Jeremy Irvine to star in gay rights film Stonewall

The Warhorse and Railway Man actor Jeremy Irvine has been cast as the lead in director Roland Emmerich’s upcoming film about the Stonewall riots. The 24-year-old English actor will play the role of a man awoken to politics and the gay rights movement. The director made the announcement on his Facebook page with filming set to have begun this spring.

Emmerich, the openly gay German filmmaker who’s previously brought us Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 and White House Down, is known for his special effects heavy big budget films will be creating the film as a passion project. Stonewall will tell the story of the raids on the Stonewall Inn in New York City that lead to the Stonewall riots in 1969 and the birth of the gay pride parade.

Emmerich told Esquire last year “I way want to do a little movie – about $12-14 million – about the Stonewall riots in New York. It’s about these crazy kids in New York and a country bumpkin who gets into their gang and they start this riot and change the world.”