Kaiju fans certainly have plenty to look forward to over the next year and a half, with Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) overseeing the giant robot vs. giant monster carnage of Pacific Rim this July, before the King of the Monsters himself Godzilla returns in next year’s Hollywood reboot from director Gareth Edwards (Monsters). With Legendary Pictures producing both movies, does that mean we could potentially see Godzilla going up against the Jaegers (or Kaiju) of Pacific Rim? Well, according to del Toro, it’s highly unlikely – which doesn’t come as much of a surprise, in all honesty – but he’d love to see it happen anyway.
“So far with the [Pacific Rim] sequel, what we’re writing, what we’re creating, is very different, so there are no plans,” del Toro tells Collider. “Hypothetically, I would love the f*ck out of it. I would love to see a jaeger and Godzilla duke it out. That would be too much for the human brain. But I don’t think there are plans on that. I don’t even know what direction they’re taking Godzilla in. I know somewhat that it’s grounded differently. Pacific Rim, my aspiration was, the color, the saturation of color, was almost an acid-drip version of the Heavy Metal coloring that I loved when Richard Corben was working there, when [Jean-Claude] Forest was working there. Super bright, super saturated, the crazy color and aesthetic. And Godzilla is more realistic, somewhat. That’s my thinking. That’s what I’ve heard. I don’t even know which way they’re going.”
Pacific Rim is due for release on July 12th and features Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Idris Elba (Thor: The Dark World), Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses), Rinko Kikuchi (The Brothers Bloom), Burn Gorman (The Dark Knight Rises) and Clifton Collins Jr. (Star Trek). Meanwhile cameras are currently rolling on Godzilla ahead of its arrival on May 16th, 2014, with a cast that includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass 2), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Elizabeth Olsen (Red Lights), David Strathairn (Lincoln), Juliette Binoche (Cosmopolis) and Ken Watanabe (Inception).
Originally published April 3, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
