Godzilla is a 2014 American science fiction monster film directed by Gareth Edwards. It is a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise and retells the origins of Godzilla in contemporary times as a "terrifying force of nature".[5] The film is set in the present day, fifteen years after the unearthing of two chrysalises
in a mine in the Phillipines. From the pods come two giant
radiation-eating creatures, known as "MUTOs", which cause great damage
in Japan, Hawaii and the western United States. Their awakening also stirs a much larger, destructive, ancient alpha predator known as "Godzilla", who's existence has been kept secret by the U.S. government since 1954. It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston. The screenplay is credited to Max Borenstein but includes contributions from David Callaham, David S. Goyer, Drew Pearce, and Frank Darabont.
The film is a co-production between Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.[3] Warner Bros. will also distribute the film worldwide, except in Japan where it will be distributed by Toho.[6] It is the second Godzilla film to be fully filmed and produced by an American studio, the first being the 1998 film of the same name.[a] The film production began in 2004 and was originally intended to produce an IMAX short film to be directed by Godzilla vs. Hedorah director Yoshimitsu Banno, entitled Godzilla 3D: To The Max. After several years in development, the production was transferred to Legendary for development as a feature film. Producers Kenji Okuhira, Brian Rogers and director Banno were retained by Legendary. Shortly before filming began, several producers were dismissed from the production and a court case is ongoing between themselves and Legendary. The movie was filmed in the United States and Canada in 2013.
The film was released worldwide in 2D and 3D on May 15, 2014; in North America on May 16; with releases in China on June 13 and then the film was released in Japan on July 25, 2014.[7] Critical reception for the film has been positive, with some praising the film for its slow pace and dramatic build-up, while others criticized the length of time before the titular character's appearance, as well as its on-screen duration; however, the direction, visual effects, music, characterization, and creature designs were positively received.
Fifteen years later, Joe's son Ford is a US Navy explosive ordnance disposal officer, living in San Francisco with his wife Elle and son Sam. When Joe is arrested for trespassing in the Janjira quarantine zone, Ford returns to Japan. Convinced that the government covered up the true cause of the disaster, Joe convinces Ford to accompany him to their old home inside the zone to retrieve vital seismic data he recorded. They find the zone is not contaminated, but after recovering the data, soldiers appear and detain them in a Monarch facility within the plant's ruins. Inside, a giant winged creature emerges from a massive chrysalis and escapes, destroying the facility. Joe is injured and later dies. The media reports the incident as an earthquake.
A US Navy task force led by Admiral William Stentz on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga starts a search for the creature, which they dub "MUTO" (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) and Serizawa, Graham and Ford go on-board to assist. The scientists reveal the 1954 appearance of Godzilla, a prehistoric alpha predator awoken by a deep sea expedition, how early nuclear tests were really attempts to kill it, that Project Monarch was formed secretly to study Godzilla and that the MUTO caused the Janjira plant's destruction. Ford reveals that Joe had monitored echolocation signals that indicated the MUTO was communicating with something.
A US Army Special Forces team finds the MUTO feeding off the wreckage of a Russian nuclear submarine it deposited in a forest near Honolulu. Ford waits at Honolulu airport for a flight back to San Francisco, when a battle breaks out between the military and the MUTO. Godzilla arrives, causing a tsunami that devastates Waikiki. After briefly fighting Godzilla, the MUTO flies away. Meanwhile, at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the second found pod hatches into a larger, wingless female MUTO, which devastates Las Vegas. The scientists conclude that the two MUTOs were communicating and will meet to breed.
The task force follows Godzilla, projecting that the monsters will meet in San Francisco Bay. Stenz approves a plan to use a nuclear explosion to kill all three monsters, over the scientists' objections. Ford returns with the military to California and joins a team delivering warheads to San Francisco by train. After the female MUTO destroys the train, the one remaining warhead is airlifted to San Francisco and is armed. It's taken by the male MUTO and the female MUTO constructs a nest around it in the downtown.
The military fails to stop Godzilla when it arrives at the Golden Gate Bridge and pulls back to allow the monsters to fight. During the ensuing monsters' battle, a team of soldiers, including Ford, enter the city by HALO jump to attempt to disarm the warhead. When they fail, they take the warhead onto a boat for disposal at sea. Ford incinerates the nest, causing the female to leave the battle in a rage. Godzilla then uses its tail to smash the male MUTO into a building, killing him. The female MUTO wipes out the team on the boat, but before she can kill Ford, Godzilla kills her using its atomic breath. With the fight over, Godzilla collapses from exhaustion. Ford pilots the boat out to sea, and is rescued by a helicopter before the warhead detonates.
The next day, Ford is reunited with his family. The military cleans up the ruins while people look for other survivors. Godzilla, thought to be dead, awakens and returns to the Pacific Ocean.
