Roland Emmerich - Milestones

• 2004: Helmed "The Day After Tomorrow" which starred Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal; Movie takes a big-budget, special-effects-filled look at what the world would look like if the greenhouse effect and global warming continued at such levels that they resulted in worldwide catastrophe and disaster
• 2001: When Sony did not renew production deal with Centropolis, dissolved company; stated a desire to concentrate on directing only
• 2000: Helmed Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot", scripted by Robert Rodat and starring Mel Gibson as a Francis ('The Swamp Fox') Marion-like Benjamin Martin; Devlin was one of the producers while Emmerich, sister Ute and Fay shared executive producer responsibilities
• 1998: With Devlin, signed to multi-year deal by Sony Pictures Entertainment for productions from Centropolis
• 1998: Co-wrote (with Devlin) and directed big screen remake of "Godzilla"
• 1997: With Devlin, wrote pilot and executive produced the short-lived Fox sci-fi drama "The Visitor"
• 1996: Executive produced (with sister Ute Emmerich and William Fay), co-wrote (with Devlin who received sole credit as producer) and helmed the sci-fi blockbuster "Independence Day"; the film amassed grosses at a rate that broke all previous records to that date; film led to the creation of Centropolis Effects, an in-house digital filmmaking team that has contributed shots to non-Emmerich films like "Flubber", "Contact" and "Conspiracy Theory"
• 1994: Helmed and co-wrote with Devlin (one of the three producers), their commercial breakthrough feature "Stargate"
• 1994: While in the midst of promoting "Stargate", rented a house with Devlin in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; spent three weeks collaborating on the rough script for "Independence Day"
• 1992: First Hollywood feature, "Universal Soldier"; second collaboration with Devlin (who co-wrote the film with two other writers)
• 1991: Served as executive producer on the German-US co-production "Eye of the Storm", a psychological thriller
• 1989: Met future writing-producing collaborator Dean Devlin (then an actor) in his West German production "Moon 44" (released 1990); Devlin rewrote his English dialogue and co-wrote (with Emmerich) some scenes that needed reshooting; also marked feature producing debut
• 1985: Wrote and directed the supernatural drama "Making Contact/Joey", a West German production shot in the USA
• 1984: Formed own production company, Centropolis Film Productions, later Centropolis Entertainment
• 1981: Wrote and directed feature, "The Noah's Ark Principle", as his final student project; budget was more than one million marks ($550,000); opened the 1984 Berlin International Film Festival; subsequently sold to more than 20 countries worldwide
• 1978: While in film school, watched a TV documentary on Erich van Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods"; began developing the idea for "Stargate"
• Continued writing for two more weeks in London and Paris while promoting "Stargate"
• With Devlin, attended a retrospective of Hollywood costume epics including "The Ten Commandments", "Cleopatra", and "El Cid", at which Charlton Heston was a guest speaker; decided to recreate that style of filmmaking with "Stargate"
• Took on Devlin as a partner in Centropolis
• Brought to the USA by Carolco's Mario Kassar to helm a proposed Sylvester Stallone sci-fi epic entitled "Isobar"; project shelved due to escalating production costs
• Invited by Kassar to take over direction of the Jean-Claude Van Damme/Dolph Lundgren sci-fi thriller "Universal Soldier" when Andrew Davis left the project deep into pre-production