WORLD’S MOST REVERED MONSTER “GODZILLA” RISES IN EPIC FILM

Movie release material

This May 2014, the world’s most revered monster is reborn as Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the epic action adventure “Godzilla.” From visionary new director Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”) comes a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature, when the awe-inspiring Godzilla rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless.

Photo courtesy of Legendary Pictures

Gareth Edwards directs “Godzilla,” which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Kick-Ass”), Oscar® nominee Ken Watanabe (“Inception”), Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), Oscar® winner Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”), and Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), with Oscar® nominee David Strathairn (“The Bourne Legacy”) and Emmy® and Golden Globe Award winner Bryan Cranston (“Argo,” TV’s “Breaking Bad”).

Edwards directs from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, story by David Callaham, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by TOHO CO., LTD. Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Patricia Whitcher and Alex Garcia are serving as executive producers, alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.

In his words, Edwards reveals how he approached shaping the character of Godzilla with all the latter’s personality and presence.

“At the start of the process I felt that in some way we could decide and control who Godzilla was. And a strange thing that came from it was that, as we went along, you start to realize that Godzilla was going to tell us who he was, just like actors who have their own take on their characters. Strangely, we couldn’t totally dictate what it was going to be. It was more about just trying different ideas and permutations, and, of all the options, there was always one that was strongest. And slowly he revealed himself to us.

“One of the conversations you get into with the animators quite often is they would say, 'If this was a real human, a real character, who would he be? And after thinking about it for a while, the thing we came up with was that he was sort of like the last Samurai. It was that idea of a lone, ancient warrior that would prefer to just not be part of the world if he could and be left alone, but events in the world force him to resurface.

“It was very interesting with all these ideas, even designing his look. We have a set of instinctive reactions to animals that have evolved over millions of years, and you basically try different things until you feel the right emotion when you see Godzilla.

“I wanted to get something that was very noble. And we tried the obvious things, like bear faces and dogs. But something that felt the most noble was a bird of prey, like an eagle. Eagles have their eyebrows very, very close to their nose, so we made his snout very high up, just near his brow line, and it gives him this look of nobility.

“So, it was just trial and error. You try something and the strongest choice becomes clear, and before you know it, you’ve gone down this path and found Godzilla. But it wasn’t easy. I thought it was going to be an easy journey because, obviously, Godzilla has been in so many Japanese films. But, actually, it took us about a year to get the design right and to figure out his behavior as well. Is he an animal? Does he fight just like an animal or has he got more of a human-like nobility to him? There was always a fine line between making him too animalistic and making him too human.”

“Godzilla” is expected to be presented in 3D, 2D and IMAX® in select theatres and distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.