Influenced less by the work of compatriots Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlondorff than by the sci-fi blockbusters coming out of Hollywood, Roland Emmerich rejected the New German Cinema of the early 1980s in favor of "popcorn" movies, eliciting scorn and a derisive moniker, 'the Swabian Spielberg', from critics of his filmmaking style. Over the years, the resourceful sci-fi specialist has earned a reputation for meticulous preparation and remarkable cost-efficiency, developing both qualities during his low-budget German days. Collaborating with writing partner and producer Dean Devlin, Emmerich parlayed his surprise hit "Stargate" (1994) into the mega-blockbuster "Independence Day" (1996), his ticket onto the A-list of action directors. Devlin astutely assessed their collaboration in Entertainment Weekly (July 12, 1996): "The most valuable thing Roland ever told me. . . was 'Look, Dean, you're not a genius. I'm not a genius, and we're never going to be geniuses. But if we work really hard, then hopefully, one day, we'll make a good movie.'"
Emmerich made an immediate impression with his first feature, "The Noah's Ark Principle" (1981), reportedly the most expensive student project ever produced in Germany. After opening the competition section of the 1984 Berlin Film Festival, this tale of two astronauts working in a futuristic space lab eventually played in more than 20 countries. Its success allowed Emmerich to launch his own production company, Centropolis Films, through which he has produced his subsequent projects. Thrift and inventiveness became necessary professional trademarks as he financed his first five films out of his own pocket. Looking early to America as a market, Emmerich began making English-language films with his second feature, "Making Contact/Joey" (1985), a laboriously Spielbergian affair about an eleven-year-old with telekinetic powers that demonstrated the director's flair for visual fantasy. He followed with "Ghost Chase" (1988), a leaden teenage fantasy about breaking into the movie business, and the sci-fi action thriller "Moon 44" (1990), which introduced him to future collaborator Devlin.
Brought to the USA at the behest of Carolco's Mario Kassar, Emmerich assumed control of a project abandoned by helmer Andrew Davis well into pre-production. Together with Devlin (added as co-writer), he crafted the minor but entertaining sci-fi adventure "Universal Soldier" (1992), which paired action stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as Vietnam vets who become members of a unit of genetically engineered soldiers. The film's success (grossing more than $100 million worldwide on an investment of $20 million) allowed Emmerich to realize the long-cherished "Stargate", a pseudo-Egyptian epic that joined the lavish costume epics of the 50s and 60s with the high-tech sci-fi razzle dazzle popularized in the late 70s and 80s. Kassar hated the Emmerich-Devlin cut and hired his own editor, excising the character scenes and hyping the action. After it tested terribly, he called the pair back in and let them recut the picture their way. Because of the post-production battles, Hollywood buzz had the film as unreleasable, but its strong performance at the domestic box office ushered in Emmerich and Devlin as important new genre practitioners as well as fiscally responsible filmmakers.
Having gained the respect of Hollywood's money men, the relatively inexperienced creative team raised around $70 million for the ambitious "Independence Day". Overloaded with FX and gargantuan set pieces, the production would have required over $100 million to fully realize its pulpy vision of an alien invasion of Earth--in the hands of most producers. Co-writers Emmerich and Devlin enhanced their status as miracle workers with this old-fashioned adventure that owed equal debts to 50s alien invasion movies and 70s star-studded disaster pics (while avoiding any costly big-name stars, of course). Critical quibbles about shallow characterizations, and lack of originality and dramatic drive did not deter the mad rush to the multiplexes. "Independence Day" swiftly shattered box-office records, garnering over $100 million in domestic box-office receipts--in less than a week! Continuing their exploration of the sci-fi genre, Emmerich and Devlin scripted the pilot for and co-executive produced the short-lived Fox drama "The Visitor" (1997), starring John Corbett as a man who has returned to the present after mysteriously disappearing forty years earlier.
Effectively given carte blanche, Emmerich and Devlin undertook a remake of the cheesy Japanese monster movie "Godzilla" (1998). Despite again utilizing second-tier actors, they did not bring the film in as economically as their previous efforts. Hyped to the point of redundancy by Sony (parent company of Columbia-Tri-Star), the film pulled in respectable numbers, but breaking even was not what the studio had in mind. The meager profits when weighed against those of "Independence Day" cast a pall on the golden boys of sci-fi, and the excessive number of CGI (computer-generated image) shots also took their toll on Emmerich, who opted for the unlikely, more people-oriented "The Patriot" (2000) as his next project. Working from a screenplay by Robert Rodat and using Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" and Michael Mann's "The Last of the Mohicans" as prototypes, he took the unprecedented step of involving the Smithsonian Institute to insure the historical accuracy of what purported to be a biopic of Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion. With the original script playing fast-and-loose with the facts, Emmerich and team quieted the purists by changing the lead character's name to Benjamin Martin, allowing them to sit back and enjoy an old-fashioned Western-style shoot-em-up with Gibson as a reluctant warrior pushed to the brink before exacting his vengeance.
Emmerich took his time before settling on his next big-budget project. After reading a few scientific books and articles about the potentially catastrophic effects of a radical planetary climate change, Emmerich realized he had found the topic for his next mega-disaster outing, "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004), which he wrote and directed. Touted as something of a companion piece to "Independence Day," where instead of aliens the enemy is nature, film features Dennis Quaid as a climatologist trying to reach his son (Jake Gyllenhaal) amid the onslaught of a new ice age in which tornadoes rip apart Los Angeles; a snowstorm buries New Delhi; hail the size of grapefruit batters Tokyo; and in New York City, the temperature swings from sweltering to freezing in one day. Emmerich was aware that, in the wake of Sept. 11, exploding famous buildings did not have the same entertainment value it once had in his earlier films, but he did focus on the possible real-life repercussions as well as the devastation of familiar international landmarks like the Hollywood sign. The big-budget disaster epic also briefly became a political football when environmentalists embraced it as a warning about the perils of greenhouse-gas emissions--NASA (which did not participate in the making of the film) even sent an email to its scientist urging them to avoid publicy discussing the real-life consequences of an ice age, then later reconsidered. A rally featuring former vice president and environmental advocate Al Gore was set to be held a couple of blocks away from the pic's May 24 preem in New York, though no one involved in the picture planned to participate in the campaign. |
