ADAM WINGARD

Director of Godzilla vs. Kong

What was your approach to Godzilla’s look?

It was important to not make Godzilla really look any different. Whenever I saw Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, the main problem I had was it didn’t feel like a continuation. It felt like “This is a different Batman.” We’ve invested all this time in the Dark Knight trilogy, only to have the main event feeling like it’s a different thing. You look at the original King Kong vs. Godzilla [1962], and Kong feels like a different character, so it doesn’t feel like the definitive King Kong vs Godzilla. And that’s what I wanted to do with this movie: this is it!

Can a franchise film have any “auteur vision”?

That’s the thing I like about the Monsterverse films. I read a while back that John Carpenter used to say every film he did was a western, without having actually made one. Similarly, I think every movie I’ve made is, in some way, a musical. Blair Witch doesn’t have as many of my sensibilities, because you can’t do as much music in found footage. But with this, it’s leaning into those things. This has everything that I think makes me special as a filmmaker – on a massive budget! Matt Maytum