It’s the most-written about, intensely-debated and by most standards considered the event which became a catalyst for the modern LGBT rights movement, but for out filmmaker Roland Emmerich the Stonewall riots of 1969 provide the backdrop for his latest drama. Best-known for helming apocalyptic fantasies such as The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, Emmerich, says he “was always interested and passionate about telling this important story, but I feel it has never been more timely than right now.”
Since New York’s Greenwich Village has changed considerably in the four-plus decades since queer people fought back against police brutality, Emmerich’s film was shot on elaborately-detailed sound stages in Montreal. With a screenplay by Jon Robin Baitz, known for many acclaimed plays and TV series such as Brothers and Sisters, the movie titled simply Stonewall chronicles:
a fictional young man caught up during the 1969 Stonewall riots. Danny Winters (Jeremy Irvine) is forced to leave behind friends and loved ones when he is kicked out of his parent’s home and flees to New York. Alone in Greenwich Village, homeless and destitute, he befriends a group of street kids who soon introduce him to the local watering hole The Stonewall Inn; however, this shady, mafia-run club is far from a safe-haven. As Danny and his friends experience discrimination, endure atrocities and are repeatedly harassed by the police, we see a rage begin to build. This emotion runs through Danny and the entire community of young gays, lesbians and drag queens who populate the Stonewall Inn and erupts in a storm of anger. With the toss of a single brick, a riot ensues and a crusade for equality is born.
The movie, which will be in theaters September 25, also stars Jonny Beauchamp, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ron Perlman. Emmerich released a statement that details his passion for the subject matter:
“It was the first time gay people said ‘Enough!’ 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.”
Scroll down to see a few more photos from the film. Although these stills suggest otherwise, Stonewall is not a musical.
Kurtlan Massarsky
Soooo, white, cis, and male?
Milton Appleby
I hate the addition of fictional characters.
Raúl Hernández
This better not be a musical
canadianflipper
Where are the drag queens???? This looks like a musical.
Tobi
@canadianflipper: The Kids From Lame. 😉
jar
Wow- that looks embarrassing from every angle. It looks like Sesame Street presents…Hair. And, of course, a seminal moment in gay history MUST be told through the story of a young attractive white guy, precisely the type of person who would have been firmly in the closet up through the 80’s.
Lvng1Tor
I can’t even think of something snarky to say. This is just plain wrong, insulting and r@cist…and why the frick do I have to spell r@cist with an @?
judysdad
Have any of you actually studied photos from the riots? Yes, there were some drag queens, some of them black. And there were a few black males. But the crowd in general was overwhelmingly comprised of white males. many of them hippie types and others who appeared rather collegiate. I was not present during the riots, but spent more than a few evenings at the Stonewall. It was known to be a hippie/student hangout primarily. The clientele was racially mixed, with white males being the majority. Drag queens flirted around, but most guys were there to cruise and didn’t pay much attention to them.
lykeitiz
As a white man, even I am uncomfortable with this being told through the eyes of a fictional white man. And that’s only the beginning of what looks to be wrong here.
This looks like “Newsies 2: Disney Does Stonewall”.
This looks like we’re about to be as appalled as the “Pearl Harbor” vets were.
lykeitiz
@judysdad: Did they all stand on cars at the same time & raise their hands in the air like they just don’t care?
Jacob23
l at the r@cist SJWs above! “Oooh, white cis men! How horrid!”
Sorry losers, but most of the Stonewall rioters were white cis men. In 1969, 90% of the US was white, NYC a little less so, but not by much. Most, but not all, the rioters were men. I see some women (real women) in the pics above and that is good. And as for his being “cis” (by which you mean not suffering a gender disorder), that too is entirely representative of the riots. Only 2 transgenders have ever been identified as possibly being at Stonewall and at least 1 and possibly both did not even identify as transgender at that time. Everyone else was normal. And drag queens are not transgender. So, yep, Stonewall was a cis affair! Now go to your hug box on Tumblr.
Will Moor
I am confused as to why this is being seen as “r@cist”… There are black people in the cast. Should movies no longer have white protagonists? And how is this “insulting”? Seriously I don’t get people sometimes. How about we wait and see the actual film before we start with the gay snark?
Captain Obvious
White male hero, America why so boring? Yawn.
This movie looks horrible anyway and love the black gay stereotypes because every black gay male is thin, feminine beyond belief, and hopelessly single.
And of course the gay-KKK defense team will fail to notice the vast differences between the white male cast in the lead and everyone else. Such tired memes.
You’d think gay people only came in white with a few cartoonish tokens peppered in so no one can say anything negative about it.
Will Moor
@Captain Obvious: If you think white people are so horrible and boring don’t watch the movie. Just keep using that white twink blonde Zack avatar tho.
