Legacy of original Godzilla comes alive

MANILA, Philippines - Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the epic-action adventure Godzilla, a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature, when the awe-inspiring monster rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless.

Godzilla stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, with David Strathairn and Bryan Cranston.

In 1954, Japan’s Toho Co., Ltd., released Ishiro Honda’s groundbreaking monster movie Godzilla in a country still reeling from the devastation of World War II. The film became a massive hit in Japan, and 60 years later, continues to resonate around the world for distilling the fears and horrors of the atomic age into an awe-inspiring force of nature...Godzilla.

“Godzilla is the benchmark of monster movies,” says Gareth Edwards, the British director at the helm of the epic new vision for Toho’s iconic creation. Edwards grew up on Japanese monster movies before discovering Honda’s 1954 masterpiece on DVD and was fascinated by its stark allegorical subtext and continuing relevance in contemporary times. “If you went around the world with the silhouette of a giant dinosaur looming over a city, everyone would know exactly who it is — whether they’ve seen a Godzilla movie or not. But what many people don’t realize is that the original Japanese Godzilla is actually a very serious film. I think that’s the reason it was so embraced by Japanese culture — because not only is it a great monster movie, it was also very cathartic for people to see those images brought to life on screen in such a visceral and real way.”

Partially reshot, softening some of its metaphorical bite and dubbed into multiple languages, the film was released abroad two years later and a legend was born. For the past six decades, the towering “King of the Monsters” has cut a swath through pop culture, spawning numerous sequels, an army of toys and incarnations in everything from comic books to video games. A whole new genre of movies emerged — kaiju eiga — and Godzilla became one of the most beloved and recognizable movie heroes of the 20th and now, 21st centuries.

Legendary Pictures’ Thomas Tull grew up devouring monster movies, but the crown jewel of Toho’s legion always reigned supreme in his mind. “From his signature roar to the outline of those dorsal fins to the radioactive fire that he breathes, Godzilla is an absolute global icon,” he says.

Tull long harbored a passion to bring the titanic leviathan to the big screen in a summer spectacle with all the heart and human stakes of the original. “Our intention has always been to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain relevant for as long as it has,” Tull explains. “Our plan was to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see — a movie that didn’t feel like a thrill ride for its own sake, but to take it back to its roots and create a human story within the context of today’s world. I’ve been waiting for this film my whole life.”

Knowing he was being handed the reins to a legend, Edwards turned for inspiration — as Ishiro Honda had before him — to the world he saw around him. “I know it sounds impossible, but imagine for a moment the arrival of a great creature that mankind can’t even communicate with, much less control...what would that be like to live through?” he posits. “How would the world react? We’ve all seen or experienced incomprehensible disasters, natural or otherwise, that would seem like a scenario from a movie if they didn’t actually happen. So the challenge of making the ultimate Godzilla movie was to reflect that reality, which gets back to the heart of what Godzilla is really about.”

Borenstein wrote the screenplay, from a story by David Callaham, after immersing himself in research, which included taking in all 28 Godzilla movies produced by Toho Co., Ltd.

Slated to open across the Philippines on May 15, Godzilla is expected to be presented in 3D, 2D and IMAX in select theaters.