachine, another film production company based in Germany.
In 2008, Emmerich directed10,000 BC, a film about the journeys of a prehistoric tribe ofmammoth hunters. It was a box office hit, but consistently regarded by professional critics as his worst film, as well as one of the worst films of the year.[20] He was slated to direct a remake of the 1966 science-fiction filmFantastic Voyage,[21] but he eventually left project, due to clashing with its producerJames Cameron.[22] In 2009, Emmerich directed2012,[23] an apocalyptic disaster film based on the conspiracy theory that theancient Mayansprophesying that the world would end on 21 December 2012.[24] Despite mixed reviews, the film went on to be his second-highest-grossing film to date (afterIndependence Day) and received praise from audiences. Emmerich usually finishes production of a large-scale movie both in a time frame shorter and on a budget lower than what is typically requested by other directors.[6][8]
Emmerich's next film,Anonymous, released on 28 October 2011, is based on the premise thatEdward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford is the real author of the plays and sonnets ofWilliam Shakespeare.[25] According to Emmerich, "It's an historical thriller because it's about who will succeedQueen Elizabeth and the struggle of the people who want to have a hand in it. It's theTudors on one side and theCecils on the other, and in between [the two] is the Queen. Through that story we tell how the plays written by the Earl of Oxford ended up labelled 'William Shakespeare.'"[26] The film's box-office failures signaled a decline of Emmerich's career.
In 2011, Sony Pictures had purchased a pitch for Emmerich's projectSingularity, a sci-fi epic about a man composed ofnanomachines. Originally planned for a 2013 release, the project has since gone intodevelopment hell.[27]
Emmerich directed the action-thriller filmWhite House Down, which involved a terrorist attack on theWhite House by aparamilitary group. The spec script was written byJames Vanderbilt and was purchased by Sony Pictures for$3 million in March 2012.The Hollywood Reporter called it "one of the biggest spec sales in quite a while". The journal said the script was similar "tonally and thematically" to the filmsDie Hard,Air Force One andOlympus Has Fallen (2013). Emmerich began filming in July 2012 at the La Cité Du Cinéma inMontreal, Quebec, Canada. The film was released on 28 June 2013 in the United States.
Whenever asked about making a personal project, Emmerich thought it would be "a gay film", and after friends during production ofAnonymous asked if he could make a film on theStonewall riots, Emmerich got interested in the idea.[28]Stonewall was released in 2015.[29] He followed it with a sequel to his most successful film inIndependence Day: Resurgence, released twenty years after the originalIndependence Day on 24 June 2016.[30]
In 2020, it was announced that Emmerich's next film project would be entitledMoonfall, released in 2022 byLionsgate. The project is a space disaster film about a mysterious force knocking the moon from its orbit around Earth, sending it on a collision course with the planet. In response, a ragtag team launches a last-ditch mission to land on the lunar surface and save Earth from annihilation.[31][32] with the production budget standing at $150 million.[33]
Following the release ofMoonfall, Emmerich said he has been working on a TV series based onT. E. Lawrence for around a decade, and stated he has three projects he would like to make, a mistaken identity period piece set in 1919 about a young writer having to take control of a film set, another about aconquistador, and a third about the death ofMarilyn Monroe.[1]
In June 2023, Emmerich announced a franchise titledSpace Nation which will consist of aMMORPG, a TV series, animated shorts and spinoff games.[34]
Emmerich owns homes in Los Angeles, New York City, London and Stuttgart.[5][35][36][37][38] He likes to decorate his homes in a self-described "outlandish" manner,[38] adorning them with rare Hollywood memorabilia, murals and portraits of dictators andCommunist figures, and World War IImilitaria.[5][37]
Emmerich isgay and is an LGBT rights activist. He is married to Omar De Soto.[39] He has stated that he witnessed overt racism when producers and studio executives were opposed to allowing him to castWill Smith for the lead inIndependence Day, and reluctant to allow him to portray an interracial couple inThe Day After Tomorrow.[40] He has also stated that he has encounteredhomophobia from the same groups, and is vocal in his opposition to such behavior.[40] He has stated that sometimes he does "[not like working in] the movie business", describing it as a sometimes "very cold, brutal business", but his motivation to keep directing is that he genuinely "like[s] making movies".[5]
