When you think of packed panels at New York Comic Con, the Main Stage and Empire Stage are usually where they’re held. There are smaller panel rooms, but those are usually the must-see events of the con. And yet, a gargantuan line formed to see Takashi Yamazaki, the director/writer/VFX head of last year’s Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, to the point where it stretched well to the end of the building. Because of that, so many people were turned away from the panel and only a lucky few were able to get in. Thankfully, I got in. While the panel was there to commemorate Godzilla’s 70th anniversary and showed how Toho was going to celebrate it, the focus was all on Yamazaki. He received a standing ovation from the crowd and began to reflect on the making of Godzilla Minus One.
After explaining how he prepared his acceptance speech the night before, claiming he only had a “50/50 shot of winning”, he reflected on the special effects for the film and how they were completed. This led to a clip from the upcoming Godzilla Minus One theatrical rerelease that will have an extra 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage attached to it. The clip showed that because the budget for the film was significantly smaller than that of any major Hollywood blockbuster, they had to get creative and streamline the process of creating all of the effects featured in it. The VFX team had approximately 35 people on it and each of them had multiple roles. Yamazaki admits that this was in part a cost-cutting measure, but at the same time, this allowed for more shots of special effects to be made given that the chain of command in approving those shots was significantly smaller, allowing them to experiment with different effects.
He also talked about the making of Godzilla himself, saying how he unintentionally modeled Godzilla’s movements off of his cats, directly mentioning the climax of the film where Godzilla attempts to swat a fighter jet circling his head akin to how he plays with his cats. He also remarked how he met with the director of Godzilla x Kong, Adam Wingard, and noted that Godzilla’s behavior was also cat-like given how he slept in the Colosseum of Rome in that film. Wingard confirmed that he too was a cat owner, leading Yamazaki to chuckle and say “I have this theory where if you want to direct a Godzilla movie, you gotta get a cat.”
The panel then opened up to audience questions and Yamazaki went beyond talking about the special effects to discussing more niche details about the film and larger franchise, like how Godzilla was supposed to be 50 meters tall but an animator went and measured some shots and determined he was actually 50.1 meters tall. He also said that he wanted to see a remake of Godzilla vs. Hedorah, if only because of the technical possibilities that showing Hedorah today would allow.
But the most fascinating question asked during the panel revolved around the fate of Minami Hamabe’s Noriko, who was Shikishima’s love interest. In the film, she was presumed dead after an attack by Godzilla but tearfully reunited with Shikishima after Godzilla was been defeated, giving the film a happy ending. After a long pause, he confirmed that in the first draft of the film, Noriko was supposed to die. Why did it change? Because Shikishima needed a win. Yamazaki said, “If he came home and she [wasn’t there], that would be tragic.” When they were filming the scene where Godzilla attacked her, they gave Hamabe makeup that could have CG overlayed on it to show injuries from the attack, if they chose to keep her alive. They eventually did, and Yamazaki was ultimately satisfied with Noriko’s fate.
The panel itself may haven’t announced any new Godzilla projects or hinted that Yamazaki would continue with the franchise (he said he was open to it but it was ultimately up to Toho), but people didn’t care. They were just excited to see Godzilla and were thrilled that Godzilla Minus One introduced the King of the Monsters to a new generation and finally received the recognition he deserved. Throughout the entire panel, Yamazaki was grateful and humbled to be there and seemed absolutely giddy to be surrounded by so many American Godzilla fans, both young and old. If you haven’t seen it yet, make it a point to see Godzilla Minus One, either on Netflix, for its limited theatrical rerelease the week of November 1st, or when the Blu-ray drops at the end of November.
