It was announced a couple of weeks that Frank Darabont was brought in to be the fifth writer for Legendary Pictures’ 2014 Godzilla reboot and despite all of the legal issues with the producers, Darabont spoke to io9 about the script for The King of the Monsters’ return to the big screen. In the interview he speaks about Godzilla’s cinematic origins, how he became a comedy character and what he has in store for the reboot:
“What I found very interesting about Godzilla is that he started off definitely as a metaphor for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and some of the atom bomb testing we were doing in the South Pacific in the subsequent years” the writer said. “The giant terrifying force of nature that comes and stomps the s–t out of your city, that was Godzilla. Filtered through the very fanciful imaginations of the Japanese perception. And then he became Clifford the Big Red Dog in the subsequent films. He became the mascot of Japan, he became the protector of Japan. Another big ugly monster would show up and he would fight that monster to protect Japan. Which I never really quite understood, the shift. What we’re trying to do with the new movie is not have it camp, not have it be campy. We’re kind of taking a cool new look at it. But with a lot of tradition in the first film. We want this to be a terrifying force of nature. And what was really cool, for me, is there was a very compelling human drama that I got to weave into it. It’s not that cliched, thinly disguised romance or bromance, or whatever. It’s different, it’s a different set of circumstances than you’re used to seeing. And that’s tremendously exciting as a writer when you’re asked to do something else.”
While he is teasing a new culturally relevant allegory, he is remaining very tight lipped about it.
“I love leaving a few crumbs on the table for the audience to determine what they think. Let them bring something to it as well. That’s why a movie like The Green Mile is so satisfying or why The Mist is so satisfying to me. Because it stirs their participation and they have interpretation. I’ve heard metaphors that people apply to Shawshank Redemption, for example, that are fantastic that I never, ever would have thought of. And I say, you know what? You are absolutely right. That is exactly what it means to you. And how satisfying for me to have served you this meal and you identify flavors in it that I never even intended. That’s one of the great rewards of what we do.”
Godzilla is set for a release in 2014 and will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters). Production is due to start on March 14th in Hawaii.
Originally published January 23, 2013. Updated December 13, 2019.
