I REALLY WANT ONE OF THESE JAPANESE POSTERS!
At last weekend's WonderCon, in Anaheim, CA "GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS" co-writer and director Michael Dougherty led a panel revealing new footage of Godzilla's initial encounter with King Ghidorah and gave some insight into Godzilla's relationship with humankind in the film, as well as some details about filming the Kaiju. Dougherty has seemingly confirmed this, stating-
"Godzilla is a god, right? He's not good or bad. I think the big question is, are we--as in the humans--good guys or bad guys? And that will affect how Godzilla reacts to us on any given day."
To me, Godzilla's role has ALWAYS been that of protector, not of man, but the planet. I'm very glad to hear that this is the approach being taken here.
1974 'friendly' Godzilla (Showa Era)... dude, no.
The lore in the Monsterverse films has been setting up the Titans as ancient deities that predate mankind and were worshiped/revered/feared by prehistoric cultures around the world, and this will be further explored.
Dougherty stated-
"The final shot we see of Ghidorah on a volcano? The genesis of that moment is actually the Book of Revelations. We really wanted to put the 'god' back into Godzilla with this movie. We wanted to treat them with the reverence we think they deserve. Mothra isn't just a giant moth; she's a goddess. That's how I always saw them growing up--not as puppets, but as deities."
Every bit of this gives me faith that Dougherty is taking the right approach to our favorite giant lizard, and that we'll see a nice balance between "working with mankind to protect Earth" and "stop destroying it or I WILL wipe you out."
With all of the new info and footage that has dropped about GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS in the past week or so, the framing of the character in these terms is DEFINITELY my favorite thing to hear. I really believe this may end up as one of, if not THE, best Godzilla film(s) to date.
That's it for this time!
Until next time, keep it geek!
Benny No-Good
