With director Roland Emmerich’s latest actioner White House Down opening this weekend, Sony held a big press junket across the street from the White House.  While I've done a lot of interviews, it was incredibly cool to be talking to the cast and Emmerich with the President's home right in front of us.  If you've missed all the trailers, the film follows a rejected Secret Service applicant (Channing Tatum) who must save the President (Jamie Foxx) when a heavily-armed paramilitary group takes over the White House.  White House Down also stars Maggie GyllenhaalJames Woods, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, Jake Weber, Lance Reddick, and Jason Clarke.

During my interview with Emmerich we talked about what he learned about the White House during filming, the biggest challenge they had to overcome to make the film, deleted scenes and what he collects.  We also talked about Independence Day 2.  Hit the jump to watch. 

Finally, if you missed any of my set visit coverage, be sure to check out 35 things to know and my extended interviews with TatumEmmerich, producers Brad Fischer and Reid Carolin, producer Harold Kloser, and production designer Kirk M. Petruecelli.

Roland Emmerich:

  • I mention the incredible matte painting behind him
  • What does he collect
  • What were the one or two things that surprised him to learn about the White House
  • What was the big challenge to overcome when making White House Down
  • How long was his first cut and are there a lot of deleted scenes.  Says his first friends and family screening was two and a half hours
  • Is Independence Day 2 definitely his next film.  Says it should be and right now it's only going to be one film (we recently reported that he was developing part 2 and 3).

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