Cagnazzo82
@Will Moor: I think he’s going a bit far, but putting the dudebro in front is really not what Stonewall was about.
Then again is dramatization. Likely putting the dudebro is what will get gay butts in the movie theater.
It remains to be seen whether this film will ultimately put more emphasis on docu or drama.
darian
This movie looks as boring as church on a holiday…… No thanks Hollywood I’ll pass.
Will Moor
@darian: How do you get that out of a handful of stills?
Winter79
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: any film about Stonewall lives or dies based on its portrayal of Sylvia Rivera, and ant film about Stonewall without Sylvia Rivera is unworthy of the name.
@Judysdad: most of the famous photos of the riots come from the second night. The first night, which was barely covered by journalists at the time, was mostly drag queens and black / Hispanic teenagers.
Will Moor
@Cagnazzo82: Well I want to wait and see if this guy is really such a “dudebro”. I have seen pictures of the initial rioters, the Drag Queens and the ones who first joined them which were the young men. Are those stills really such a stretch from these photos?
http://www.stageandcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/stonewall-uprising-patrons.jpg
https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/images/stonewall_riot-1969.jpg
The one thing that I see missing is a transvestite or drag queen, at least I think so. Not fully sure what the long haired red head is in the first photo, we have to keep in mind that transvestites/drag queens did have to wear some articles of clothing that identified their birth gender, that was the law. AND those stills are not necessarily representative of the entire film. Those who are judging the entire movie based on those stills are truly jumping the gun if you ask me.
And really, Cagnazzo, his attack on “thin, feminine” gay black men is atrocious. There is nothing “r@cist” about the existence of feminine gay men, black or otherwise and its simply outrageous that he thinks so. Fem shaming is NOT cool. That IS how so very many of the Stonewallers were. And there is NO shame in that. If he wants to cry r@cism, fem shaming is NOT the way to go. He loses all respectability that way. Frankly he loses much of his voice because its a massive turn off. Anyway I appreciate your kind response and look forward to reading more of your posts. 🙂
Will Moor
@Winter79: We are gonna have to wait and see what the movie is really like, don’t you think? Personally, I am hoping the movie has a portrayal of Marsha P Johnson. Jayne County was there as well. And yes I think Sylvia Rivera should definitely be present, most certainly, but most of all, Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson needs to be present as far as I am concerned. But again, I want to wait and see. Initial publicity stills just aren’t the best way to judge a film. Personally, I have high hopes and am excited for this.
When it comes to the topic of Trans women at Stonewall I think that something needs to be recognized here. I am reading that some people are declaring Trans folks weren’t there. So not true. As one poster pointed out, they didn’t *call* themselves that *at the time* because the word “Transgender” wasn’t in USE back then. And a Transsexual was . someone who had had bottom surgery. The Trans women at Stonewall had not had gender confirmation surgery, at least not yet at the time. So what did they do? They mixed with the Drag Queens and the Transvestites and yes, tended to count themselves among their number though they knew how they felt inside. That is just a historical fact. There seemed to have been a sisterhood among Transgender women and Drag Queens/Transvestites that doesn’t seem to exist today, with Transgender women often distancing themselves as far away from Drag Queens as they possibly can and apparently even working to ban them from certain LGBT Pride celebrations because Drag Queens make them feel “uncomfortable”. The old ties are ancient history. But if you read the stories of women like Silvia Rivera, Jayne County and Marsha P. Johnson you will see that there once was an overlap that is long gone.
I can understand why TODAY there needs to be very clear language that explains the massive difference between Drag Queens and Trans women, but what I find tragic is the animosity that now exists when once, there really did seem to be a sisterhood between the two groups, because they were marginalized, hated and misunderstood by the exact same people. From Wikpedia’s Sylvia Rivera Article: “Sylvia Rae Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American drag queen[2] and transgender activist.[3] She was a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. With her close friend, Marsha P. Johnson, Rivera co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group dedicated to helping **homeless young drag queens and trans women of color.**”
animaux
@Winter79:
“The first night, which was barely covered by journalists at the time, was mostly drag queens and black / Hispanic Teenagers”
Which is exactly what I see in these photos.
animaux
According to the movie summary, it seems as if they chose the best angle to portray the events – from the perspective of street kids. That is perhaps the reason why there are no “celebrity” activists as principal roles. Does not mean they won’t appear in the movie.
Ummmm Yeah
@Kurtlan Massarsky: Did you even look at the pictures before you started screaming your garbage. There are black characters, drag queens and one I’m pretty sure is a Latino drag queen. Oh and news flash bigot, it was drag queens at Stonewall. So carry you anti white and non-transgender hating noise somewhere else.
Ummmm Yeah
What a shock. The men in dresses and black queens are screaming anti white anti non-transgender hate as usual. All you do is sit around complaining about what white gay men don’t do for you. How about you get up off your raggedy asses and do for yourselves instead? Make your own movies and TV shows if you don’t like what white gay men are doing.
