Moonfall Director Refused To Destroy One Iconic Building
There's a lot of destruction in Moonfall, but one building at least escaped the carnage,.
This article is more than 2 years old
With over 20 buildings being blown to smithereens in renowned filmmaker Roland Emmerich’s impressive movie lineup, Roland Emmerich is a master of disaster. Best known for his science fiction and action films like Independence Day and 1998’s Godzilla, it seemed that no iconic building was safe from destruction from the famed director. However, there apparently is one building that Emmerich absolutely refused to ever virtually demolish, as he recently revealed the one building he will never destroy while promoting his upcoming film, Moonfall.
In a new interview with Jakes Takes on Youtube, Emmerich revealed the one building he absolutely refused to destroy for his most recent endeavor Moonfall. According to the detonation fanatic himself, the One World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower in New York City is absolutely off-limits for his movies. Emmerich went as far as instructing his visual effects team to leave the Freedom Tower alone. For context, the director said, “For example, when we did the New York shot, I said, ‘Leave the Freedom Tower alone.’ [It would be] wiped away because it’s mainly glass, you know, but I kind of said, ‘Don’t touch it”
While viewers will now know the famous One World Trade Center will definitely stand the test of time in Moonfall, it seems that must be the only iconic building off limits for the director. His breakthrough film Independence Day showcased the filmmaker’s unique brand of destruction for the first time. The Academy Award-winning film saw the destruction of some of the United State’s most recognizable buildings, including The White House, The Capitol Building, The Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, The Capitol Records Building, and the U.S. Bank Tower. Emmerich went on to display his pyro-tendencies in films like Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, White House Down, and Independence Day: Insurgence.
Moonfall, set to make its theatrical debut on Friday, looks to bring the combustion to the big screen again. Starring the beloved Halle Berry, the star-studded casting lineup features Michael Peña (Ant-Man), Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete), Wenwen You (Twenty), Eme Ikwuakor (Inhumans), Carolina Bartczak (X-Men: Apocalypse), Maxim Roy (October Faction), Stephen Bogaert (American Psycho), and Azriel Dalman (Debris). As the movie’s protagonist, Berry is set to play astronaut Jo Fowler as she attempts to save the world after a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit and sends it hurtling on a collision course with Earth. With only weeks before impact, Fowler must team up with a man from her past and a conspiracy theorist for an impossible mission into space.
While Roland Emmerich isn’t coy about his love for explosions on film, it’s not that surprising that the famed filmmaker wouldn’t want to portray One World Trade Center being blown away. After all, the iconic building was erected after the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11. With construction on the building officially starting in 2006, the previously named Freedom Tower has coined a symbol of hope and perseverance globally. And considering the countless lives lost following the terrorist attacks that happened only two decades ago, it truly would have been in poor taste had Emmerich decided to not safeguard it from virtual harm.