Godzilla franchise actor Akira Takarada was cast as an immigration officer, but his scene was cut from the final film.[27]
In 2008, Kerner was facing financial troubles that threatened to cancel the production. Rogers, Anderson and the then-proposed director Keith Melton met with Legendary Pictures to get their backing on a 3-D theatrical film. In 2009, it was green-lit by Legendary to go to production.[33] From the AAP production team, Banno and Okuhira would remain on the project as executive producers and Rogers as a producer. In November 2013, Banno stated that he still planned to make a sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah.[34]
In August 2009, rumors surfaced that Legendary was in talks with Toho to produce a new American Godzilla film to be released in 2012,[35]
and on March 29, 2010, it was officially confirmed by Toho and
Legendary that Legendary had acquired the rights to Godzilla. According
to Hideyuki Takai, president of Toho Co.: “We are delighted in rebooting
the character together to realize its much-anticipated return by fans
from all over the world. We are anxious to find out where Godzilla’s new
stomping will take us.”[28] Legendary announced it would reboot the franchise with Warner Bros. co-producing and co-financing.[6] Legendary announced it would make the new film closer in style to the original 1954 film rather than the 1998 film and its "iguana-like creature".[36] According to Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures, (sic)
"Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to
see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have
allowed this character to remain as pop culturally relevant for as long
as it has."[37] Film producers Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Doug Davison and Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni were added to the project to work with Rogers, Banno and Okuhira.[38]
At the 3D Summit conference held in September 2010 at Universal Studios, producer Brian Rogers confirmed a planned date of 2012. The reboot is a live-action project featuring a fully computer-generated Godzilla. Godzilla fought at least one or two monsters, rather than simply the military as seen in Emmerich's 1998 remake.[39] Rogers also confirmed that the two Godzilla head designs that were floating around the Internet and rumored to have been designed by Legendary and sent to Toho for approval were fake, and were just simply fan-made. He also went on to say that he and Legendary Pictures wished to revive Godzilla in the same fashion Legendary had revived Batman.[40]
In October 2010, it was rumoured that Guillermo del Toro was approached to direct the film, which del Toro later denied.[41][42] In January 2011, Legendary named British filmmaker Gareth Edwards, director of the 2010 film Monsters, to direct the film.[43] In an interview publicizing the DVD release of his film Monsters, Edwards discussed the new film: "this will definitely have a very different feel than the 1998 film and our biggest concern is making sure we get it right for the fans because we know their concerns. It must be brilliant in every category because I'm a fan as well."[44] "Without addressing anything specific, everyone knows how important it is to get it right."[45][46][47]
The film remained in development into 2012, missing the planned release date. Edwards worked on his vision for the film at a stage at the Warner Bros. lot. The production team developed Godzilla models, artwork and pre-visualizations of the action scenes of the movie. From the lot, Edward directed a short teaser video, shown to Legendary executives and later shown at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2012.[48]
After Callaham, four more people worked on the screenplay during the film's development. When Edwards' signing was announced, it was also announced that Callaham's first draft would be rewritten by another writer.[47][52][53] In July 2011, David S. Goyer was attached to do the rewrite of the film's screenplay.[54] Goyer only worked a few weeks on the script and did not get a screenwriter credit. In November 2011, Max Borenstein was hired to continue work on the script.[55] In October 2012, Legendary announced that writer Drew Pearce would polish the script, making the principal characters older to suit the actors that Legendary had intended to cast.[56]
In January 2013, Frank Darabont was added to write the final/shooting script.[57] In interviews, Darabont described his plans for Godzilla as returning it to a "terrifying force of nature". The film will add a "very compelling human drama" and that Godzilla would be tied to a "different contemporary issue" rather than the original atomic bomb testing.[5] In addition to contributing to the script, Darabont mainly focused on the emotional aspect and further development of the characters. Commenting on Darabont's work, Edwards stated, "We blocked out the whole story and Frank did a pass at helping the characters and emotions. He delivered on that. Frank brought a lot of heart to it and soul." Edwards additionally pointed out that one particular scene from Darabont's script convinced Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to join the film.[58] Edwards felt it wasn't believable that a creature as giant as Godzilla could go undetected by humanity, so the writers conceived of the idea that the monster's existence had been covered up by the United States government, and as such their nuclear tests in the Pacific during the 1950s were actually an attempt to kill the creature.[59]
In July 2013, Edwards confirmed an origin story for the film.[60] He also confirmed that Godzilla would be an anti-hero rather than a villain or a hero. He also discussed the themes incorporated into the film, stating "Godzilla is definitely a representation of the wrath of nature. We've taken it very seriously and the theme is man versus nature and Godzilla is certainly the nature side of it. You can't win that fight. Nature's always going to win and that's what the subtext of our movie is about. He's the punishment we deserve".[58] Actress Elizabeth Olsen also confirmed that the film returns to the gritty roots of the original film and spoke about its themes as well, "There's a strong theme about the importance of family in it as well as the theme of trying to control nature and how that backfires in the end." Olsen has also stated in a different interview about the titular character that, "Godzilla is just so deserving of a good American remake, and I really hope we did it and I really feel like we did."[61]
Actor Bryan Cranston praised Edwards' vision, tone, and pitch for the film and titular character. In an interview with Canada's Entertainment Tonight, he compared Edwards' approach similar to Steven Spielberg's style in Jaws where the film does not immediately show the beast but rather build up to its appearance while still delivering an eerie and terrifying off-screen presence.[62]
In licensing Godzilla to Legendary, Toho set down some specific conditions: that Godzilla is born of a nuclear incident and it be set in Japan. The film has a title montage set in 1954, and then moves forward to 1999 and deals with a mysterious disaster at a fictional Japanese nuclear power plant named Janjira.[63] Legendary rejected an origin story where a Godzilla carcass would be found entombed in Siberia. The idea was rejected after the production learned that Man of Steel had a potentially similar scene.[64] The US Army reviewed the script, suggesting corrections for accuracy.[65]
