Godzilla is a 2014 American science fiction monster film directed by Gareth Edwards. It is a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise and retells the origins of Godzilla in contemporary times as a "terrifying force of nature".[5] The film is set in the present day, fifteen years after the unearthing of two chrysalises in a mine in the Philippines. From the pods come two giant radiation-eating creatures, known as "MUTOs", which cause great damage in Japan, Hawaii and the western United States. Their awakening also stirs a much larger and more destructive, ancient alpha predator known as "Godzilla", whose existence has been kept secret by the U.S. government since 1954. It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston. The screenplay is credited to Max Borenstein but includes contributions from David Callaham, David S. Goyer, Drew Pearce, and Frank Darabont.
The film is a co-production between Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, with the latter also distributing the film worldwide, except in Japan where it was distributed by Toho. It is the second Godzilla film to be completely filmed and produced by an American studio, the first being the 1998 film of the same name.[a] The project initially began in 2004 and was originally intended to be an IMAX short film titled, Godzilla 3D: To the Max, to be directed by Yoshimitsu Banno, director of Godzilla vs. Hedorah. After several years in development, the production was transferred to Legendary for development as a feature film. Producers Kenji Okuhira, Brian Rogers and director Banno were retained by Legendary. Shortly before filming began, several producers were dismissed from the production and a court case is ongoing between themselves and Legendary. Principal photography took place in the United States and Canada in 2013.
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In August 2004, Yoshimitsu Banno, who had directed 1971's Godzilla vs. Hedorah, announced that he had secured the rights from Toho to make a Godzilla IMAX 3D short film at his Advanced Audiovisual Productions (AAP) production company. The film was tentatively titled Godzilla 3D to the Max, and was to be a remake of the Godzilla vs. Hedorah story.[34] In 2005, American cinematographer Peter Anderson was added to the project as cinematographer, visual effects supervisor and co-producer.[34] In 2007, American producer Brian Rogers signed on to the project after Anderson introduced him to Banno and AAP producer Kenji Okuhira. In 2007, also through Anderson, Kerner Optical then came on board to develop the technology and to produce the 3-D film.[34] And with Kerner's backing, in the fall of 2007 the team met with Toho in Tokyo where they re-negotiated their license to allow the release of a feature-length 3-D theatrical production.
In 2008, Kerner was facing financial troubles that threatened to cancel the production. Rogers, Anderson and the then-proposed director Keith Melton met with Legendary Pictures to get their backing on a 3-D theatrical film. In 2009, it was green-lit by Legendary to go to production.[35] From the AAP production team, Banno and Okuhira would remain on the project as executive producers and Rogers as a producer. In November 2013, Banno stated that he still planned to make a sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah.
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In October 2010, the first script was commissioned and David Callaham (screenwriter of Doom and Horsemen) was named to write it.[43][51][52] In an interview with Fresh-voices.com, Callaham spoke about his first draft of the film, stating, "Godzilla is a pretty cut and dry, giant monster that smashes stuff. But the reason I got excited about it is because I saw themes and relationships to the modern world that I could tell in this story that was important." Callaham did research on Godzilla's history, animal documentaries, as well as natural disasters and local government disaster planning in order to depict the events as close as possible to real-life disasters.
After Callaham, four more writers worked on the screenplay during the film's development. When Edwards' signing was announced, it was also announced that Callaham's first draft would be rewritten by another writer.[49][54][55] In July 2011, David S. Goyer was attached to do the rewrite of the film's screenplay.[56] Goyer only worked a few weeks on the script and did not get a screenwriter credit. In November 2011, Max Borenstein was hired to continue work on the script.[57] In October 2012, Legendary announced that writer Drew Pearce would polish the script, making the principal characters older to suit the actors that Legendary had intended to cast.
In January 2013, Frank Darabont was hired for a final rewrite.[59] In interviews, Darabont described his plans for Godzilla as returning it to a "terrifying force of nature". The film will add a "very compelling human drama" and that Godzilla would be tied to a "different contemporary issue" rather than the original atomic bomb testing.[5] In addition to contributing to the script, Darabont mainly focused on the emotional aspect and further development of the characters. Commenting on Darabont's work, Edwards stated, "We blocked out the whole story and Frank did a pass at helping the characters and emotions. He delivered on that. Frank brought a lot of heart to it and soul." Edwards additionally confirmed that one particular scene from Darabont's rewrite convinced Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to join the film.[60] Edwards felt it was not believable that a creature as giant as Godzilla could go undetected by humanity, so the writers conceived of the idea that the monster's existence had been covered up by the United States government, and as such their nuclear tests in the Pacific during the 1950s were actually an attempt to kill the creature.
In July 2013, Edwards confirmed an origin story for the film.[62] He also confirmed that Godzilla would be an anti-hero rather than a villain or a hero. He also discussed the themes incorporated into the film, stating "Godzilla is definitely a representation of the wrath of nature. We've taken it very seriously and the theme is man versus nature and Godzilla is certainly the nature side of it. You can't win that fight. Nature's always going to win and that's what the subtext of our movie is about. He's the punishment we deserve".[60] Actress Elizabeth Olsen also confirmed that the film returns to the gritty roots of the original film and spoke about its themes as well, "There's a strong theme about the importance of family in it as well as the theme of trying to control nature and how that backfires in the end." Olsen has also stated in a different interview about the titular character that, "Godzilla is just so deserving of a good American remake, and I really hope we did it and I really feel like we did."
Actor Bryan Cranston praised Edwards' vision, tone, and pitch for the film and titular character. In an interview with Canada's Entertainment Tonight, he compared Edwards' approach similar to Steven Spielberg's style in Jaws where the film does not immediately show the beast but rather build up to its appearance while still delivering an eerie and terrifying off-screen presence.
In licensing Godzilla to Legendary, Toho set down some specific conditions: that Godzilla is born of a nuclear incident and it be set in Japan. The film has a title montage set in 1954, and then moves forward to 1999 and deals with a mysterious disaster at a fictional Japanese nuclear power plant named Janjira.[65] Legendary rejected an origin story where a Godzilla carcass would be found entombed in Siberia. The idea was rejected after the production learned that Man of Steel had a potentially similar scene.[66] The US Army reviewed the script, suggesting corrections for accuracy.[67]
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