'White House Down' director Roland Emmerich admits that, when he was first given the script for the action thriller out this week, he nearly didn't read it.
"Everything White House, send it to Roland," he mock-groans to HuffPostUK, aware of his history in the director's chair, the 'Independence Day' phenomenon being his most successful.
"I thought, nobody needs another film about the White House."
Oh, but they do! Channing Tatum stars in 'White House Down'
"I only read it to be polite. It was late at night, I thought I'd read 10 pages so we could talk a little bit about it, but I couldn't stop reading the script, and all of a sudden it was 2.30 in the morning, and I thought, this is an awesome script."
'White House Down' stars Channing Tatum as a policeman innocently taking his daughter on a White House tour, when the president's home comes under attack from paramilitary invaders.
Sound familiar, a bit resonant of Gerard Butler's recent outing 'Olympus Has Fallen'? Emmerich is unfazed.
"We had a very good script, and so we got a very good cast. Jamie Foxx was playing the piano in the residence. Nobody wanted to go and hide in the trailers, everybody was hanging on the set, which is very rare."
As well as Tatum, Foxx is on board as the president, with Maggie Gyllenhaal in the mix as well.
Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx in 'White House Down'
"At the centre of the story, we have two men, each wanting something very desperately," is how Emmerich sees it.
"Channing Tatum wants to be a hero to his daughter, and the president wants to do something unique like his hero Lincoln,
"Then this girl is in the middle tying them together. So it's a classic three-parter, and we ask, will they all get what they want?"
So the fireworks, bumps and thrills are just candy, then? Emmerich laughs.
"It's a summer movie, it's what you have to do. I have to tell you, there are movies with a lot more fireworks than this one, ones that cost $100m more."
Which leads us seamlessly on to the topic of Mr Emmerich's looming Independence Day sequel...
'White House Down' is in UK cinemas from Friday 13 September. Watch the trailer below...