Ahead of the 2024 Academy Awards, the Asia Society Southern California welcomed two members from the Godzilla Minus One team to the 14th U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit and Game Changer Awards. The Asia Society created the awards to celebrate the creative achievements by leaders and creators in the American and Asian entertainment industries. Their list of honorees highlight those whose work best embodies the Society’s mission of creating bridges across the world. It wouldn’t be a night of game changers without the team behind Godzilla Minus One, which is now the highest grossing live-action Japanese movie in U.S. box office history.
Hosted by critic Jen Yamato, the panel featured a behind the scenes discussion with Director Takashi Yamazaki and Producer Kenji Yamada, along with translation provided by Mikey McNamara. Starting off the panel, Director Yamazaki named Star Wars as the film that changed the way he thought of moviemaking back when he was a teenager. Jen commented on how impressive it was for a Toho produced Godzilla movie to connect with people around the world. Yamazaki shared that it was unheard of for a Japanese production to have this much acclaim, and the success has impacted how they look at international markets. Producer Yamada agreed with him, as they’re experiencing a historical event because of how well this “local story,” with subtitles, has been received around the world.
Shifting focus to Yamazaki’s tight production team of 35 people at Shirogumi, the panel spotlighted the behind the scenes footage, which shared the inner workings of their company. When they received news of their Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, the tiny team was ecstatic. Previously, the nomination and the wins would go towards the big budget Hollywood produced films. Now that they’ve gotten to this point, the team is taking the opportunity to use it as a springboard to launch “something new and never seen.” Producer Yamada was asked about Toho’s perspective on the movie’s success, and he spoke to how impressive the diversity of interpretations of Godzilla has been so far. Toho sought Director Yamazaki’s keen eye for storytelling to create a fresh Godzilla film. Surprisingly, there weren’t any long-term plans when they initiated the project.
During their current trip to Los Angeles, Yamazaki had the opportunity to screen Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which will be out on March 29, 2024. Despite how different the portrayals are between Minus One and New Empire, the Oscar nominated director voiced his joy at the coexistence of both movies released in such a short time frame. Regarding Yamazaki’s focus on the Showa era for Minus One, he touched upon the impact of current events on the production of the movie.
“I think it’s impossible to deny that in some sense the world is headed in the direction of war. We see it with our geopolitical current events around us,” said Yamazaki. “That certainly affected part of the project. There are many war films that I’ve looked at and made some myself. I like understanding things that are somehow scary or terrifying, and to me, war is very terrifying. Yet, I still don’t fully understand it, so with each film I hope I’m understanding something new and bringing ourselves closer to some truth. The fact that there are so many war films out there right now speaks to a reflection of current events.”
Jen then asked the panelists if there was a creative risk in placing the story in a post-war setting and focusing on the human drama. Touching upon Shin Godzilla, Yamazaki felt that its human story felt dry. “Because it was such a mega box office hit, I wanted to do everything opposite to Shin Godzilla. I made sure there was a lot of [human drama] so I piled it on and made it extremely wet.” He agreed that there were risks in taking the franchise back in time and that the contrast may have been jarring. At the time, Producer Yamada was impressed and believed there was something special in taking the story back before the original 1954 Godzilla, and closer to Japan in 1947: “We felt the story itself was strong and was a very fun emotional journey that even people who weren’t aware of what Godzilla is and what it represents can enjoy it.” The producer emphasized that what the U.S. considers a “small budget” is actually “as high as you can go” for Japanese production standards.
Even so, the Shirogumi team was a lean and efficient team. Yamazaki wore multiple hats and switched jobs during production, but this gave him strong control over the execution of his vision. The feedback loops built into the pipeline allowed for efficiency and clarity. Crafting the visual effects was key to delivering the story, and he reflected on issues they faced along the way: “The water expression was a huge challenge. Even with CG, it’s very difficult. In the scene where Godzilla’s chasing the boat, we shot the boat practically, so it leaves behind a wake of water and white water.” The team had to balance the high-resolution shots of real, moving water and bridge the gap between the water’s expression around Godzilla.
This wouldn’t have been possible without a key member of their team, Kiyoko Shibuya. She’s the first woman of color nominated for the Oscar’s Best Visual Effects, and the fifth woman in the Academy Award’s history to be nominated in that category. Jen asked Yamazaki what that means to him. “I think it’s extremely motivating not just for her and our entire team, but for artists everywhere as it sends a message to people of color in different positions in the industry.”
Closing off the panel, Yamazaki commented on his recent meeting with Spielberg as the famed filmmaker’s 1977 movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was influential in his life. Turns out, Mikey (the translator) was the one to encourage the Minus One director to talk to Spielberg at the Oscar luncheon since they were sitting nearby each other. He noticed that Spielberg looked intently at his Godzilla figure, and luckily Yamazaki happened to have two with him. After offering the blue finned and black finned figure, Spielberg chose the black finned one. “I was really moved at Spielberg seeing this Godzilla toy, and how his eyes just started glowing with a childlike curiosity even after all these years and success he’s seen as a filmmaker.”
Given that Godzilla Minus One marks Yamazaki’s twentieth film to date, audiences are now eagerly anticipating his next project.
