Morrie was giving his last lecture while Mitch was writing his final thesis.

CNN: Tuesdays with Morrie

His final thesis was meant to be a short film, but in true Emmerich style, Roland went one further and wrote a longer script, raised extra money to finance it and then watched as The Noah's Ark Principle opened the 1984 Berlin Film Festival.

CNN: Roland Emmerich: Making it big