Will Moor
As I look at the third still down I see what is either a drag queen or a trans woman (as I stated earlier both groups overlapped back then) standing on top of the car with the others, part of her dress is hiked up and she has her arms raised, holding high heeled shoes. She is on the far left. Yes I am definitely convinced that there has been some gun jumping in regard to judging this film.
Will Moor
@Kurtlan Massarsky: Kurtlan, did you look closely at the third still down in the article? I imagine you didn’t.
darian
@Will Moor: It seems like they just found people off of they street. In every still every actor/actress is making the same face. I have a feeling this movie is gonna have more fist bumps then a jersey shore night club. Need I go on?
jason smeds
Stonewall was NOT the start of gay lib in the USA. Stonewall was simply a revolt against the police’s harassment of an individual gay bar and its patrons in New York City in 1969.
Gay lib in the USA began in Illinois in 1961 with the decriminalization of male homosexuality, the culmination of years of efforts by gay rights groups going back to the earlier part of the 20th century. These were unsung heroes. Stonewall gets too much credit and creates a false history.
Will Moor
@darian: no please don’t go on, because 1) once again you can’t judge the film based on those stills and 2) I don’t agree that they are making the same faces in each picture. I’m not sure what kind of variety of faces you expect to see tho when people are yelling passionately about something.
I still say ware and see.
Dev.C
Could they have tried not to seem offensive by having at least one LGBT actor in this film, I don’t see a single gay man in these pictures. I’m not sure if John Beauchamp counts, but i’ve never heard him state that he’s gay, so the gay to straight actors ratio is non existent in this movie.
Even the Normal Heart had a descent gay to straight actor ratio, but Ryan Murphy probably knew he would hear from us if he didn’t put gay talent in that movie.
Arcamenel
*photos have one minority*
whites: SEE! THERE IS DIVERSITY
Will Moor
@Arcamenel: I think you are wearing blinders when you look at these, seeing what you expect and maybe even what you want to see, enjoying a belief that most if not all white people are awful. The first picture has 3 racial minorities (2 Black and 1 Latino) and 3 white people (who are still sexual minorities), the second one has two people as its focus, both racial minorities (1 Black, 1 Latino) and the third picture has what appears to me to be at east four minorities (2 black, 2 Latino and possibly a 3rd Latino on the far right). There are several minorities represented. Either you didn’t really catch that because your eyes glazed over to the facts in your desire to see what you want to see or you did catch it and you just won’t be happy unless the minorities are in the majority in this film. Or maybe you feel that only Black people are minorities and Latinos don’t count.
judysdad
Jesus H Christ, here you all go yet again. Now we’re at the point where EVERY piece of entertainment is going to be judged by how many transgenders, effeminate gay men and/or blacks/Latinos there are versus white gay males.
Face it: The gay community as a whole is a small percentage of the population as a whole (but probably larger than the so-called “experts” say). Within this relatively small subset of humans, probably 90% at least are just regular guys who are neither transgendered OR drag queens. So, tell me, what is the issue with making a movie containing what is probably the majority of its target audience? (And, by the way, I am not necessarily speaking of this film in particular…it’s become about EVERYTHING.) I happen to live in NYC and I nor any of my friends even know a trans person and we don’t have friends who do drag and actually try to avoid them when in clubs because we do not find them cute, funny or much of anything else except embarrassing. I feel embarrassed for them.
oilburner
@lykeitiz: oh fuck your comment FTW. That shits incredibly funny.
oilburner
@Will Moor: did he say white people are horrible? Or are you just making shit up ?
oilburner
@judysdad: with all the complaining you’ve done in your comments dude you sound like a fucken girl. It’s not cute or funny and shit I’m actually embarrassed for you.
judysdad
@oilburner: Your comment makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Are you on drugs or just drunk?
Captain Obvious
@Will Moor: Didn’t say any of that, why are you so defensive, and why do you keep bringing up a Gravitar on all of your little alt accounts? I’d ask if you have a life but I already know the answer.
Clearly you don’t know who Zack from Saved by the Bell is, you keep trying to claim I hate white people yet prove your own ignorance statement wrong by pointing out that I don’t.
Stop being so stupid.
Having a race discussion and pointing out or criticizing stereotypes does not mean one hates white people.
Your entire existence on this blog serves only to try and kill any race discussion by twisting everyone’s words, you’re the gay-KKK defense team I was speaking of. You are literally the definition of a troll and a bad one at that. You make Jason look like Picasso. Any time someone makes a statement about the black gay experience of which you know nothing you chime in with one of your alt accounts claiming someone hates white people because they said something about how black people are treated/stereotyped in the gay community.
