It takes a lot of skill, physical endurance, and a certain je-ne-sais-quoi to play Godzilla. The late great Haruo Nakajima — who played Godzilla in 12 of the Showa-era films from the original "Godzilla" through "Godzilla vs. Gigan" in 1974 — revealed in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in 2017 that he modeled his movements on bears. He seemingly wanted Godzilla to look like he weighed a lot and lumbered appropriately. Nakajima was no doubt aided by the fact that the Godzilla suit weighed quite a lot and was difficult to move in. It was Nakajima who developed the signature "put up your dukes" movement for Godzilla, a gesture that gave the giant radioactive gorilla-whale a lot of personality.
When Nakajima retired from playing Godzilla, a few different actors took turns in the role until the making of 1984's "Return of Godzilla" (released as "Godzilla 1985" in the United States). In that film Kenpachiro Satsuma took over the role,...
When Nakajima retired from playing Godzilla, a few different actors took turns in the role until the making of 1984's "Return of Godzilla" (released as "Godzilla 1985" in the United States). In that film Kenpachiro Satsuma took over the role,...
- 1/16/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Back in November, Fathom Events and Toho International teamed up to bring the 2002 Godzilla franchise entry Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla to U.S. theatres for the first time… and now they’re set to do the same thing for the 2003 Godzilla movie Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.! The film will be reaching 600 theatres across the United States on March 22nd.
Tickets are now available on FathomEvents.com, so check and see if Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is going to be playing at a theatre near you. For this screening, the film will be presented with English subtitles. The one-day event will also include a special showing of Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex, a short that debuted at the 2022 Japan Godzilla Festival as a sequel to the short G vs. G (2019) – never before seen on the big screen!
Directed by Masaaki Tezuka, who wrote the screenplay with Masahiro Yokotani, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. has the following synopsis:...
Tickets are now available on FathomEvents.com, so check and see if Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is going to be playing at a theatre near you. For this screening, the film will be presented with English subtitles. The one-day event will also include a special showing of Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex, a short that debuted at the 2022 Japan Godzilla Festival as a sequel to the short G vs. G (2019) – never before seen on the big screen!
Directed by Masaaki Tezuka, who wrote the screenplay with Masahiro Yokotani, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. has the following synopsis:...
- 3/8/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Taking place in Santa Clara, California, the first ever Alien Con is just a few days away, and attendees can look forward to a very special dinner on Saturday night when Famous Monsters of Filmland presents "Grillin' with Godzillas," an event featuring three generations of actors who have played The King of the Monsters: Haruo Nakajima, Kenpachirô Satsuma, and Tsutomu Kitagawa.
"Toho’s Godzilla series of films has always been made possible by suit actors, and Alien Con is making history by bringing three generations of Godzilla suit-wearers across the Pacific to the Silicon Valley Convention Center: Haruo Nakajima (中島春雄), Kenpachirô Satsuma (薩摩剣八郎), and Tsutomu Kitagawa (喜多川務). Between them, they’ve been in almost 30 Godzilla movies since 1954 — and Alien Con wants you to dine with them! Not just any dinner, either. We’re talking Korean barbecue, which is synonymous with smorgasbord. Just be careful the monster men don’t get extra hungry,...
"Toho’s Godzilla series of films has always been made possible by suit actors, and Alien Con is making history by bringing three generations of Godzilla suit-wearers across the Pacific to the Silicon Valley Convention Center: Haruo Nakajima (中島春雄), Kenpachirô Satsuma (薩摩剣八郎), and Tsutomu Kitagawa (喜多川務). Between them, they’ve been in almost 30 Godzilla movies since 1954 — and Alien Con wants you to dine with them! Not just any dinner, either. We’re talking Korean barbecue, which is synonymous with smorgasbord. Just be careful the monster men don’t get extra hungry,...
- 10/25/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Award-winning F/X artists, monster-related artwork displayed and sold, killer celebrity guests. These things and more will all be found at the 2014 Son of Monsterpalooza at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank, CA, running September 12-14.
Boasting guests like Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal and Terri McMinn as well as seminars, vendors, a costume contest and walk-through monster museum, Son of Monsterpalooza 2014 promises to be just as impressive as its predecessors.
Tickets are available here. Be sure to check out the full current guest list below, and then visit the official Monsterpalooza website and "like" Monsterpalooza on Facebook for more information.
From the Press Release
Award-winning FX artists, monster-related artwork displayed and sold, special presentations, a walk-through monster museum, and so much more will be available at Son of Monsterpalooza 2014 in the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank, September 12-14.
Special guests from horror...
Boasting guests like Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal and Terri McMinn as well as seminars, vendors, a costume contest and walk-through monster museum, Son of Monsterpalooza 2014 promises to be just as impressive as its predecessors.