In 2006, he pledged $150,000 to the Legacy Project, a campaign dedicated to gay and lesbian film preservation. Emmerich made the donation on behalf ofOutfest, making it the largest gift in the festival's history.[41] In 2007, on behalf of theLGBT community, he held a fundraiser at his Los Angeles home forDemocratic Party presidential candidateHillary Clinton.[37]
In 2011, he became a U.S. citizen while keeping his German citizenship. He stated he did so because he "wanted to have a vote in the next US elections" and that he waited because he "didn’t want to become an American underBush."[42]
Emmerich is in favor of the campaign forstunt performers to receive recognition at theAcademy Awards, and has worked to raise awareness over the issue ofglobal warming.[46][47] He once was a chain-smoker who was known to smoke as many as four packs of cigarettes a day,[48] Emmerich has often included in his films characters who are trying toquit smoking or warn against thedangers of tobacco use. Along with several other celebrities, he is a producer ofThe 1 Second Film, a non-profit project intended to raise money forwomen's rights in thedeveloping world.[49]
Reviewers often criticize Emmerich's films for relying heavily on visual effects and suffering fromclichéd dialogue, flimsy and formulaic narratives, numerous scientific and historical inaccuracies, illogical plot developments, and lack of character depth.[51][52][53] Emmerich contends that he is not discouraged by such criticism and that he aims to provide enjoyable "popcorn" entertainment to movie-going audiences.[46] Stating that he is "a filmmaker, not a scientist", he creates his own fiction based on actual science or history to make the messages he sends "more exciting".[54]
In response to accusations of insensitivity for including scenes ofNew York City being destroyed inThe Day After Tomorrow, less than three years after theSeptember 11 attacks, Emmerich said that it was necessary to depict the event as a means to showcase the increased unity people now have when facing a disaster, because of the attacks.[35][46][54] When accused of resorting too often to scenes of cities being subjected to epic disasters, Emmerich says that it is a justified way of increasing awareness about bothglobal warming, and the lack of a government preparation plan for a global doomsday scenario in the cases ofThe Day After Tomorrow and2012, respectively.[54][55]
Acknowledging what he characterized as flaws withGodzilla, Emmerich admitted he regretted having agreed to direct it. He stated that his lack of interest in the previousGodzilla movies, the short time he promised it would take for him to complete the film, and the studio's refusal to screen it for test audiences were all factors that may have negatively affected the quality of the final product,[35] and cited the former reason as to why he turned down an offer to directSpider-Man, as he was not interested in comic books orsuperhero-related fiction.[35] However, Emmerich still defendsGodzilla, noting that the film was highly profitable[35] and claiming that, of all his movies, people tell himGodzilla is the one they and their kids watch the most repeatedly.[54]
Emmerich has also faced criticism from theLGBT community. His filmStonewall was criticized forbeing whitewashed and diminishing the contributions oftransgender women of color to starting theStonewall riots,[56] and for beingsex-negative.[57] In response to these claims, Emmerich has said the Stonewall riots were "a white event".[58] The film received generally negative reviews from critics.[59]
Similarly, Emmerich touted his 2016 filmIndependence Day: Resurgence as having a gay couple,[60] but when the film was released, Johnny Gayzmonic ofUnicorn Booty criticized the film because the couple in question was two trivial characters lacking in believable chemistry who were utilized solely for comic relief, one of whom was needlessly killed off in a way that was not vital to the plot (the other having been depicted as strictly heterosexual in tie-in material to the first film), the characters only being revealed to have been a gay couple during the aforementioned death scene (with references to their relationship being cut from the Chinese version of the film), a fate that Gayzmonic observed befell many gay couples in film.[61]
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