Black Americans don’t even have the luxury of hating white people and if you can’t figure out that much then you have no place commenting. We’re around white people all day everyday, I don’t hate white people you moron.
Cliff notes: You’re an idiot.
Kangol
There are photos from the real Stonewall Uprising here. Telling that no one has mentioned the near absence of Latinxs (who were present at Stonewall) or Asian Americans.
Instead of watching Roland Emmerich’s typical Hollywood-style dreck, why not watch one of the excellent documentaries about Stonewall, like Kate Davis’s 2010 documentary Stonewall Uprising, or John Scagliotti’s 1999 film After Stonewall? Both are very good. Many libraries have them for rental.
Lynnette McFadzen
@Kurtlan Massarsky: Keen observation. Don’t worry, they can’t erase history forever right?
Lynnette McFadzen
Sylvia Rivera, Brenda Howard, Donny the Punk are turning over in their graves.And all the other non gay, non white non cis activists that were present (living and dead) are shaking their heads, again.
Will Moor
@oilburner: No, he called them boring. I just guessed that he thinks white people are horrible by how often he attacks, accuses and complains.
@Captain Obvious: “Having a race discussion and pointing out or criticizing stereotypes does not mean one hates white people.”
You don’t try to have “race discussions”, you whine, complain and accuse, and you seem to do it most often when there isn’t anything to complain out.
Calling out your nonsense isn’t the same as being a part of any sort of KKK and it doesn’t make me r*cist. But it doesn’t surprise me that you would make that accusation. Its your thing.
Will Moor
@Captain Obvious: “Any time someone makes a statement about the black gay experience of which you know nothing you chime in with one of your alt accounts claiming someone hates white people because they said something about how black people are treated/stereotyped in the gay community.”
How many “alternate” accounts do you think I have? Do you honestly think that everyone who refuses to let you get away with your crap is the same person? There is only ONE person in the WHOLE world who thinks you are full of it? I hate to break it to you, but that isn’t the case. And don’t sit there and act like I try to “chime in on the black experience” because I *never* do that. And by the way pal
Will Moor
@Captain Obvious: I am not trying to pretend to be anyone other than myself. I have ONE other account that I have used here and I am not trying to hide that fact. I am using my facebook account because I can no longer post under my regular one. Its as simple as that. My posts simply don’t show up with that one. Beyond that, I have no alternate accounts and I certainly didn’t create a WHOLE bunch of them just to reply to you. Don’t flatter yourself.
Jacob23
Thanks to the commenters who posted links to photos of the actual rioters. Since this is all about SJW bean counting, I thought it would be helpful to count up who is in these photos. Of course, it shouldn’t really matter how many of the rioters were Black, white, male or female, etc., but since SJWs are all about dividing people by group identity and robbing everyone of universal values and a common history, let’s count:
Close-up of youths standing in front of Stonewall:
-8 white, 2 Black, 1 Latino
-10 normal males/0 women/1 drag queen/0 transgenders
Youths hanging out on stairs:
– 7 white/2 Black/2 Latino
– 10 normal males/1 drag queen (same as the DQ from above)/0 transgenders
Lesbian confronts cops:
– 1 white woman/0 People of Color
– 0 normal males/0 drag queens/0 transgenders
Youths confronting a police line (poor lighting):
– Either all 10 are white or possibly as few as 8 white with 2 People of Color.
– 9 normal males/1 woman or possible drag queen
Rioters throw stones:
– 13 white/0 People of Color
– 13 normal males/0 drag queens/0 transgenders
Police move pedestrians across the street:
– 15 to 20 white/0 People of Color
– 18 or 19 normal males, at least 1 woman, maybe 2/0 drag queens/0 transgenders
So much for “Stonewall was a drag queen riot” and “LGBT is legitimate because if it weren’t for transgenders, there wouldn’t have been a Stonewall.” Lies.
Captain Obvious
@Will Moor: 3 posts whining about me, girl your autism is showing. Get a life, bye, Felicia.
sfhally
Boo
AtticusBennett
@Jacob23: we get it. you hate that the people your crap family continue to denigrate play a bigger role in LGBT equality than the “normal” people you wish you could be. drop dead.
AtticusBennett
http://mic.com/articles/121256/meet-marsha-p-johnson-and-sylvia-rivera-transgender-stonewall-veterans
to any of the sackless wimps in here who want to dismiss the role played by both drag queens and gender-nonconformists and transpeople in the movement: you’re wrong, and you’re just showing your worthless conservative families what a cowardly little boy you are.
SeeingAll
I agree that it looks more like a version of “Hair”.
SeeingAll
@Jacob23: Interesting. Let’s face it, the photos are going to be a good source.
sfhally
Don’t know why this isn’t working for me.
At least the pictures appear that they got the look of the time right. But why is Chaz Bono one of the pictures?