Something which has apparently set the world on fire for kaiju fans was the news of Legendary Pictures going into negotiations with Toho for the rights of a Godzilla film. But what is fact and what is not? This is what I am going to write about. Well, that and a look at possibly directors.
Legendary Pictures is in negotiations with Toho. True. Toho said "no comment", though how they said it proved that they are doing something which is top secret. True. Did Legendary Pictures ask Toho or was it the other way around? It was Legendary Pictures which approached Toho (this is based on the wording of a certain Twitch article). Legendary Pictures would like to make for the film an updated version of the Shodai-Goji suit? I do not know. This is where stuff starts to get tricky. That, and accouple of more rumors (that Legendary Pictures will have Weta do the CGI and that they want a Toho villain to oppose the King of the Monsters) came from an ananymous. When I asked about his source for validity, he said that his source was someone high in the industry. So make of it as you will. Is what Avery Guerra keeping secret the same facts? I do not know and event though I am a friend I do not know either nor do I have the audacity to do so.
But who will be the director? Many famous directors love Godzilla. John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, Escape From New York) has been in two different documentaries on the Big "G". But due to his age and his current projects, I doubt it. Tim Burton (Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) has given Godzilla a cameo in his film "Pee Wee’s Big Adventure" and even mentions him, "Destroy All Monsters", and had a picture of the Big G in his autobiography, "Burton on Burton". Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Apocalypse Now) did what August Ragone said: "In 1956, Scorsese ended up seeing GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS several times as a young teenager. Decades later, when he worked on Akira Kurosawa's DREAMS (in which he played Vincent van Gogh), Scorsese was elated to discover that Honda was working on the film and asked to have a sit down with him. He told Honda about how much he loved GODZILLA and how he used to do chores so he could see the movie as many times as he could when it first came to NYC. Scorsese also, according to an interview with Honda, talked to Toho and managed to get several of Honda's films into the New York Museum of Modern Art's film library." But there is another guy who I want the most to do this project. And I got two words for you: QUENTIN TARANTINO.
Tarantino is already known to be a Godzilla fan. For "Kill Bill Vol. 1", he used one of the Yokohama sets from "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack". For the epic fight between Beatrix Kiddo and Elle Driver in "Kill Bill Vol. 2", he made both Daryl Hannah and Uma Thurman watch his print of "War of the Gargantuas" before filming the scene - which also copies some publicity stills from "War of the Gargantuas". Some even say that Quentin owns a print of "Destroy All Monsters". Well, some news has surfaced that has seemingly not hit most kaiju forums.
Originally around the time "Death Proof" was released, Tarantino mentioned something about wanting to make a Godzilla film but claimed that he was not at liberty to say anything about it. Very recently, Tarantino was interviewed and said this: "I have an idea for a Godzilla movie that I've always wanted to do. The whole idea of Godzilla's role in Tokyo, where he's always battling these other monsters, saving humanity time and again- wouldn't Godzilla become God? It would be called "Living Under the Rule of Godzilla". This is what society is like when a big fucking green lizard rules your world."
Some unique narrative, eh? Godzilla as a religious symbol is an interesting concept. This is something which effects the original, "Gojira" in which somewhat getting influenced from the original "King Kong", Godzilla is a God to the natives of Odo Island. 30 years later, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka would call Godzilla, "…a nightmare created out of the darkness of the human soul. He is the sacred beast of the apocalypse." Then in 2001, Godzilla became the embodiment of the dead souls of the Pacific Conflict theatre of the Second World War which were angry for the Japanese to try to forget about the war. However, "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack" also proves that Japanese mythology is in the GMK universe real, with the description of King Ghidorah’s mature form being eight headed - a call to Yamato No Orochi. Then there is the fact that the international name for Godzilla has the word "God" in it. Tarantino’s take on the religious angle to Godzilla himself sound different from what I have listed above and seems to be a breath of fresh air not smelled since Kaneko’s "GMK".
Overall, Tarantino has revealed something which he has kept secret for two years. We do not know when Legendary Pictures started negotiating for the rights to "Godzilla", with some people (including Chris55) saying that at least it has been going on for the past 2 months, so is it possible at Tarantino may be the new director since right after the revealing of the negotiations he can how talk about his Godzilla concept? Time will tell. I can say one thing, though it may be off topic: Michael Schlesinger is no longer available for interviews for publishing on the internet. Please comment on what you think Tarantino’s Godzilla may be like with this new information and how Legendary Pictures may use this if the negotiations lead to a green lighting which would lead to the hiring of Tarantino in a rare project which does not include the Weinstein Company.
NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IN NO WAY SAYS THAT TARANTINO IS THE DIRECTOR FOR A FILM THAT IS ONLY IN NEGOTIATIONS. THIS IS JUST TO GET OUT SOME DETAILS ABOUT THE LEGENDARY PICTURES GODZILLA AND SOME INFORMATION QUENTIN TARANTINO LET OUT IN AN INTERVIEW ABOUT NINE DAYS AGO. TARANTINO IS OF RIGHT NOW NOT THE DIRECTOR OF THE LEGENDARY PICTURES GODZILLA.
