The True Origins of Godzilla: Unveiling the Story Behind Its Creation in 1954

Let’s go back to the giant monster’s origins.

Most people turn to the annual CinemaCon event in Las Vegas as the source for breaking news in the world of 2024 movies and beyond. However, that venue is also known to be a place to celebrate past wins and historical achievements, all in the name of the big screen. As we approach the 70th anniversary of Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla, Toho president Hiro Matsuoka reflected on Godzilla Minus One and its wild, worldwide success.However, he also highlighted the quick and exciting history of how the King of the Monsters came to be. In honor of several Godzilla movie eras across seven decades of kaiju-loving history, here’s the true story of how Godzilla was created.

(Image credit: Toho)

The Failed Movie That Led To Godzilla

Believe it or not, Godzilla came out of the failure of a totally different project Toho was trying to undertake. If history had shaken out a bit differently, a picture entitled In the Shadow of Glory would have been made instead of introducing the world to Godzilla. But as Hiro Matsuoka explained, current events and quick thinking led to this perfect storm:

There was one film that started it all: 1954’s Godzilla… In 1954 a joint film project with Indonesia had fallen through and Toho producer [Tomoyuki Tanaka] was in a tight spot, forced to come up with an urgent replacement. During his brainstorming, he thought of the idea of [sic] a Japanese fishing ball that had been exposed to radiation… in March of the same year causing a major social problem. … In that moment, [the producer wondered], ‘What if the hydrogen bomb test had awakened a monster that had been lying dormant in the sea?

Proving that necessity is the mother of invention, the dissolution of In the Shadow of Glory, paired with the acute radiation sickness reported by the crew of the Daigo Fukuryū Maru in March 1954, formed the basis for Godzilla’s creation. As the latter was the historical incident that Hiro Matsuoka alluded to in his remarks, a very real threat became the fuel for a gigantic legend.

Right from his creation, Godzilla embodied actual traumatic events in the atomic age, but with a sci-fi lens that would help that vision scale into something much more terrifying. Such a big idea would become a pivotal moment in cinematic history, provided, of course, that the right name was given to the G-man. Which, of course, leads to another fascinating turn of this tale.

(Image credit: Toho)

How Godzilla (Allegedly) Got His Name

Now here’s a story that diehard Godzilla fans have probably heard time and again. As Hiro Matsuoka’s CinemaCon talk continued, the subject of Godzilla’s name was also brought into play, and it’s an anecdote that’s historically been handed down for some time. Hewing close to the story that many within Toho have told time and again, this is what Matsuoka shared with the crowd:

But what to call the monster? Inspiration came from another Toho employee who had an unusual nickname – he was a big guy – he was a mixture of the whale and gorilla in Japanese.

In Japanese, gorilla translates into “gorira” and whale becomes “kujira.” So the crafty portmanteau of “Gojira” became Godzilla’s eventual namesake. Though it has to be noted that there’s never been a completely confirmed account of who this person was, and there is some controversy as to whether or not the official Toho history was what truly happened.