Godzilla's final design; officially revealed on the cover of Empire
In interviews at the 2013 Comic-Con, Edwards discussed the Godzilla
creature design. He and the design group reviewed all previous
incarnations of Godzilla's design for inspiration. Edwards commented,
"The way I tried to view it was to imagine Godzilla was a real creature
and someone from Toho saw him in the 1950s and ran back to the studio to
make a movie about the creature and was trying their best to remember
it and draw it. And in our film you get to see him for real." He went on
to say that his Godzilla remains true to the original in all aspects.[66]
Edwards also stressed that, "It was important to me that this felt like
a Toho Godzilla" and concluded by wishing, "I'd love ours (Godzilla) to
be considered as part of the Toho group."[58]
In October 2013, toy and collectible web sites offering pre-orders of merchandise for the film revealed aspects of the other creatures to appear in the movie. The other creatures are, as a group, known as "MUTOs", with some having the ability to fly and being multi-limbed.[67]
In a January 2014 interview in Total Film magazine, it was revealed that Godzilla would be 350 ft (106 metres) tall, the tallest incarnation of Godzilla to date. According to special effect chief Jim Rygiel, the mechanics of Godzilla's fighting style is based on the study of animals, primarily bears and Komodo dragons.[68]
For Empire magazine's April 2014 issue, the magazine cover featured a picture of Godzilla, revealing the monster's design. According to director Edwards, elements of the faces of bears, dogs and eagles were incorporated into the design of Godzilla's face.[69] Motion capture by the special effects firm The Imaginarium was also utilized in the movement of the movie's monsters in film sequences.[69] Andy Serkis provided consulting work on the film's motion capture sequences in order to "control the souls" of the creatures.[70][71]
The Godzilla "roar" was revamped for the movie. Toho provided the original recording of the roar for use. Sound designer Erik Aadahl then utilized the original roar and improved on it, according to director Edwards.[72] Aadahl and fellow sound designer Ethan Van Der Ryn spent six months over the three-year production span getting the roar right. Through the use of microphones that could record sound inaudible to humans, the team found sounds to match the initial shriek and the finishing bellow. The new roar retained the musical key and cadence of the roar, going from a C to a D on the piano. The final version was the 50th version produced. The pair tested the roar on a back lot at Warner Bros, using a tour speaker array for The Rolling Stones. They estimated the roar could be heard 3 miles (4.8 km) away.[73] In IMAX theatres, the roar was integrated into the sound of the "Welcome to IMAX" sequence shown before Godzilla showings.[74]
In an interview with The Verge, Edwards commented that it took over a year to design the MUTO creatures, stressing that it took that long to create something that was aimed to be new and different for today's day and age. Edwards and the design team looked towards past monster characters from such films as Jurassic Park, Alien, Starship Troopers and King Kong for inspiration and reflected back on what made these monsters and their designs so iconic. From this, the design for the MUTO monsters kept evolving and "mutating", according to Edwards, into a design he felt was more cohesive.[75]
Legendary turned its attention to casting parts for the movie. On January 7, 2013, it was reported that Joseph Gordon-Levitt had turned down being cast in the film in the fall of 2012. It was reported that Henry Cavill, Scoot McNairy, and Caleb Landry Jones comprised the shortlist for lead of the film.[16] On January 10, it was first reported that Legendary Pictures was interested in Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the lead role.[78] It was reported that Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen were also in talks to co-star.[79] Olsen confirmed her involvement at the 2013 BAFTA awards.[80] Juliette Binoche and David Strathairn were then signed on to join Taylor-Johnson, Cranston and Olsen in the film.[81][82]
As filming approached, more news was being made about the project. In January 2013, Mary Parent joined the project as a producer for Disruption Entertainment.[57][83] and producers Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison were dismissed from the project.[84] According to The Hollywood Reporter, the producers left over creative and financial differences with Legendary Pictures, and Legendary was buying out their producer contracts, a move which led to court.[85] On January 9, Legendary Pictures filed a 'Complaint for Declaratory Relief' lawsuit against Lin, Lee and Davison in California State Court to spell out any fees owed to the individuals, who had signed an agreement with Legendary and were working with Legendary on the film's development. According to the complaint, Legendary had decided in the fall of 2012 to not employ the three as producers on the film and the three were not eligible for any producer fees.[86] The three filed a counter-claim, that the agreement cited by Legendary was not in force and that the original working agreement was breached by Legendary. The three argued that the suit should be decided in open court, not in arbitration, and that Legendary should be responsible for damages for breach of contract.[87] At court, the judge dismissed the arbitration and ordered mediation followed by jury trial if necessary.[88] Legendary appealed the decision and lost the appeal in March 2014, leaving the case in California Superior Court for trial.[89]
At the start of principal photography in March 2013, Legendary formally announced the cast and producers.[90][91] Yoshimitsu Banno, Alex Garcia, Kenji Okuhira and Patricia Whitcher were formally named as executive producers and Legendary announced the addition of Ken Watanabe to the cast.[90] After filming started, Richard T. Jones and Sally Hawkins were added.[92][93] From the film set, a photograph of actor Akira Takarada (star of the original Godzilla including five sequels) with director Edwards was released. Takarada had publicly appealed to be part of the production and the photo indicates some sort of role for the Japanese actor in the reboot. In April 2014, Takarada said in a interview that his role was cut from the final version of the film. He had the role of an immigration officer.[27] Edwards stated that cutting Takarada's role was his "biggest regret".[94]
The scenes at the Convention Centre stood in for the Honolulu and Tokyo airports, while other locations in Vancouver were used to simulate scenes in San Francisco, Tokyo and the Philippines. Filming also used the stages of Burnaby's Canadian Motion Picture Park, (CMPP) where crews built a San Francisco Chinatown street, a giant sinkhole set used for the Philippine mine and the MUTO nest and a 400 feet (120 m) section of the Golden Gate Bridge.[98] The Chinatown street was built on the site of the New York City set built for the Watchmen film.[99]
A wooden mock-up of a U.S. Army Stryker armoured fighting vehicle parked on Moncton St. in Richmond, BC during the shooting of Godzilla.
