12 Apr – Director Roland Emmerich is set to deviate from his usual big-budget disaster films once again, as he confirmed that his next film will be "Stonewall", a film about the gay rights movement. Empire Online reported that Emmerich was looking to squeeze in a small project before he focuses on filming the sequel "Independence Day Forever" and he has set his sights on "Stonewall". The film is set to chronicle the events leading up to the 28 June 1969 police raid on the Mafia-owned Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village. The raid incited a massive push in the gay rights movement, not only in the United States but also around the world. Jeremy Irvine ("War Horse") is set to headline the film as a country boy who experiences a political awakening when he joins a group of revolutionaries in New York and together they start a riot to change the world.
"It's one of these civil rights moments, like Rosa Parks," Emmerich said. "And very little is known about it. Even gay people don't know much about it. There are only two books written about it. It was the first time that gay people had shown the police that they should take them serious. And when the riot police came – this has always been fascinating for me – these kids formed a chorus line and sang 'We are the village girls, we wear our hair in curls!' It was such a cool thing." "Stonewall" is scheduled to begin shooting this year with plans to complete before the start of filming for "Independence Day Forever".