Hey folks, Harry here... Last year at SXSW, in the FANTASTIC FEST midnight portion of the festival, we premiered a film that was not quite all the way finished, called MONSTERS by Gareth Edwards. If you got to see that film, you were probably very taken with it. It wasn't an enormous spectacle. If anything, it was a BORDER story, about some Americans trying to get back to America - through a No Man's Land of giant Alien Monsters. But the film was made with more of a eye to Terrence Malick's films than any TOHO man in suit spectacle. In fact, for a studio film's catering budget for a two week shoot - Gareth not only shot and produced his first film, but he managed to do a fantastic indie-themed giant monster movie that in no way looked like any giant monster movie we've seen. Primarily because it wasn't preoccupied with the military, but simply two people trying to survive their personal situation - and how they relate to one another.
I found it captivating. The movie got picked up by MAGNET at the fest - and Gareth Edwards began to appear on the map of interesting talents on the market. Now, well - I can't even imagine how giddy Gareth Edwards must be at landing the directing gig to end all directing gigs in the Giant Monster Movie realm. He's going to make Legendary's GODZILLA.
MONSTERS will be hitting home video February 1st of this year. This was a film made on a shoestring, but that is constantly fascinating, beautiful and haunting. That a man with an eye as unique as the one that shot MONSTERS - and that directed his cast perfectly is directing GODZILLA is not an automatic mainstream home run - but it certainly has my ass in a seat. Hollywood Reporter's HEAT VISION broke the news.
