From his explosive 1954 awakening to his epic 2014 rebirth, Godzilla has always been more than a monster. A destroyer, a savior, an icon, a King — he has evolved and reinvented himself through decades of social, political and ecological change from a walking natural disaster to nature’s last, lone Samurai.
With Godzilla II: King of the Monsters, director/co-writer Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘R Treat, Krampus) brings together some of the biggest monsters in big-screen history, in an epic, globe-spanning battle royale that links the fates of monsters and man. “Godzilla has always had a sense of mythic purpose,” says Dougherty, the lifelong fan at the helm of Godzilla II: King of the Monsters. “These movies are big, they’re fun, but underneath all the monster mayhem and apocalyptic destruction, these movies are allegories.That’s how the Japanese initially invented and portrayed the character, and I think it’s one of the reasons Godzilla has endured for as long as he has.”
The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency, Monarch, as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species—thought to be mere myths—rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s existence hanging in the balance. “These are popcorn movies,” the director says, “but they are filled with metaphor. Though the themes have changed over the years, they all leave you with the same warning: that if you push too hard against nature, nature’s going to push back.”
All hail the Kaiju king
When Dougherty was barely old enough to walk, a startling vision roared to life on his living room TV— a body-slamming, blue-fire-breathing superhero with a heart-rending, ear-shattering roar. “He was a dinosaur unlike any dinosaur I’d ever seen,” Dougherty recalls. “He wasn’t even a dinosaur, really; he was an ancient creature pitted against the modern world. I just became obsessed with Godzilla. I’d draw him in the margins of my notebooks and add him to the illustrations in my grade school Bible, much to the chagrin of the nuns.”
After that, nothing would be the same —not movies, not monsters and not Dougherty himself. “I was a mixed-race kid growing up in Columbus, Ohio,” he shares. “So to discover these amazing movies about giant monsters that were made by Japanese people — it meant the world to me. He became this weird security blanket for me because he was so strong and so powerful, and yet there’s a consciousness and wisdom to him. So Godzilla has been a very good friend for a very long time.” Excerpts from a chat with the director:
How does it feel directing a Godzilla movie?
It’s literally a dream come true. I grew up with the character from the time I was two or three years old watching the old movies on TV even the old Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. I even played with the toys. My first attempt at making a movie was taking my pet box turtle and letting it stampede through my Star Wars play sets in front of my old home camcorder. Like, that was literally my first attempt at making a movie. So here we are however, many decades later and I’m doing the same thing on a much bigger scale with a much bigger budget obviously. But the character has meant a lot. He’s an icon. He is the biggest star in Hollywood and really the biggest star in the world. Doesn’t get much bigger than Godzilla.
How is the Monarch agency differently portrayed in this film in comparison to the original and Kong: Skull Island?
What I thought was interesting about Monarch in the original film and in Kong: Skull Island was that they were sort of lurking in the shadows. We saw hints of them, we met members of them but we never really got to see what they were really about. So in this film, we’re really peeling back the curtain. And Monarch is gonna be front and center. We’re finally going to see their headquarters, their facilities, meet more of their scientists and instead of being some sort of shadowy, nefarious secret government organisation, they’re actually the opposite of that. They’re very aspirational. They’re run by scientists who are genuinely trying to find intelligent methods to deal with the giant monster problem. They’re not about exterminating the creatures, they are studying them. So what I really love about that is that it is a group of heroes who are scientists. You know, lately it’s mostly been either the military guys who are the heroes or the superheroes taking the lead. But in this case, it’s a bunch of nerds. It’s a bunch of scientists and they are working closely with the military, so, it’s really about a group of people, a group of scientists trying to come together and save the world.
Tell us about the different/ new creatures featured in the film?
These creatures all represent different aspects of nature. Godzilla is aquatic, comes from the ocean. Rodan is born from fire in a volcano. Mothra represents Earth and nature. They’re very elemental creatures. And that’s something we’re trying to do in this film — instead of just looking at them as big giant monsters, try to portray them as Gods. As Titans. These are the reasons we have legends about dragons and sea monsters — The Kraken and the Leviathan from the Bible. Something that this film really gets into is the notion that these creatures have been around for a very, very long time. And that we have encountered them at some point in our past and they gave rise to all the legends and myths that we know about today. But we’ve sort of dismissed them as just being fanciable fairy tales. As it turns out, these creatures were real. We had a past history with them and they went away, which is why we forgot about them.
What made the Godzilla story special for you?
I wanna make a film that really embodies all the characteristics that we love about Godzilla — massive amounts of action, massive amounts of monsters fighting with each other and with humanity caught in the middle but beneath all of that I want to make a movie that also captures the bitter-sweet poignancy of Godzilla.
Did you feel pressure to match up to the expectations and legacy of the 2014 blockbuster?
I really want to make a Godzilla film that lives up to the legacy that inspired it. We are talking about a series of films that have spanned decades, a character that is known world-wide, a character that I know and love deeply, growing up. So I definitely feel the weight of that, the importance of that.
Godzilla II: King of Monsters in theatres now.