The fallout from the last American Godzilla film is long gone. But now Legendary Pictures, the same company behind Clash of the Titans, The Dark Knight, Inception, and 300, wants to give the big guy another shot.
This time around, Gareth Edwards – director of the film Monsters – will be at the helm of Godzilla.
When the news was recently announced, Deadline reporter Michael Fleming asked rhetorically, “Do we really need another Godzilla movie?”
Well, maybe we don’t exactly need one of course, but I would definitely like to see an American Godzilla film done right, especially considering the last two attempts, Godzilla 1985 and the fatuous ’98 Sony pseudo-blockbuster that wasn’t, were both atrocious.
In my view, and probably in the view in the geek community as well, a Godzilla that follows the time honored traditions, including having a guy in a suit, would really be cool, and the proceedings shouldn’t be taken too seriously, because as one L.A. Times reporter covering the making of a Godzilla film put it, the “feel of cheap camp is all part of Godzilla’s enduring charm.”
Renowned Godzilla expert Steve Ryfle explains, “The basic formula of a stunt actor in a latex costume, miniature sets, mechanical models and explosions has remained mostly intact because it has become a tradition, and something that is viewed as an essential part of a unique genre with its own aesthetics. Japanese FX artists are very skilled at digital effects, and an all CGI Godzilla could be done in Japan, but Koichi Kawakita, the SFX director for the ’90’s Godzilla movies has said that to abandon the man-in-suit would take away Godzilla’s ‘Japaneseness.’
“Because Hollywood FX people are obsessed with cutting-edge technology, it’s easy to look at the Godzilla franchise as something stuck in a low-tech time warp,” Ryfle continues.
“But the Japanese filmmakers don’t necessarily see it that way. They still place a high value on things that are made by people, with human hands, as opposed to ones and zeroes floating around on a hard drive. So ever since its inception, Godzilla has had a handmade quality that makes him rather unique.”
