'Anonymous' Director Roland Emmerich: 'I Don't Like to Shoot Action Scenes'

Roland Emmerich -- director of such big budget disaster films as 2012 and The Day After Tommorrow--said that he prefers shooting dialog to action, Monday evening during an event presented by his Centropolis Entertainment and the German Consulate General in Los Angeles. The event featured a reception and screening of Emmerich's upcoming period drama Anonymous, which opens Oct. 28.

our editor recommends

EXCLUSIVE: Roland Emmerich Prepping Super Secret Alien Invasion Movie

“I don’t like to shoot action scenes anyway,” the director said of his departure from action in his latest film, adding that his “favorite” is directing dialog.

STORY: Bert Fields Talks Shakespeare Authorship Debate (Q&A)

Anonymous is a character-driven drama set in Elizabethan England that supports the debated argument that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, is the true author of William Shakespeare’s work.

Acknowledging the controversy surround the authorship of the works, Emmerich said of his film: “There will be controversy … controversy is a double edged sword; sometimes it helps you and sometimes is doesn’t. We’ll see what happens.”

He admitted: “I’m actually glad I made (the film). It represents what I think about the subject matter.”

Lensed by director of photography Anna Foerster, Anonymous was the first feature to be shot with ARRI’s Alexa digital cinematography camera -- actually a prototype of the Alexa while it was still in development.