Tickets are available here. Be sure to check out the full current guest list below, and then visit the official Monsterpalooza website and "like" Monsterpalooza on Facebook for more information.
From the Press Release
Award-winning FX artists, monster-related artwork displayed and sold, special presentations, a walk-through monster museum, and so much more will be available at Son of Monsterpalooza 2014 in the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank, September 12-14.
Special guests from horror...
- 7/9/2014
- by Scott Hallam
- DreadCentral.com
Trying to get rid of Godzilla is like trying to throw away an old boomerang. Missiles, bombs and exploding mines merely annoy the huge beast.
Toho Studios, the big fellow's home since 1954, killed him off in 1995's "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah", only to revive him due to popular demand. Roland Emmerich's inflated, Westernized 1998 version, which created a behemoth reptile with visual effects and digital technology, not only failed to finish off the Big G but also renewed interest in him in his native Japan.
So one of the movies' most enduring -- and endearing -- stars is back with all of his bad attitudes in "Godzilla 2000", his 23rd feature. Released domestically by Sony's TriStar Pictures with a dubbed English soundtrack, the movie reinstates all of the series' old tricks: the cheesy special effects, the wildly inappropriate English dialogue and, most importantly, the monster played by a man wearing an elaborate latex suit.
Because Godzilla is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food and, presumably, American appetites were awakened by Emmerich's film, this new incarnation should attract not only fans of the beast and high camp but also the curious who want to see the grumpy monster on his home turf -- trashing Tokyo for the umpteenth time.
Godzilla gets a makeover every few years. The new Godzilla has shrunk to about 170 feet -- closer to the 1954 model -- and has much scarier teeth, a crouch-like gait, a pinkish tone in his redesigned dorsal fins and fiery, don't-mess-with-me eyes. Tsutomu Kitagawa is the stuntman-gymnast inside the Godzilla suit, and special effects director Kenji Suzuki created the new look.
Godzilla disappears for too long during the middle of the movie as director Takao Okawara and his writers prepare the way for another monster to battle Godzilla. This foe is named Orga, according to media notes, though he is never called that in the film.
Orga starts out as a mysterious rock found in a coastal seabed and turns out to be a 60 million-year-old UFO. When scientists bring it to the surface, the thing gets fueled by the sun, zips around the sky and finally squats on a skyscraper, where it soaks up data from Tokyo's computer systems.
Searching for a way to adapt to Earth's hostile environment, the alien spots a rampaging Godzilla making life miserable for humans and apparently decides to transform itself into a Godzilla-like monster. Well, Tokyo isn't big enough for two Godzillas, so the two duke it out in a grand finale that, of course, levels the poor city once more.
The humans watching all this include Takehiro Murata as the head of the Godzilla Prediction Network, who seeks to protect the monster as a suitable subject for scientific inquiry; 12-year-old Mayu Suzuki as his beguiling daughter; Naomi Nishida as a photojournalist who tags along in hopes of getting good Godzilla shots; Hiroshi Abe as the intelligence agency chief obsessed with destroying the beast; and Shiro Sano as his befuddled
assistant.
What turns "Godzilla 2000" into a riotous comedy are the deliberately awkward English dialogue and archaic expressions like "Great Caesar's ghost!" A few favorite lines: "Ah, the damn teriyaki is cold here," "Quit your bitchin'" and "Oh, bite me".
While the film takes advantage of current technology to employ nearly 500 CG shots, the effects are deliberately not state of the art. The filmmakers, quite rightly, believe that a technically perfect movie would betray the spirit of Godzilla.
The Japanese have enormous affection for this goofy series and its ugly, angry hero. Some claim that Godzilla, supposedly awakened or mutated by nuclear testing, is a manifestation of that country's understandable terror of the nuclear age. But dragons and monsters roam the mythology of all cultures, and cinema is replete with such beasts, ranging from Dr. Frankenstein's monster to King Kong and the shark in "Jaws".
Monsters embody our fears. Our ambivalence toward them reflects our fascination with that which terrorizes us. Thus, the corniness of Godzilla, with its hokey effects and man in a monster suit, allows us to take childlike pleasure in a "villain" in much the same way Margaret Hamilton won our hearts as the wicked witch in "The Wizard of Oz".
