Before Roland Emmerich embarks on his Independence Day sequel or a Stargate reboot, he's fitting in a drama that's a bit off the beaten path for him. Filming has begun on Stonewall, a gay rights drama titled after the famous 1969 Stonewall Riots. With much of the cast already in place, the final additions have now been made.
Bouncing back off the cancellation of NBC's Dracula, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is joining the Stonewall cast, along with Ron Perlman and Joey King. Already on board are Jeremy Irvine, Jonny Beauchamp (How to Make It In America) and Caleb Landry Jones (X-men: First Class), with the film centering on Danny Winters (Irvine), a young gay man in 1969 New York caught in the middle of the violent riots between the bar's gay patrons and the police that became a galvanizing even in the fight for gay rights.
King will play Irvine's sister while Perlman is the shady bar owner colluding with the corrupt police. Is this Emmerich reaching for an Oscar? Or will his more outrageous tendencies (He won't add a bunch of world-destroying earthquakes, will he?) sink what sounds like a promising and important film? [THR]
