THE fifth film in Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse franchise, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (GxK) hit the big screen last week. Director Adam Wingard recently spoke on how he approached the film after previously directing Godzilla vs Kong and looking at the feedback from critics and audiences.
Due to the large focus on humans in the previous four MonsterVerse films, including his own 2021 film, Wingard placed a larger emphasis on the franchise’s monsters in GxK, particularly on Kong as he is the main character in the new film.
Meanwhile, the giant ape’s atomic lizard friend is hibernating elsewhere, which proved to be a slight conceptual problem for Wingard, as he had to figure out how to depict how a massive monster like Godzilla would sleep.
Going back and forth with the film’s production designer, the director found a spark of inspiration on the floor of his workspace.
“My cat Mischief is my biggest inspiration in life, and as we were having this discussion with my production designer, my cat was curled up in a ball and sleeping in her circular little cat nest.
“And I thought, wow, would it not be funny to see Godzilla laying in the Roman Colosseum exactly like this?” Wingard says.
After taking a picture of his cat, Wingard sent it to concept artists and they brought the idea to life. He also says there are photos of his cat throughout the film.
Furthermore, Wingard later found out he was not the only person to have done this.
“I met Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki – it turns out that his cat was a major influence on him as well, in terms of his approach towards Godzilla and his mannerisms,” Wingard adds.
“So if you’re a Godzilla director right now, cats are mind-controlling us or something.”
