On the occasion of the Glass Screen Award at CineHamburg, Roland Emmerich will receive the award on July 7, 2026 at CinemaxX Hamburg Dammtor, awarded jointly for the first time by HDF KINO eV and AllScreens – ROLLING STONE met the benefactor from Sindelfingen for a chat.
Emmerich, born in 1955, studied at the University of Television and Film in Munich and went to Hollywood, making his graduation film with his own funds. What followed was one of the most incredible careers in world cinema. No other German-language director has had such an impact on global blockbuster cinema. Not with franchises or sequels, but with constantly inventing disaster scenarios that regularly turned out to be more prophetic than we would like.
Independence Day (1996) reinvented the modern invasion movie, The Day After Tomorrow (2004) brought climate change to the multiplex cinema years before the term became mainstream. In the films 2012 (2012) and Moonfall (2022), Emmerich presented apocalyptic spectacles played out with conspiracy theories. “Anonymous” (2011) surprised me as a Shakespearean historical drama and received almost the highest rating from Roger Ebert. Emmerich is a director who has never been told what to do next.
Mr. Emmerich, your most famous scene from the film is “Independence Day”: aliens destroy the White House. But what’s even more impressive is that you let the First Lady die. How did you survive it?
We presented the script as a finished product in a competitive war. The script was in demand, it had to be accepted as it is. My writing partner Dean Devlin and I knew that the main character had to die. The first lady’s death was also so emotional because the president had to explain it to their little daughter.
Not only The Day After Tomorrow or 2012, but also her debut film, 1984’s The Noah’s Ark Principle, anticipate climate catastrophe. Why are there no more films about this today?
Because it’s very difficult to make a story this way. I have a new script with a great writer: Anthony McCarten. He wrote “Darkest Hour,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “The Two Popes.” He’s truly great. He became friends and said, let’s write a script together that means something. And then we said it should be a story about… people who had to leave Africa and no one wanted them. This will be a migration epic, I call it “Exodus”.
They want to make blockbusters, but they’re not interested in franchise material. You change your own IP addresses. Not interested in Star Wars or Marvel?
No, not at all. I am now 70 years old. I just want to make films for myself. New materials, and this is not an individual entrepreneur. I have a whole list of scenarios and I’m going to do them all now because I’m completely reliant on the AI.
To what extent?
There are different options. There is AI that can be used to change the appearance of actors. And there is AI, where you don’t recognize the actor – and just use his performance. And now I’m doing a test to see if I can do it.
Are there any modern technologies that you are not interested in from an artistic point of view or that you reject?
Not really. AI can help reduce production costs. Some actors don’t understand this. For example, if you can completely change the background.
It’s a bit reminiscent of Independence Day: Resurgence, in which humans experiment with alien technology and integrate it into everyday life.
Yes, exactly!
You are an icon of the LGBTQ movement, one of the most prominent directors in Hollywood. Do you and some colleagues discuss how coming out might go or how to improve the situation?
Yes, but it’s difficult now because Trump is not at all interested in this. There was so much fear. It’s hard, downright hard, to communicate freely these days.
Even in Hollywood?
AND.
But do you have any problems with financing projects?
I also have my problems – but my costs are so high! I have a project called Maya Lord. The true story of sailor Gonzalo Guerrero, who becomes a captive of the Mayans around 1511. If you do it traditionally: 150 million. But I won’t get it. That’s why I have the ability to use AI here as well.
Moonfall 2022 is about conspiracy storytellers. And gravity. There is currently a NASA conspiracy theory that on August 12, gravity will stop on Earth for seven seconds, causing millions of deaths.
Yes, gravity, which makes us rise or fall. I’ve always tried to include conspiracy storytellers in my films because they’re interesting but also dangerous. I often go to bookstores and look around because I want to know what interests people.
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At the beginning of her career they called her “Spielberg from Sindelfingen” – but the Germans are also hard pressed for praise. Do you enjoy prizes like the Glass Screen?
Spielberg from Sindelfingen… Everything went quiet. Today I am the Great Director and it doesn’t bother me.
Roger Ebert, the famous film critic who has sadly passed away, gave your film Anonymous 3.5 stars out of 4. Some reviewers in the US rate you highly.
Yes, and it also annoys me that the film is not really shown on streamers. In the next few days I’m going to have to call Tom Rothman, the CEO of Sony Pictures (it’s a Sony movie) and ask him, “Why is this like that?” Shouldn’t we re-release the film? There is a longer version that is also very good. Director’s cut. The film’s editor died, as did the person who voiced it. This may also be a case where you have to say: Okay, let’s do a small release.
What role does Germany play for you today? Have you ever thought about coming back and filming a movie here again?
I filmed “Anonymous” here at the Babelsberg film studio. This was in 2011. Back then I really hoped that I would return to Germany when I retired. But Germany will have to wait a little longer.