Toho hit Oscar gold three years ago with Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki's poignant drama that also features the King of the Monsters himself. We're finally a stone's throw from its sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero, featuring a return of everyone's favorite radioactive beastie and returning human characters (alongside a mighty, formidable foe).
Once again directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus Zero stars returning protagonists Ryunosuke Kamiki ("Kōichi Shikishima"), Minami Hamabe ("Noriko Shikishima"), and Hidetaka Yoshioka ("Kenji Noda") alongside new players Min Tanaka ("Kanji Murakami"), Masami Nagasawa ("Makoto Aoyama"), and more.
The Direct's Jeff Ewing attended the film's Los Angeles Premiere at the TCL Chinese Theater, speaking to director Takashi Yamazaki, producer Kazuaki Kishida, stars Ryunosuke Kamika and Minami Hamabe, sound recordist Hisafumi Takeuchi, sound designer Natsuko Inoue, and Takayuki Ueki and Natsuko Inoue from the film's VFX team, to discuss everything about the film's characters, humans and monsters alike.
Bringing Iconic Monsters To Life
"I really wanted to explore... making it feel as though Ghidorah exists"
The Direct: "I love how Godzilla is designed as an evolved figure in this iteration; it's unlike any design we've seen before. Please tell me about the process of both designing what the final Godzilla form would look like, and what it took to put it into practice."
Takayuki Ueki: "We do have a new and evolved Godzilla this time. He is going to be going up against Ghidorah in this movie, so we wanted him to take a slimmer form that's going to be fit for those grappling fights. And he has much more of these sharp [dorsal spines] all along his back and shoulders, and those are some of the newer [design elements] in this film."
Kazuaki Kishida: "So there's just one modeling artist that's in charge of both Ghidorah and Godzilla that worked on this film, [Kôsuke Taguchi], his nickname is 'One Man Hollywood.'"
As Godzilla's most prominent kaiju rival, Ghidorah's design had to have the same care that Godzilla's own required. This was a major priority for director Takashi Yamazaki, who hoped to bring "Ghidorah from fantasy into reality":
Takashi Yamazaki: "One thing I really wanted to explore is making it feel as though Ghidorah exists. I don't want to spoil too much, but making it feel as though Ghidorah exists in our world, bringing Ghidorah from fantasy into reality."
Producer Kazuaki Kishida echoed the importance of meeting Director Yamazaki's vision for the creature, since that will be "felt by the audience as well."
Kazuaki Kishida: "So in this film, I really think the director was able to create a Ghidorah that he really loves and feels is awesome-looking. I think that's such an important thing, for the creators themselves to think that what they're creating is awesome. That's going to really be portrayed and be felt by the audience as well."
The Direct: "Sound design is so important in this franchise, including Godzilla's roar, [and] Ghidorah's wings. Please tell me how you approached creating those sounds."
Natsuko Inoue: "This is going to be a high-level sort of response to your question, but overall, I think with director Yamazaki and his vision that he has for the universe of Godzilla, the world setting of this film is something that we all need to get alignment on, and it's not as easy. It could be pretty challenging to discover a sound that is so unique to this world, but that is also the most exciting part of our job."
The Direct: "If you could bring any other kaiju to life in a third film, hypothetically, what would you most love to do?"
Takayuki Ueki: Biollante!
Tatsuji Nojima: Rodan.
Kazuaki Kishida: Destoroyah! ... [but] just a little side note, we haven't decided on anything for the third film or anything about that [yet].
Director Yamazaki already has his next two projects lined up, and they aren't in the Godzilla franchise. One of those projects, Nue, will be produced by Ridley Scott, and is tightly under wraps (though it may be worth flagging that Nue is the name of one of Japan's oldest recorded yokai).
The Direct: "If you had to make an American monster movie outside this franchise, remake, adaptation, or something entirely new, what would you most like to do?"
Takashi Yamazaki: "[There are] a lot of international monsters that I absolutely love, but I'm leaning towards Alien right now."
Creating Memorable Character Journeys
"I felt that I needed to have some kind of response to [Christopher] Nolan's 'Oppenheimer'..."
The Direct: "I found Kanji Murakami's arc in the film incredibly moving. Tell me about designing that character and knowing he had to be part of the film."
Takashi Yamazaki: "First, I tried to imagine a character in that post-war Japan setting, and if a character suddenly gains immense power, what kind of action they would take. Really exploring that mental space that a character in Murakami's position might be. Another point is [that] I had the opportunity to talk to Christopher Nolan when they were promoting Oppenheimer in Japan. In this talk, I felt that I needed to have some kind of response to [Christopher] Nolan's Oppenheimer in the form of a movie, and it manifested as 'Minus Zero.'"
The Direct: "Kōichi doesn't want any part of directly fighting monsters, yet he puts himself on the line time and time again. What makes him do what no one else would?"
Ryunosuke Kamiki: "In the first movie, I think [in Godzilla Minus One] Shikishima Kōichi was really searching for the reason why he's even alive in the first place. He didn't have that value that he has for his life at the time. I think going against Godzilla, it was more like, 'I'll put my life on the line to kill this monster, because what do I really have left?'"
Ryunosuke Kamiki contrasts his character's journey in the first film with the uniqueness of his journey in the sequel. "He finally has something to live for," we're told, which creates new challenges:
Kamiki: "And in the second movie, he finally has something to live for, which is his family. And not only does it make him very strong because he wants to fight for his family, but on the other side, it makes him weak because he doesn't want to lose his family as well. So, fighting within himself is a really big theme in this movie for Kōichi because they both work against each other."
The Direct: "Noriko ends up becoming one of the coolest human characters in the Godzilla franchise. What was your reaction to seeing where she goes, and where would you like to see her progress to in a hypothetical third film?"
Minami Hamabe: "In the first movie, I didn't get much screen time because I was being blown away, as you know. So I was really happy to see in the script that I had more involvement with Kōichi and more scenes where we could work together and fight together. If there were to be a next film, one, I'd like to not be blown away once again, and also I'd maybe like for Akiko to take the lead in battle and see her come to fruition."
Godzilla Minus Zero is now playing in U.S. theaters nationwide.
