With 60 year old German director Roland Emmerich's latest sci-fi world-in-peril disaster flick opening (that'd be Independence Day: Resurgence) let's look back at his career for this week's Posterized! But first here's a really cute photo of the director with actress Joey King tying his shoes. (She's made two of his movies back to back now as she was also in Stonewall)
In poster form, at least, Emmerich's careers looks a lot a pitch perfect example of how capitalism works in Tinsletown, when they poach genre directors from other countries...
At first there are the cheapie genre flicks, then, you see an influx of cash and "name" genre actors. If that works, even bigger and bigger budgets and even bigger stars until suddenly there's no room on the poster for movie stars, even if you've hired them, because it's all about THE SPECTACLE that your hundred millions of production budget have bought...
The Movies: The Noah's Arc Principle, Making Contact, Ghost Chase, Moon 44, Universal Soldier, Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot, The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 BC, 2012, Anonymous, White House Down, and Stonewall. How many have you seen?
At first there are the cheapie genre flicks. Then, you see an influx of cash and "name" genre actors. If that works, even bigger budgets and even bigger stars until suddenly there's no room on the poster for giant movie stars, even if you've hired them, because it's all about THE SPECTACLE that your hundred millions of production budget have bought.
I once interviewed Emmerich and I regret being all "why don't you make gay movies?" aggressive with the out gay filmmaker considering the movie he did eventually deliver (Stonewall -- I take back my request!). Before the ahistorical gay history of Stonewall he tried the ahistoric conspiracy thriller about Shakespeare called Anonymous. But even in those pictures you could see that his heart was not with intimate human drama but still fixated on the broad strokes, or heavy brick throws if you will, of popcorn pictures. He put it more bluntly:
It has to be big or I don't like it.
So back to the blockbuster he inevitably went, returning to his biggest success (Independence Day) for a super super late sequel without that film's mega-star Will Smith. Independence Day: Resurgence is now in theaters. How well will it do so many years after the first film's dominance?
How many Emmerich pictures have you seen? I haven't been a completist (no thank you!) but my favorite, by a mile, remains Universal Soldier. That's both for its retro late 80s/early 90s action muscle kitsch glory and the perfect casting and pre Captain America Winter Soldier showdown of brainwashed super soldiers, with the Muscles from Brussells squaring off with Ivan Drago himself, Doph Lundgren.