Monday, November 22, 2010

Haruo Nakajima At 2011 Monsterpalooza

by Armand Vaquer

Left, Haruo Nakajima (right) taking a break during the filming of "Godzilla vs. Hedorah" with Kenpachiro Satsuma

The original Godzilla, Haruo Nakajima will appear at next year's Monsterpalooza in Burbank, California.

Nakajima was "the man in the rubber suit" from the first Godzilla movie in 1954 to 1972's Godzilla vs. Gigan. He will turn 82 on January 1.

Monsterpalooza will be held at the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center April 8-10. I've attended the first two Monsterpaloozas and they were very enjoyable.




Monsterpalooza has many celebrities from the world of science-fiction and horror in attendance and exhibits featuring everyone's favorite monsters.

Above, Armand with Haruo and Sonoe Nakajima in 2008.

Nakajima's daughter Sonoe told me a few nights ago that they will be attending Monsterpalooza next year.

For more information on Monsterpalooza, go here.

1 comment:

  1. Armand,
    Thanks for helping to spread the word on our arrangement to bring Mr. Nakajima to Monsterpalooza 2011, but if you are going to take photos from my blog, please be sure to credit where they came from, and provide a link to the post in question, in which the photo was originally used. It's only common courtesy and nettique.

    Thank you,
    August Ragone
    The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla
    http://augustragone.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

"LEGENDARY PICTURES TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE BASED ON TOHO COMPANY’S ICONIC MONSTER, GODZILLA

Burbank, CA – March 29, 2010 – Legendary Pictures announced today that they will develop and produce a new film based on Toho Company’s famed GODZILLA character. Through the terms of the agreement, Legendary Pictures has acquired the rights to produce a movie inspired by Toho’s Godzilla, a franchise the Japanese company created and has nurtured for over fifty years.

Toho’s GODZILLA franchise boasts one of the most widely recognized film creatures worldwide, resulting in a series of books, television programs, video games and more than 25 films worldwide. Legendary intends to approach the film and its characters in the most authentic manner possible. The company will, in the near future, announce a filmmaker to helm the film for an intended 2012 release. The film will fall under the company’s co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Toho will distribute the film in Japan."

"Godzilla" is coming back -- this time, with Legendary Pictures taking the lead, co-producing and co-financing with Warner Bros. for release in 2012.

Legendary announced Monday it had obtained rights to the iconic monster character from Japan's Toho Co., which has overseen more than 25 "Godzilla" films. Toho will release the pic in Japan.

Legendary said it's planning to announce a director shortly.

In addition to Legendary, producers on the new film will be Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Brian Rogers. Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira and Doug Davison will exec produce.

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise," said Thomas Tull, Chairman and CEO of Legendary. "Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop-culturally relevant for as long as it has."

Legendary noted the film will fall under its co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Legendary's productions with Warners have included "The Dark Knight," "300" and "The Hangover."

Speculation about a new "Godzilla" has been active since last summer. The Bloody Disgusting web site reported in August that the project was in development.