Further on-location filming was done in June and July 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii.[100] On June 2, 2013, over 2,000 people applied at an open casting call in Hawaii to be cast as extras.[101][102] Over 200 extras were hired for the expected three weeks of shooting in Hawaii, which included dressing up Waikiki Beach as the site of disaster.[103] Eastern Oahu was used as a double for the Marshall Islands/[98] According to The Hollywood Reporter, principal photography on Godzilla wrapped on the weekend of July 13–14.[104]
In an interview, Aaron Taylor-Johnson described the filming as mostly on-location, with very little use of green screens. He described the film crew as fairly small compared to other films he has worked on, "almost an independent production." CGI was used to add elements later.[14]
Seamus McGarvey served as the film's cinematographer, shooting the film digitally using Arri Alexa cameras with Panavision C-Series anamorphic lenses. Sequences of the film set in the year 1954 were shot using vintage lenses from the early 1960s in order to give the film a "distant period feel."[105] This effect was enhanced though the digital intermediate's colour grading, as McGarvey noted that the "look I wanted was a peeled look with muted colors and diffusion on the highlights, a sense of period distance. I found a lot of photographs and magazines, and I knew that I wanted the blacks to be imbued with a tint of magenta."[105] Though the film was made to be released in 3D, it will receive a predominantly 2D release. McGarvey himself decided to shoot the film as if it were only 2D, because he dislikes working with 3D filming equipment and the experience of watching 3D films in theatres.[105]
The United States Navy co-operated in the making of the movie and filming took place on three United States Navy aircraft carriers: the Carl Vinson, the Nimitz and the Ronald Reagan.[106] Part of the opening sequence was filmed on the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor.[107] The United States Army also participated in the movie with the support of three technical advisors.[65] The United States Marine Corps, which had participated in the 1998 film, declined to participate after reviewing the script, which featured Navy personnel.[11] Taylor-Johnson was put through a "mini-bootcamp" by retired Marine Sgt. Maj. James D. Dever, one of the film's military technical advisers, to "ensure he had good military bearing." Dever also helped stunt men train for high-altitude, low-opening jumps.[11]
The production used high-quality panorama photos of the San Francisco skyline, and built a three-dimensional map of the city. The map was used in the background of sequences shot on the bridge set in Vancouver. According to Jim Rygiel, “this technique gives you a real city that is accurate down to every piece of mortar in a brick building, so, using that, we were able to composite the live action shots with the key frame-animated monsters destroying digital buildings into a seamless whole.”[98]
Army vehicles, including tanks were provided by CGI and not real vehicles. The studio digitized actual military equipment from the 7th Infantry Division of the Army.[65]
The film's sound was mixed at Warner Bros.' studio in Burbank, California. The tracks were mixed by Gregg Landaker in the Dolby Atmos surround-sound format for exhibition in theaters with Atmos-equipped sound systems.[113] Production of the movie was completed in the last week of March 2014.[114]
The film is a co-production between Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.[3] Warner Bros. will also distribute the film worldwide, except in Japan where it will be distributed by Toho.[6] It is the second Godzilla film to be fully filmed and produced by an American studio, the first being the 1998 film of the same name.[a] The film production began in 2004 and was originally intended to produce an IMAX short film to be directed by Godzilla vs. Hedorah director Yoshimitsu Banno, entitled Godzilla 3D: To The Max. After several years in development, the production was transferred to Legendary for development as a feature film. Producers Kenji Okuhira, Brian Rogers and director Banno were retained by Legendary. Shortly before filming began, several producers were dismissed from the production and a court case is ongoing between themselves and Legendary. The movie was filmed in the United States and Canada in 2013.
The film was released worldwide in 2D and 3D on May 15, 2014; in North America on May 16; with releases in China on June 13 and then the film was released in Japan on July 25, 2014.[7] Critical reception for the film has been positive, with some praising the film for its slow pace and dramatic build-up, while others criticized the length of time before the titular character's appearance, as well as its on-screen duration; however, the direction, visual effects, music, characterization, and creature designs were positively received.
Plot
In 1954, a United States Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb is used to destroy a giant creature surfacing from the ocean, covering it up as a nuclear bomb test. In 1999, Project Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham go to the Philippines to investigate a colossal skeleton in a collapsed mine. Two egg-shaped spores are discovered, one broken open and leaving a trail to the sea. In Japan, the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant experiences unusual seismic activity. Joe Brody, the plant's supervisor, sends his wife, Sandra, and a team of technicians into the reactor to check the sensors. When the team is inside, the reactor is breached, releasing radioactive steam. Sandra and her team are unable to escape and the plant collapses into ruin.Fifteen years later, Joe's son Ford is a US Navy explosive ordnance disposal officer, living in San Francisco with his wife Elle and son Sam. When Joe is arrested for trespassing in the Janjira quarantine zone, Ford returns to Japan. Convinced that the government covered up the true cause of the disaster, Joe convinces Ford to accompany him to their old home inside the zone to retrieve vital seismic data he recorded. They find the zone is not contaminated, but after recovering the data, soldiers appear and detain them in a Monarch facility within the plant's ruins. Inside, a giant winged creature emerges from a massive chrysalis and escapes, destroying the facility. Joe is injured and later dies. The media reports the incident as an earthquake.
A US Navy task force led by Admiral William Stentz on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga starts a search for the creature, which they dub "MUTO" (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) and Serizawa, Graham and Ford go on-board to assist. The scientists reveal the 1954 appearance of Godzilla, a prehistoric alpha predator awoken by a deep sea expedition, how early nuclear tests were really attempts to kill it, that Project Monarch was formed secretly to study Godzilla and that the MUTO caused the Janjira plant's destruction. Ford reveals that Joe had monitored echolocation signals that indicated the MUTO was communicating with something.
