Tony Award-nominated playwright Jon Robin Baitz, who created the series "Brothers and Sisters" and earned acclaim for his 2011 Broadway family drama Other Desert Cities, wrote the screenplay for "Stonewall," which centers on a homeless gay teen's political awakening against the backdrop of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City that came in response to relentless police harassment of the gay community.

Early reviews and community reaction have focused on the fact that the film creates a fictional central character who allegedly does not reflect what actually happened on the nights of the Stonewall uprising. Critics of the film state that women, trans individuals and LGBT people of color, who were a driving force during this flashpoint in LGBT history, are not sufficiently represented in the film's "oversimplified" narrative, which follows a young caucasian gay man who finds himself at the center of history.

The film's cast includes Jeremy Irvine, Ron Perlman, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Joey King, Caleb Landry Jones, Matt Craven, Atticus Mitchell and Mark Camacho.

Watch the trailer here:

Emmerich is also the director of such big-budget action films as "Independence Day" and "Godzilla." "Stonewall" was produced as a low-budget feature.

Baitz's plays include The Paris Letter, Ten Unknowns, Mizlansky/Zilinsky or Schmucks, A Fair Country, The Film Society, The Substance of Fire, The End of the Day and Three Hotels. He has also written the screenplays for "The Substance of Fire" and "People I Know" as well as for TV's "The West Wing" and "Alias."