Godzilla 2
Big G is back, with three mutated beasties to battle.
Director Michael Dougherty
Starring Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, Sally Hawkins
The MonsterVerse is about to get, well, truly monstrous. After Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ Kong: Skull Island, the Legendary Pictures franchise is really shaping up with Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. “We’ve definitely increased the intensity,” promises director/co-writer Michael Dougherty (Krampus). “We have a lot of monsters.”
He’s not kidding, either, with the titular beast set to battle his fellow ‘Titans’ – Mothra, Rodan, and his three-headed nemesis King Ghidorah, the ‘crown jewels’ of the creatures created by Japanese production company Toho. “I think Gareth [Edwards, director of 2014’s Godzilla] had a lot of fun playing cat-and- mouse and I love the slow-build he created,” Dougherty adds. “But we definitely take the gloves off for this film. No holding back.”
While there will be a return for Sally Hawkins and Ken Watanabe’s scientist characters from Edwards’ movie, the main focus will be a fractured family – comprising a divorced pair of scientists (Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler), “both dedicated in the field of ‘Titan’ studies,” and their 14-year-old daughter (Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown). “I jokingly describe it as ‘Kramer Versus Kramer Versus Godzilla,’” laughs Dougherty.
The film also dips further into Monarch, the mysterious cryptozoological coalition only glimpsed in the earlier films. “We definitely peel back the curtain more on Monarch than any of the other previous films have,” says the director. “We’ll actually go into the organisation; we’ll see their facilities, we’ll see the expanse of their resources. They’ve definitely been preparing for the rise of these creatures for a very long time.”
The Titans, we learn, are awoken from their slumber because the planet is on a collision course with self-destruction. “It wouldn’t be a true Godzilla film if you didn’t touch upon those things,” says Dougherty. “Otherwise you’re
‘We take the gloves off for this film. No holding back’ Michael Dougherty
just making a big dumb giant monster movie. There has to be a sprinkle of it, otherwise you’re not being faithful to the original intent of the series. Anyone who thinks otherwise is not a true Godzilla fan.”
As for the franchise, Dougherty confirms that one special visitor to the set was Adam Wingard, who will be directing 2020’s MonsterVerse mash-up Godzilla Vs Kong. The pair also met up with Edwards and Vogt-Roberts for an unofficial ‘monster club night’, he reveals. “We had pizza, beers and swapped stories about our experiences with these different Titans!” As Charles Dance says in the film’s epic trailer, “Long live the king.”Jm goDzilla: king of the monSterS oPenS on 31 may.