A US Army Special Forces team finds the MUTO feeding off the wreckage of a Russian nuclear submarine it deposited in a forest near Honolulu. Ford waits at Honolulu airport for a flight back to San Francisco, when a battle breaks out between the military and the MUTO. Godzilla arrives, causing a tsunami that devastates Waikiki. After briefly fighting Godzilla, the MUTO flies away. Meanwhile, at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the second found pod hatches into a larger, wingless female MUTO, which devastates Las Vegas. The scientists conclude that the two MUTOs were communicating and will meet to breed.
The task force follows Godzilla, projecting that the monsters will meet in San Francisco Bay. Stenz approves a plan to use a nuclear explosion to kill all three monsters, over the scientists' objections. Ford returns with the military to California and joins a team delivering warheads to San Francisco by train. After the female MUTO destroys the train, the one remaining warhead is airlifted to San Francisco and is armed. It's taken by the male MUTO and the female MUTO constructs a nest around it in the downtown.
The military fails to stop Godzilla when it arrives at the Golden Gate Bridge and pulls back to allow the monsters to fight. During the ensuing monsters' battle, a team of soldiers, including Ford, enter the city by HALO jump to attempt to disarm the warhead. When they fail, they take the warhead onto a boat for disposal at sea. Ford incinerates the nest, causing the female to leave the battle in a rage. Godzilla then uses its tail to smash the male MUTO into a building, killing him. The female MUTO wipes out the team on the boat, but before she can kill Ford, Godzilla kills her using its atomic breath. With the fight over, Godzilla collapses from exhaustion. Ford pilots the boat out to sea, and is rescued by a helicopter before the warhead detonates.
The next day, Ford is reunited with his family. The military cleans up the ruins while people look for other survivors. Godzilla, thought to be dead, awakens and returns to the Pacific Ocean.
Cast
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston promoting the film at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ford Brody
- The son of Joe and Sandra Brody. After the plant collapse, he grows up in the United States and becomes a Lieutenant in the United State Navy as a explosive ordnance disposal technician.[8][9][10][11] When Taylor-Johnson first met with Edwards, they talked for six hours about the archetype of the character. Taylor-Johnson stated that Edwards brought a level of "intimacy" to the film and praised him for treating it like a "big budget art film".[12] He stated, "I think he went for the right balance of sensitivity and testosterone. I've probably been more emotionally challenged in this film than in any independent drama or thriller".[13] Taylor-Johnson went through training to achieve military etiquette,[14] and said he performed "quite a lot of the stunts".[15] The role of Ford was reportedly offered to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 2012, but he declined. By 2013, Henry Cavill, Scoot McNairy, and Caleb Landry Jones comprised the shortlist for the role before Legendary took interest in Taylor-Johnson.[16] CJ Adams[17] portrays Brody as a young boy.
- Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
- The lead scientist for Project Monarch.[10][18] Watanabe was initially skeptical about a new Hollywood version of Godzilla. However, after a meeting with Edwards, Watanabe was convinced that a Hollywood version can indeed be done and invested complete faith in Edwards. Watanabe stated, "If you are telling the Godzilla story, you cannot separate it from the nuclear element, and the first thing I asked was whether there was going to be the nuclear element, as that now, in Japan, is a really sensitive problem. I was worried about how I could use that and how I could make that okay, but Gareth understood those feelings."[19] Watanabe's character is named after the director of various Godzilla films, Ishiro Honda, and after the scientist who killed Godzilla in the 1954 original film, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa.
- Elizabeth Olsen as Elle Brody
- A nurse at San Francisco General Hospital. She is married to Ford Brody and is the mother of Sam Brody.[9]
- Juliette Binoche as Sandra Brody
- A nuclear regulations consultant at the Janjira nuclear plant. She is married to Joe Brody and is the mother of Ford Brody.[10]
- Sally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne Graham, a scientist with Project Monarch.
- A scientist with Project Monarch.[18] She has been Serizawa's "right hand" for many years.[20] Hawkins was the last actress to be cast while the film was undergoing principal photography.
- David Strathairn as Rear Admiral William Stenz, USN.[10][21]
- An Admiral in the Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy. He is the commander of the United States Navy task force in charge of tracking down the escaped MUTO.
- Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody
- Ford's father and former lead engineer at the Janjira nuclear plant until its destruction in 1999. Cranston has said that Edwards' approach to the film and to its characterization is what drew him to the project. He stated, "The most important thing about this version of Godzilla is the characterization. The characters in this are real, well drawn. [Edwards] takes the time to really establish who these people are, that you root for them, that you invest in these characters, and that you care for them. That's the best part of it."[22] Cranston additionally added, "I wouldn't be here if it was just, 'Look out, this monster is crushing everything!' Instead of trying to humanize the beast what this film does - and, I think, rightfully so - is humanize the people. You root for them and sympathize with their plight".[23] Cranston also joined the film because he has been a fan of Godzilla since childhood, stating, "Godzilla was always my favorite monster when I was young. He was unapologetic."[12][24]
- Carson Bolde as Sam Brody
- The young son of Ford and Elle Brody.[25]
- Richard T. Jones as Captain Russell Hampton, USN
- The commander of the USS Saratoga, an aircraft carrier and the lead ship of the MUTO task force.
