But he seemed to lavish special scorn on Mr Riordan's chances.

ECONOMIST: California's Republicans

"Independence Day" was finished in record time for a director with an almost obsessive attention to detail and a predilection for lavish, time-consuming special effects.

CNN: Roland Emmerich: Making it big

He makes lavish use of computer-generated special effects, but he still passionately prefers the look and feel of celluloid film.

ECONOMIST: Face value