The summer movie season’s biggest star needs little introduction, and British director Gareth Edwards — the man who helmed the latest reboot of “Godzilla” — knew that before he shot his first scene.
Edwards remembers falling in love with the monster when he first saw the original black-and-white “Godzilla,” released in 1954. And while the giant lizard has starred in more than 30 films, including the $160 million version that opens Friday, Edwards still considers Ishiro Honda’s 1954 classic to be the benchmark of monster movies.
The 39-year-old Edwards wanted realism in his film and worked hard to capture the essence of the original Godzilla, from the tone of the film to the muscularity of the radioactive creature. (For trivia buffs: The director’s 355-foot-tall Godzilla is the tallest ever conceived.)
“Godzilla,” from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, is only the second big feature for Edwards, who impressed audiences with his 2010 low-budget sci-fi thriller “Monsters.”
He shot “Godzilla” mostly in British Columbia but spent several weeks in Hawaii last summer, using Kapaa Quarry as a stand-in for a mine in the Philippines, the waters off Heeia Kea for nuclear tests on South Pacific atolls and Waikiki as a doormat for the creature’s first landfall.
Edwards smashed much of the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Rainbow Tower (via digital effects) and choreographed a stampede of extras on Lewers Street.
“In Hawaii it was the last few weeks, and that particular scene was the last day, so there was big relief that it was finally over,” said Edwards in a phone call from Los Angeles. “And you had this beautiful location, and in between takes you could eat ice cream. And you’re just wearing a T-shirt. It was a really nice way to end the shoot. It kind of became fun, the last hurdle. You could sort of convince yourself you were on holiday.”
Here’s more of our interview with the director:
QUESTION: Why would you want to take on the challenge of reinventing such an iconic monster?
ANSWER: It’s nerve-wracking doing “Godzilla” on this scale. I obviously had my concerns about doing it, but nothing compared to not doing it — being the guy who turned it down. It was impossible to say no. But the main thing I was most concerned about was that we are all on the same page and the studio wanted to take it seriously and make something realistic and emotional, too, which thankfully they did.
Q: Filmmakers have been making “Godzilla” movies for 60 years, including a 1998 version that shot in Hawaii. What was your impression of the films when you started the project? How did that influence you?
A: You look at the Batman franchise. That had run out of steam in the 1990s with “Batman and Robin.” It had become a bit campy and for kids. That was the place Godzilla had ended up in. But Godzilla is prime real estate for a filmmaker. It’s this beloved icon that everybody in the world knows and wants to see the good version of but they feel they’ve not been given for a while.
The one upside to all this now is our film is Godzilla, and you don’t have to really explain to people who Godzilla is. Everyone has an opinion on Godzilla. It was just a case of trying to deliver something that wasn’t necessarily what you would expect. It was a little bit more serious.
Q: Godzilla has a certain look, but if you’re trying to reboot a franchise, what do you do with that? How hard was it to find the right monster?
A: It was obviously one of the most crucial things that we were going to have to do. It took nearly a year to get it right. It’s kind of like a Rubik’s cube. You look at one side of it, and you push and pull it around until it looks good. And you look at the other side, and you realized you’ve ruined the other side. So it takes a long time to solve it.
One of the things we did, which was helpful as we were modeling it on the computer, was we made the texture on it jet black and the screen, the background, white. So it was pure silhouette.
I think the strongest characters always have really good silhouettes. So we just kept playing with it until the silhouette looked really good and we didn’t want to change anything.
Q: Godzilla has a long history of causing panic in the streets, but this was the first time he’s been to Hawaii. How satisfying was it to create a stampede down Lewers Street in Waikiki?
A: That was one of the definite moments during filming that it felt like we were doing a big blockbuster. When you have 300 people running down a street screaming, you think, “Now we are really filming ‘Godzilla.’”
Q: Were you worried someone might fall down and get trampled?
A: No, not really. I’m kind of thinking if they trip it would make a really good shot. It would add to the chaos.