- Victor Rasuk as Sergeant Tre Morales, USAF
- A sergeant of the United States Air Force. He becomes friends with Ford after the battles at Honolulu. [26]
Godzilla franchise actor Akira Takarada was cast as an immigration officer, but his scene was cut from the final film.[27]
Production
The film is a co-production[6] of Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, with the participation of Toho in creature design, sound design and plot. It has an estimated $160 million production budget, financed 75% by Legendary and 25% by Warner Bros.[28] The movie has an estimated $65 million promotion and advertising budget, for a total estimated budget of $225 million.[29] The film is Warner Bros. Pictures' first new Godzilla property since 1959's Gigantis, the Fire Monster.[30]Development
After the release of 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars, marking the 50th anniversary of the Godzilla film franchise, Toho announced that it would not produce any films featuring the Godzilla character for ten years. Toho demolished the water stage on its lot used in numerous Godzilla films to stage water scenes.[31] TriStar Pictures, which had made the 1998 Godzilla film and held the rights to make a trilogy of films, let their rights expire in 2003.Godzilla 3D
In August 2004, Yoshimitsu Banno, who had directed 1971's Godzilla vs. Hedorah, announced that he had secured the rights from Toho to make a Godzilla IMAX 3D short film at his Advanced Audiovisual Productions (AAP) production company. The film was tentatively titled Godzilla 3D to the Max, and was to be a remake of the Godzilla vs. Hedorah story.[32] In 2005, American cinematographer Peter Anderson was added to the project as cinematographer, visual effects supervisor and co-producer.[32] In 2007, American producer Brian Rogers signed on to the project after Anderson introduced him to Banno and AAP producer Kenji Okuhira. In 2007, also through Anderson, Kerner Optical then came on board to develop the technology and to produce the 3-D film.[32] And with Kerner's backing, in the fall of 2007 the team met with Toho in Tokyo where they re-negotiated their license to allow the release of a feature-length 3-D theatrical production.[32]In 2008, Kerner was facing financial troubles that threatened to cancel the production. Rogers, Anderson and the then-proposed director Keith Melton met with Legendary Pictures to get their backing on a 3-D theatrical film. In 2009, it was green-lit by Legendary to go to production.[33] From the AAP production team, Banno and Okuhira would remain on the project as executive producers and Rogers as a producer. In November 2013, Banno stated that he still planned to make a sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah.[34]
Legendary production
At the 3D Summit conference held in September 2010 at Universal Studios, producer Brian Rogers confirmed a planned date of 2012. The reboot is a live-action project featuring a fully computer-generated Godzilla. Godzilla fought at least one or two monsters, rather than simply the military as seen in Emmerich's 1998 remake.[39] Rogers also confirmed that the two Godzilla head designs that were floating around the Internet and rumored to have been designed by Legendary and sent to Toho for approval were fake, and were just simply fan-made. He also went on to say that he and Legendary Pictures wished to revive Godzilla in the same fashion Legendary had revived Batman.[40]
In October 2010, it was rumoured that Guillermo del Toro was approached to direct the film, which del Toro later denied.[41][42] In January 2011, Legendary named British filmmaker Gareth Edwards, director of the 2010 film Monsters, to direct the film.[43] In an interview publicizing the DVD release of his film Monsters, Edwards discussed the new film: "this will definitely have a very different feel than the 1998 film and our biggest concern is making sure we get it right for the fans because we know their concerns. It must be brilliant in every category because I'm a fan as well."[44] "Without addressing anything specific, everyone knows how important it is to get it right."[45][46][47]
The film remained in development into 2012, missing the planned release date. Edwards worked on his vision for the film at a stage at the Warner Bros. lot. The production team developed Godzilla models, artwork and pre-visualizations of the action scenes of the movie. From the lot, Edward directed a short teaser video, shown to Legendary executives and later shown at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2012.[48]
Writing
In October 2010, the first script was commissioned and David Callaham (screenwriter of Doom and Horsemen) was named to write it.[41][49][50] In an interview with Fresh-voices.com, Callaham spoke about his first draft of the film, stating, "Godzilla is a pretty cut and dry, giant monster that smashes stuff. But the reason I got excited about it is because I saw themes and relationships to the modern world that I could tell in this story that was important." Callaham did research on Godzilla's history, animal documentaries, as well as natural disasters and local government disaster planning in order to depict the events as close as possible to real-life disasters.[51]After Callaham, four more people worked on the screenplay during the film's development. When Edwards' signing was announced, it was also announced that Callaham's first draft would be rewritten by another writer.[47][52][53] In July 2011, David S. Goyer was attached to do the rewrite of the film's screenplay.[54] Goyer only worked a few weeks on the script and did not get a screenwriter credit. In November 2011, Max Borenstein was hired to continue work on the script.[55] In October 2012, Legendary announced that writer Drew Pearce would polish the script, making the principal characters older to suit the actors that Legendary had intended to cast.[56]
In January 2013, Frank Darabont was added to write the final/shooting script.[57] In interviews, Darabont described his plans for Godzilla as returning it to a "terrifying force of nature". The film will add a "very compelling human drama" and that Godzilla would be tied to a "different contemporary issue" rather than the original atomic bomb testing.[5] In addition to contributing to the script, Darabont mainly focused on the emotional aspect and further development of the characters. Commenting on Darabont's work, Edwards stated, "We blocked out the whole story and Frank did a pass at helping the characters and emotions. He delivered on that. Frank brought a lot of heart to it and soul." Edwards additionally pointed out that one particular scene from Darabont's script convinced Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to join the film.[58] Edwards felt it wasn't believable that a creature as giant as Godzilla could go undetected by humanity, so the writers conceived of the idea that the monster's existence had been covered up by the United States government, and as such their nuclear tests in the Pacific during the 1950s were actually an attempt to kill the creature.[59]
