Producers of Stonewall said
Tuesday that the gay drama would open on September 25.
Stonewall tells a fictional
story about a young man's political awakening set against the
backdrop of the early days of the modern gay rights movement.
Historians often credit the June 28, 1969 police raid of the
Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village as a major flashpoint for the
movement. While such raids at the time were common at gay bars,
patrons on this night, many of whom were drag queens, resisted
arrest.
The film arrives at a pivotal moment
for the movement, which is moving from fighting for marriage equality
to protecting the right from opponents who wish to dilute it.
In announcing the film's upcoming
release, director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day), who is
openly gay, talked about how the Stonewall Riots sparked a movement.
“It was the first time gay people
said ‘Enough!'” said Emmerich in a statement. “They didn't do it
with leaflets or meetings, they took beer bottles and threw them at
cops. Many pivotal political moments have been born by violence. If
you look at the civil rights movement, at Selma and other events of
that kind, it's always the same thing. Stonewall was the first time
gay people stood up and they did it in their own way. Something that
really affected me when I read about Stonewall was that when the riot
police showed up in their long line, these kids formed their own long
line and sang a raunchy song. That, for me, was a gay riot, a gay
rebellion.”
“What struck me was that there was a
story in there, which I felt had an important message – it's the
people who had the least to lose who did the fighting, not the
politically active people. It was the kids that went to this club
that consisted of hustlers and Scare Queens, and all kinds of people
that you think would never resist the police, and they did it,” he
added.
The film stars Jeremy Irvine, Jonny
Beauchamp, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ron Perlman.