Roland Emmerich, the master of destruction, is out promoting his new science fiction disaster movie Moonfall, which is scheduled to be released in theaters on Feb. 4, 2022.
Emmerich is best known for directing classic disaster movies such as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. One of his signatures as a director is the total destruction of a world-famous landmark. Throughout his filmography, he has destroyed the White House, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Vatican, and the Christ the Redeemer statue.
With all those monuments on his demolition résumé, it may come as a surprise that there’s one landmark he won’t touch. In an interview with Jake Hamilton from the YouTube channel Jake’s Takes, the catastrophe king was asked, “Is there something you won’t touch? Is there one that you say, ‘Look, I’ll destroy everything but I’m not gonna touch that?'”
In reference to his upcoming film Moonfall, Emmerich 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.'”
The Freedom Tower is the reconstruction of the World Trade Center that was attacked and subsequently destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. The decision not to destroy this New York City landmark is surely one made out of respect to the many civilians who lost their lives that day as well as their friends and family members.
You can watch the full interview with Roland Emmerich above.