In July 2013, Edwards confirmed an origin story for the film.[60] He also confirmed that Godzilla would be an anti-hero rather than a villain or a hero. He also discussed the themes incorporated into the film, stating "Godzilla is definitely a representation of the wrath of nature. We've taken it very seriously and the theme is man versus nature and Godzilla is certainly the nature side of it. You can't win that fight. Nature's always going to win and that's what the subtext of our movie is about. He's the punishment we deserve".[58] Actress Elizabeth Olsen also confirmed that the film returns to the gritty roots of the original film and spoke about its themes as well, "There's a strong theme about the importance of family in it as well as the theme of trying to control nature and how that backfires in the end." Olsen has also stated in a different interview about the titular character that, "Godzilla is just so deserving of a good American remake, and I really hope we did it and I really feel like we did."[61]
Actor Bryan Cranston praised Edwards' vision, tone, and pitch for the film and titular character. In an interview with Canada's Entertainment Tonight, he compared Edwards' approach similar to Steven Spielberg's style in Jaws where the film does not immediately show the beast but rather build up to its appearance while still delivering an eerie and terrifying off-screen presence.[62]
In licensing Godzilla to Legendary, Toho set down some specific conditions: that Godzilla is born of a nuclear incident and it be set in Japan. The film has a title montage set in 1954, and then moves forward to 1999 and deals with a mysterious disaster at a fictional Japanese nuclear power plant named Janjira.[63] Legendary rejected an origin story where a Godzilla carcass would be found entombed in Siberia. The idea was rejected after the production learned that Man of Steel had a potentially similar scene.[64] The US Army reviewed the script, suggesting corrections for accuracy.[65]
Creature design
In October 2013, toy and collectible web sites offering pre-orders of merchandise for the film revealed aspects of the other creatures to appear in the movie. The other creatures are, as a group, known as "MUTOs", with some having the ability to fly and being multi-limbed.[67]
In a January 2014 interview in Total Film magazine, it was revealed that Godzilla would be 350 ft (106 metres) tall, the tallest incarnation of Godzilla to date. According to special effect chief Jim Rygiel, the mechanics of Godzilla's fighting style is based on the study of animals, primarily bears and Komodo dragons.[68]
For Empire magazine's April 2014 issue, the magazine cover featured a picture of Godzilla, revealing the monster's design. According to director Edwards, elements of the faces of bears, dogs and eagles were incorporated into the design of Godzilla's face.[69] Motion capture by the special effects firm The Imaginarium was also utilized in the movement of the movie's monsters in film sequences.[69] Andy Serkis provided consulting work on the film's motion capture sequences in order to "control the souls" of the creatures.[70][71]
The Godzilla "roar" was revamped for the movie. Toho provided the original recording of the roar for use. Sound designer Erik Aadahl then utilized the original roar and improved on it, according to director Edwards.[72] Aadahl and fellow sound designer Ethan Van Der Ryn spent six months over the three-year production span getting the roar right. Through the use of microphones that could record sound inaudible to humans, the team found sounds to match the initial shriek and the finishing bellow. The new roar retained the musical key and cadence of the roar, going from a C to a D on the piano. The final version was the 50th version produced. The pair tested the roar on a back lot at Warner Bros, using a tour speaker array for The Rolling Stones. They estimated the roar could be heard 3 miles (4.8 km) away.[73] In IMAX theatres, the roar was integrated into the sound of the "Welcome to IMAX" sequence shown before Godzilla showings.[74]
In an interview with The Verge, Edwards commented that it took over a year to design the MUTO creatures, stressing that it took that long to create something that was aimed to be new and different for today's day and age. Edwards and the design team looked towards past monster characters from such films as Jurassic Park, Alien, Starship Troopers and King Kong for inspiration and reflected back on what made these monsters and their designs so iconic. From this, the design for the MUTO monsters kept evolving and "mutating", according to Edwards, into a design he felt was more cohesive.[75]
Pre-production
In late 2012, the plans for the film's filming, release and distribution were revealed. In September 2012, Legendary announced a theatrical release date of May 16, 2014 in 3-D.[53][76] IMAX announced that the film would also be released in IMAX 3D on May 16, 2014.[77] Warner Brothers distributed the film worldwide, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho.[53] At that time, Legendary Pictures added Alex Garcia and Patricia Whitcher as executive producers.[53] In December, Dan Lin revealed that the film would likely start filming in Vancouver in March 2013.[48]Legendary turned its attention to casting parts for the movie. On January 7, 2013, it was reported that Joseph Gordon-Levitt had turned down being cast in the film in the fall of 2012. It was reported that Henry Cavill, Scoot McNairy, and Caleb Landry Jones comprised the shortlist for lead of the film.[16] On January 10, it was first reported that Legendary Pictures was interested in Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the lead role.[78] It was reported that Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen were also in talks to co-star.[79] Olsen confirmed her involvement at the 2013 BAFTA awards.[80] Juliette Binoche and David Strathairn were then signed on to join Taylor-Johnson, Cranston and Olsen in the film.[81][82]
