S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla King of the monsters Interview: Michael Dougherty
42https://tamashii.jp/special/shma/godzilla_kom_2019/?fbclid=IwAR1UtvIlnblfb8Ax50fDacYVEF301J1v9Q5sQuyEs-d59oiRfkN4aRzJOGI https://sp.tamashii.jp/t_kokkaku/113/ What was your reaction when you were asked if you’d like to direct this film?
Interview: Michael Dougherty, Director of
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Dougherty:"Yes." That was my reaction very, very quickly. I felt flattered, honored...and that continues to this day. It was a dream come true. And lots of pressure. Immense, immense pressure.
――I’m told that you’re a big Godzilla fan. Which of the movies is your favorite?
Dougherty:The original 1954 film, because that was where he was born, and that was how he was introduced. I especially appreciate its tone. It's very beautiful and poetic, while still being terrifying and exciting.
――I’m also told you helped write the screenplay for this film. What were some challenges you faced with that?
Dougherty:I think one of the biggest challenges was crafting a modern Godzilla film that balances the desire to see more of these creatures and all of that spectacle, while still creating a story with human characters that we care about.
Interview: Michael Dougherty, Director of
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
――Was it difficult to maintain continuity between this film and the previous one?
Dougherty:Well, I think I had to be mindful of the reaction to the previous film.So it was a matter of trying to look at the previous film, and look at what worked, which I thought was the tone, the scale, the design for Godzilla, and continue that forward, but still striving to make this one better. Luckily, we got to bring in Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan, which helped, because these are the crown jewels of Toho, so I felt like we already had the advantage of getting to bring in antagonists and allies for Godzilla, which were beloved legacy characters, so that was a huge, huge help.
――Tell us about your design concepts and choices made for the various monsters.
Interview: Michael Dougherty, Director of
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Dougherty:With Godzilla, I really
――And Mothra?
Dougherty:For Mothra, I tried to capture the power of the original Mothra with her color palette, making sure that she had the eye spots on her wings. The eye spots are designed to look like Godzilla's eyes, because I wanted to create a connection between Mothra and Godzilla. I tried to make her look more like a traditional insect that exists in the world, but also gave her slightly larger feet because I wanted her to be able to defend herself and fight with the other creatures that she had to, and if she didn't have longer legs or claws, she'd be too vulnerable. If you look at moths in nature, they do have very long legs, so I tried to create something that was beautiful, and feminine, and elegant
――I hear you have a particular fondness for Rodan.
Dougherty:Yeah, Rodan has been one of my favorites since I was a kid. I had, back in the '70s and '80s that was one of my favorite toys, but this figure is gorgeous. Very powerful, lots of personality.
Interview: Michael Dougherty, Director of
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
――And what do you think of S.H. MonsterArts' King Ghidorah 2019?
Dougherty:This is...epic. It would be fun to create a stop-motion film with all of these, because they're so intricate. My hope is that, in the same way that my Godzilla toys inspired me to make films, other kids will create films with these toys.
――In this movie, I felt like the monsters were almost depicted as gods that have transcended the bounds of living creatures.
Dougherty:We are putting the "god" back in Godzilla. I grew up as a huge fan of mythology, dragons specifically, and my love of Godzilla, and my love of mythology and dragons all sort of combined. My middle name is actually "Dragon" in Vietnamese. I have two middle names; one is Patrick, and the other one is "Long," which means "dragon" in Vietnamese. So it was important to me that these creatures be treated as if they were gods, because the mythology for the film, for
Recorded on: Friday Nov. 30, 2018
Recorded at: The Peninsula Tokyo
Interviewer: Satoshi Nakamura (Tokusatsu Writer)
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