Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Gareth Edwards Talks About GODZILLA To The Press

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: London Evening Standard / Shock Til You Drop

In a recent article I posed the question whether "Godzilla 3D" director Gareth Edwards was the right man to take on "The King of the Monsters" due to the fact that he had only one major film under his belt? I also pondered on whether or not the film maker was a Godzilla fan and if he knew the source material from the monsters 50-plus year movie career?

In a group of online interviews Edwards was asked about these very subjects and I want to let his own words speak for themselves:

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Edwards from the London Evening Standard

And then there'll be that attempt to reboot the Godzilla franchise after the disastrous 1998 offering.

"I am attached and we are just starting the process," he says.

Will his Godzilla be battling Mothra or another monster, as rumoured?

"Everyone involved knows what the film has to be," he says judiciously.

"What's important to me is that, as well as spectacle, you have to give a shit about what's happening and why."

Godzilla, like the Bekmambetov project, will have a big budget.

So what about the digital revolution? Edwards is sceptical about its imminence.

True, he says, anyone can pick up a camera and make a film tomorrow, and computers are gradually picking up speed to match the sophistication of the CGI software around.

But Avatar remains the most expensive and the most successful film ever, and therefore the paradigm for the movie business.

"But the gap between the $100 million movie and the hundred-grand movie is getting smaller," he concedes.

"What we need is a hundred-grand movie that looks like a $100 million movie and makes the kind of money that a $100 million movie makes. When that happens there will be a lot of head-scratching. Obviously Monsters isn't in that category. But I think it probably will come."

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Edwards also had this to say to a writer for the Shock Til You Drop Website:

"I'm a big fan, I guess I will say I'm highly aware - and everyone involved is incredibly aware - of everyone's opinions on what this film has to do and what it has to be. And no one will do anything but the right thing. Without addressing anything specific, everyone knows how important is to get it right."

"My earliest memories was channel 4, they showed them (Godzilla movies) every Friday night. As a kid I wasn't quite sure about the dubbing, the English-dubbed versions. They threw me for a bit. I love science fiction and, well I call them B movies but they're not, but I love '60s and '70s sci-fi. But these would come on and be dubbed and it would take my kid brain to adjust to the dubbing. It took me some time to get through that."

Edwards also revealed to Shock that he will not be writing the script for "Godzilla 3D" as many people, including myself had speculated.

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Okay, so Edwards is a fan of the Godzilla movie franchise and he seems to well aware of what all of us fans have been saying about what we expect from this film. That, at least on the outset, is very encouraging news. Now lets see how all of that translates into a movie.

4 comments:

  1. Cool, Looking forward to see how he brings Godzilla back... but this film surely wont make the 2012 release date

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found this posted on DeviantArt back in November. http://cheungchungtat.deviantart.com/art/Godzilla-01-185275549?q=boost:popular%20godzilla&qo=21&offset=100#comments

    ReplyDelete
  3. CANT WAIT !!!!!!!!

    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.