As filming approached, more news was being made about the project. In January 2013, Mary Parent joined the project as a producer for Disruption Entertainment.[57][83] and producers Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison were dismissed from the project.[84] According to The Hollywood Reporter, the producers left over creative and financial differences with Legendary Pictures, and Legendary was buying out their producer contracts, a move which led to court.[85] On January 9, Legendary Pictures filed a 'Complaint for Declaratory Relief' lawsuit against Lin, Lee and Davison in California State Court to spell out any fees owed to the individuals, who had signed an agreement with Legendary and were working with Legendary on the film's development. According to the complaint, Legendary had decided in the fall of 2012 to not employ the three as producers on the film and the three were not eligible for any producer fees.[86] The three filed a counter-claim, that the agreement cited by Legendary was not in force and that the original working agreement was breached by Legendary. The three argued that the suit should be decided in open court, not in arbitration, and that Legendary should be responsible for damages for breach of contract.[87] At court, the judge dismissed the arbitration and ordered mediation followed by jury trial if necessary.[88] Legendary appealed the decision and lost the appeal in March 2014, leaving the case in California Superior Court for trial.[89]
At the start of principal photography in March 2013, Legendary formally announced the cast and producers.[90][91] Yoshimitsu Banno, Alex Garcia, Kenji Okuhira and Patricia Whitcher were formally named as executive producers and Legendary announced the addition of Ken Watanabe to the cast.[90] After filming started, Richard T. Jones and Sally Hawkins were added.[92][93] From the film set, a photograph of actor Akira Takarada (star of the original Godzilla including five sequels) with director Edwards was released. Takarada had publicly appealed to be part of the production and the photo indicates some sort of role for the Japanese actor in the reboot. In April 2014, Takarada said in a interview that his role was cut from the final version of the film. He had the role of an immigration officer.[27] Edwards stated that cutting Takarada's role was his "biggest regret".[94]
Filming
Principal photography began on March 18, 2013 in Vancouver, under the working title of "Nautilus,"[90] with scenes shot at the Vancouver Convention Centre,[95] inside BC Place, and at Hi-View Lookout in Cypress Provincial Park, West Vancouver (as San Francisco's Bay Area Park). This was followed by filming in the Richmond neighborhood of Steveston. A large battle scene was shot on Moncton St, involving approximately 200 soldiers and many military vehicles. Another scene was filmed at the fisherman's wharf along Finn Slough. Additional shooting took place on Vancouver Island, around Nanaimo[96] and Victoria in British Columbia. Additional filming involving extras took place around industrial areas of Coquitlam, British Columbia.[97]The scenes at the Convention Centre stood in for the Honolulu and Tokyo airports, while other locations in Vancouver were used to simulate scenes in San Francisco, Tokyo and the Philippines. Filming also used the stages of Burnaby's Canadian Motion Picture Park, (CMPP) where crews built a San Francisco Chinatown street, a giant sinkhole set used for the Philippine mine and the MUTO nest and a 400 feet (120 m) section of the Golden Gate Bridge.[98] The Chinatown street was built on the site of the New York City set built for the Watchmen film.[99]
In an interview, Aaron Taylor-Johnson described the filming as mostly on-location, with very little use of green screens. He described the film crew as fairly small compared to other films he has worked on, "almost an independent production." CGI was used to add elements later.[14]
Seamus McGarvey served as the film's cinematographer, shooting the film digitally using Arri Alexa cameras with Panavision C-Series anamorphic lenses. Sequences of the film set in the year 1954 were shot using vintage lenses from the early 1960s in order to give the film a "distant period feel."[105] This effect was enhanced though the digital intermediate's colour grading, as McGarvey noted that the "look I wanted was a peeled look with muted colors and diffusion on the highlights, a sense of period distance. I found a lot of photographs and magazines, and I knew that I wanted the blacks to be imbued with a tint of magenta."[105] Though the film was made to be released in 3D, it will receive a predominantly 2D release. McGarvey himself decided to shoot the film as if it were only 2D, because he dislikes working with 3D filming equipment and the experience of watching 3D films in theatres.[105]
The United States Navy co-operated in the making of the movie and filming took place on three United States Navy aircraft carriers: the Carl Vinson, the Nimitz and the Ronald Reagan.[106] Part of the opening sequence was filmed on the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor.[107] The United States Army also participated in the movie with the support of three technical advisors.[65] The United States Marine Corps, which had participated in the 1998 film, declined to participate after reviewing the script, which featured Navy personnel.[11] Taylor-Johnson was put through a "mini-bootcamp" by retired Marine Sgt. Maj. James D. Dever, one of the film's military technical advisers, to "ensure he had good military bearing." Dever also helped stunt men train for high-altitude, low-opening jumps.[11]
Post-production
Visual effects on the film were supervised by visual effects supervisor Jim Rygiel, best known for his work on The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.[108] Rygiel has stated that the effects are in the spirit of the original series, with the blessing of Toho, although the monster would be "more dynamic than a guy in a big rubber suit."[109] Visual and special effects companies working on the picture include The Moving Picture Company (MPC),[110] Double Negative,[111] Weta Digital, Amalgamated Dynamics, ComputerCafe/CafeFX, Lidar VFX, Scanline VFX, Stereo D and The Third Floor.[112]The production used high-quality panorama photos of the San Francisco skyline, and built a three-dimensional map of the city. The map was used in the background of sequences shot on the bridge set in Vancouver. According to Jim Rygiel, “this technique gives you a real city that is accurate down to every piece of mortar in a brick building, so, using that, we were able to composite the live action shots with the key frame-animated monsters destroying digital buildings into a seamless whole.”[98]
Army vehicles, including tanks were provided by CGI and not real vehicles. The studio digitized actual military equipment from the 7th Infantry Division of the Army.[65]
The film's sound was mixed at Warner Bros.' studio in Burbank, California. The tracks were mixed by Gregg Landaker in the Dolby Atmos surround-sound format for exhibition in theaters with Atmos-equipped sound systems.[113] Production of the movie was completed in the last week of March 2014.[114]
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