Roland Emmerich’s ‘Stonewall’ draws vitriol from critics and gay rights activists

Roland Emmerich, a director better known for his big-budget extravaganzas, tried his hand at a small indie movie and the results have been disastrous so far. His critically panned Stonewall hits theaters this weekend and has been accused of whitewashing the uprising that helped spark the modern gay-rights movement. Even gay rights groups have called for the movie to be boycotted.

Stonewall stars British actor Jeremy Irvine as Danny Winters, who is portrayed as throwing the brick that starts the riots, according to Vulture’s review. But the character is a complete work of fiction and is white. As a whole, the film has been accused of pushing gays and lesbians of color to the sidelines, ignoring their roles in the riots.

When defending his movie in an interview with Buzzfeed, Emmerich said that he made the film to appeal to the widest possible audience.

“You have to understand one thing: I didn’t make this movie only for gay people, I made it also for straight people,” Emmerich explained to Buzzfeed. “I kind of found out, in the testing process, that actually, for straight people, [Danny] is a very easy in. Danny’s very straight-acting. He gets mistreated because of that. [Straight audiences] can feel for him.”

Emmerich also claimed that he needed to put himself in the movie, especially since he said that this is his attempt at a “personal movie.” “As a director you have to put yourself in your movies, and I’m white and gay,” he told Buzzfeed.

Irvine also defended the film in an interview with The Daily Beast and said that his character is a combination of Emmerich and writer Jon Robin Baitz.

“He and the writer [Jon Robin Baitz], it’s a very personal project for both of them,” Irvine told the site. “I think that’s why my character’s in there. I think parts of them both are in my character. So it’s kind of like we’re seeing it through his eyes.”

The film isn’t drawing just negative reviews. A petition on the Gay Straight Alliance website calls for a boycott of the film and has over 24,000 signatures.

Faith Cheltenham of BiNet USA told TheWrap that the film is completely inaccurate and that filmmakers shouldn’t just “re-create history.”

Stonewall hits theaters on Friday.

image of Jeremy Irvine courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com