The Screen Addict | Emmerich
I own at least five copies of Independence Day (1996). Almost 25 years ago, I first bought an ID4 home-entertainment release in the shape of a good old – expensive – VHS tape. When the DVD entered the marketplace, I just had to add a digitally enhanced version of the film to my collection. Then came Blu-ray, and again I bought into the promise of improved visuals. These days, 4K Ultra-High Definition is the holy grail, and you guessed it – I again parted with my hard-earned Euros so I could add this most recent and, for the time being, ultimate edition of ID4 to my personal film library.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Imagine rolling a dice of which you know it only has six sides, but still hoping to throw a seven. This analogy applies exceptionally well to my relationship with ID4. My love for this picture is so intense, that I gladly hand over my money again and again, knowing perfectly well that the movie isn’t going to be any different.
The origin of this deep passion lies with the writer-director behind ID4 – Roland Emmerich. Much like my fellow countryman Paul Verhoeven, Emmerich is a European filmmaker whose unique style not only caught my attention, but also turned heads in Hollywood during the early Nineties.
Emmerich shot a couple of highly successful films in his native Germany, among which the visually stunning SciFi-Actioner Moon 44 (1990). It was on the set of this production where Emmerich met a young actor named Dean Devlin – a kindred spirit, as it turned out.
Emmerich and Devlin joined creative forces and headed for Hollywood where they produced the extremely effective Jean-Claude Van Damme - Dolph Lundgren vehicle Universal Soldier (1992). I remember seeing this movie at my local cinema and being blown out of my seat by the opening credits alone. There was something about the name “Roland Emmerich” and the way it scrolled across the screen that just screamed block-buster cinema to me.
Through their newly-formed production banner Centropolis Entertainment, Emmerich and Devlin quickly followed up with Stargate (1994), another SciFi spectacle with an easily explained yet thoroughly efficient plot. Like M44 and UniSol before it, Stargate benefited hugely from the combined creative forces of Oliver Scholl, Volker Engel and Patrick Tatopoulos, a team of visual artists that would with stick by Centropolis’ side for many years and films to come.
I saw Stargate with a buddy, and he had brought a girl along that I secretly had a crush on. I quickly forgot about my jealousy when the film started, though. I was mesmerized by David Arnold’s fantastic score, Emmerich’s pitch-perfect direction, and the completely unique production design. I was in love, and no longer with Esther.
Two years after Stargate, Emmerich and Devlin unleashed the film that would definitively crown them the undisputed rulers of the SciFi-Fantasy genre – Independence Day (1996). I remember that the campaign for ID4 – the snazzy acronym cooked up by distributor 20th Century Fox’s marketing department – was something truly exceptional.
Mind you – this was The Nineties, a long time before a publicity-blitz through the internet was even a thing. A huge part of promoting a new release back in those days, was running adds on TV – which wasn’t terribly effective. ID4 however, featured a scene that was so spectacular, that it was picked up by almost every news broadcast around the globe. They blew up The White House for this film!!! My eighteen-year-old jaw dropped to the floor.
I saw ID4 in theaters at least six times, never mind the countless home viewings. Everyone who wanted to see Emmerich and Devlin’s masterpiece with me – and probably also some who didn’t – got dragged into my obsession. Today, more than 25 years after ID4’s release, I have been lucky enough to not only have met the man who so fundamentally influenced my life, but also to have played a part in the release of his latest films.
Through a joint venture with BeNeLux film-outfit Dutch Filmworks, I was involved with the distribution of Emmerich’s latest efforts Midway (2019) and Moonfall (2022). I had the pleasure of screening both films in the presence of the man himself, and suffice it to say that The German Master of Disaster still is one of the few directors who truly understands how to engage an audience.
Emmerich’s upcoming slate is stacked as always. I’m sure we will see more installments of ID4 somewhere down the road, but I assume those plans are temporarily in the freezer after the disappointing box-office results of Independence Day: Resurgence (2016). First up will be Amazon and Peacock’s gladiator series Those About to Die, and I am personally very eager to see Emmerich’s long-gestating passion project Maya Lord hit a smaller or bigger screen someday.
And then there is the tantalizing announcement of a Stargate reboot (or remake?) that is supposed to happen soon…
Anyhow – I am here for it, jaw to the floor.
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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict