This year, Godzilla celebrates his 70th anniversary as the original, groundbreaking classic “Godzilla” was released in 1954. With all of those decades and dozens of films, it can be tough to break new ground. Well, Adam Wingard did that in 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” when he had the King of the Monsters get down on all fours and go “animalistic” on Kong during the film’s climactic battle in Hong Kong. It’s not really something we had seen before — at least not in that way — and it was certainly memorable. So, how did Wingard decide to have Godzilla do that in the movie, exactly?
Wingard participated in a Reddit AMA around the release of “Godzilla vs. Kong” back in 2021. A fan asked the director about Godzilla getting down on all fours. Aside from the creative choice, the filmmaker was also asked if Toho had to weigh in on the decision, as it was pretty out of the ordinary for the character. Here’s what Wingard had to say about it:
“Godzilla is just so pissed off at the end that he goes full on animalistic on Kong. I think more than anything his ego got bruised when Kong slugged him in the face with that axe and he was just ready to end it. Our first VFX test shot was the big moment of Godzilla climbing up on the aircraft carrier before Kong punches him and G[odzilla] has an animalistic crawling quality there as well. I remember the line producer Eric McLeod telling me he thought it was really cool to see Godzilla getting more primal like that and it stuck with me. We knew we wanted to see him get down and dirty from that point onward.”
‘Godzilla def won’
We hadn’t seen much of anything like this in the franchise before because, for so many years, the character was played by a guy in a rubber suit. That most certainly has a charm, but it also has limitations. With CGI, the only real limits are the filmmaker’s imagination. That allowed Wingard to let Godzilla get down and dirty, as he put it. Audiences ate it up too, as “Godzilla vs. Kong” was one of the first true blockbusters that helped get theaters back on their feet in the aftermath of the quarantine-era of the pandemic, pulling in $467 million worldwide.
In the same AMA, Wingard also explained the characterizations of the specific monsters in the film saying that “Godzilla is all attitude. Kong is ‘too old for this s**t’ and Mechagodzilla is a d**k.” Getting down on all fours to beat Kong’s ass into submission certainly fits the all attitude mantra. To that end, Wingard said from the very beginning that the film was going to have a definitive winner. That winner was Godzilla, even though Kong was revived and helped him defeat Mechagodzilla after the fact. Wingard addressed that too, and made his thoughts on the matter crystal clear.
“Godzilla def won. He killed Kong. Kong was revived. I consider the Mecha battle was outside of that. As they say: Godzilla won the fight, Kong won the movie.”
Wingard will be making a bit of history as the first director to helm two entries in the Monsterverse franchise. He’s back with the buddy-cop inspired “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” which hits theaters later this year. Gareth Edwards directed 2014’s “Godzilla,” while Jordan Vogt-Roberts helmed “Kong: Skull Island,” with Michael Dougherty stepping behind the camera for “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.” The trailers have revealed that Wingard is bringing a pink Godzilla and so much more to the table this time around. What surprises are in store? We shall see.
