Roland Emmerich Biography

Fast Facts

• Won a Best Director Audience Award at the 1998 European Film Awards for "Godzilla․"
• Won a Golden Camera Award in 1999 for his success in Hollywood
• His film "Independence Day" became the first film to gross over $100 million in less than a week of being released
• In 2006 he donated $150,000 to Outfest's Legacy Project, dedicated to the gay and lesbian film preservation
• Won a Saturn Award for Best Director for "Independence Day" in 1997
• His first student film was a 110 minute long story about a weather control at a secret American space station shot in cinemascope with four-channel Dolby stereo sound
• While attending the director's program at film school in Munich, Germany, he produced a student film "Das Arche Noah Prinzip," which became a huge success after opening at the Berlin Film Festival
• Quote: "Personally, I like disaster movies․ A normal person, a family man, can become a hero in these films․"
• Quote: "The day I stop making movies I'll die․ I hope that I will fall down on a set, collapse into the sand, and somebody else has to take over and finish the film․"
• Quote: "When you're not loved by the critics, it's very hard for anyone to say anything good about your movie․ For me, it's more important that the audience enjoys it and embraces it, anyway․"
• Many of his films explore the themes of heroism, family, country, freedom and religion
• He directed the 1998 "Godzilla" receiving success at the box offices and a Saturn Award for Best Special Effects
• Known for directing disaster movies such as "Independence Day," "Godzilla," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012․"
• Had an interest to direct "Transformers" but DreamWorks had offered it to Michael Bay, who eventually took the job
• Many of his films feature Manhattan being destroyed, but he toned down the destruction of New York in his films after the September 11 terrorist attacks
• Claims that he is afraid of everything from flying in airplanes to having audiences throw tomatoes at him when they see one of his films