GODZILLA 2000
TriStar Pictures
A Toho Company Ltd. presentation
of a Toho Pictures production
Producer: Shogo Tomiyama
Director: Takao Okawara
Screenwriters: Hiroshi Kashiwabara,
Wataru Minura
Director of special effects: Kenji Suzuki
Director of photography: Katsuhiro Kato
Production designer: Takeshi Shimizu
Music: Takayuki Hattori
Costume designer: Masato Arai
Editor: Yoshiyuki Okuhara
Color/stereo
Cast:
GPN Director Shinoda: Takehiro Murata
CCI Scientist Miyasaka: Shiro Sano
CCI Chief Katagiri: Hiroshi Abe
Yuki: Naomi Nishida
Io: Mayu Suzuki
Godzilla: Tsutomu Kitagawa
Running time - 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Toho Studios, the big fellow's home since 1954, killed him off in 1995's "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah", only to revive him due to popular demand. Roland Emmerich's inflated, Westernized 1998 version, which created a behemoth reptile with visual effects and digital technology, not only failed to finish off the Big G but also renewed interest in him in his native Japan.
So one of the movies' most enduring -- and endearing -- stars is back with all of his bad attitudes in "Godzilla 2000", his 23rd feature. Released domestically by Sony's TriStar Pictures with a dubbed English soundtrack, the movie reinstates all of the series' old tricks: the cheesy special effects, the wildly inappropriate English dialogue and, most importantly, the monster played by a man wearing an elaborate latex suit.
Because Godzilla is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food and, presumably, American appetites were awakened by Emmerich's film, this new incarnation should attract not only fans of the beast and high camp but also the curious who want to see the grumpy monster on his home turf -- trashing Tokyo for the umpteenth time.
Godzilla gets a makeover every few years. The new Godzilla has shrunk to about 170 feet -- closer to the 1954 model -- and has much scarier teeth, a crouch-like gait, a pinkish tone in his redesigned dorsal fins and fiery, don't-mess-with-me eyes. Tsutomu Kitagawa is the stuntman-gymnast inside the Godzilla suit, and special effects director Kenji Suzuki created the new look.
Godzilla disappears for too long during the middle of the movie as director Takao Okawara and his writers prepare the way for another monster to battle Godzilla. This foe is named Orga, according to media notes, though he is never called that in the film.
Orga starts out as a mysterious rock found in a coastal seabed and turns out to be a 60 million-year-old UFO. When scientists bring it to the surface, the thing gets fueled by the sun, zips around the sky and finally squats on a skyscraper, where it soaks up data from Tokyo's computer systems.
Searching for a way to adapt to Earth's hostile environment, the alien spots a rampaging Godzilla making life miserable for humans and apparently decides to transform itself into a Godzilla-like monster. Well, Tokyo isn't big enough for two Godzillas, so the two duke it out in a grand finale that, of course, levels the poor city once more.
The humans watching all this include Takehiro Murata as the head of the Godzilla Prediction Network, who seeks to protect the monster as a suitable subject for scientific inquiry; 12-year-old Mayu Suzuki as his beguiling daughter; Naomi Nishida as a photojournalist who tags along in hopes of getting good Godzilla shots; Hiroshi Abe as the intelligence agency chief obsessed with destroying the beast; and Shiro Sano as his befuddled
assistant.
What turns "Godzilla 2000" into a riotous comedy are the deliberately awkward English dialogue and archaic expressions like "Great Caesar's ghost!" A few favorite lines: "Ah, the damn teriyaki is cold here," "Quit your bitchin'" and "Oh, bite me".
While the film takes advantage of current technology to employ nearly 500 CG shots, the effects are deliberately not state of the art. The filmmakers, quite rightly, believe that a technically perfect movie would betray the spirit of Godzilla.
The Japanese have enormous affection for this goofy series and its ugly, angry hero. Some claim that Godzilla, supposedly awakened or mutated by nuclear testing, is a manifestation of that country's understandable terror of the nuclear age. But dragons and monsters roam the mythology of all cultures, and cinema is replete with such beasts, ranging from Dr. Frankenstein's monster to King Kong and the shark in "Jaws".
Monsters embody our fears. Our ambivalence toward them reflects our fascination with that which terrorizes us. Thus, the corniness of Godzilla, with its hokey effects and man in a monster suit, allows us to take childlike pleasure in a "villain" in much the same way Margaret Hamilton won our hearts as the wicked witch in "The Wizard of Oz".
GODZILLA 2000
TriStar Pictures
A Toho Company Ltd. presentation
of a Toho Pictures production
Producer: Shogo Tomiyama
Director: Takao Okawara
Screenwriters: Hiroshi Kashiwabara,
Wataru Minura
Director of special effects: Kenji Suzuki
Director of photography: Katsuhiro Kato
Production designer: Takeshi Shimizu
Music: Takayuki Hattori
Costume designer: Masato Arai
Editor: Yoshiyuki Okuhara
Color/stereo
Cast:
GPN Director Shinoda: Takehiro Murata
CCI Scientist Miyasaka: Shiro Sano
CCI Chief Katagiri: Hiroshi Abe
Yuki: Naomi Nishida
Io: Mayu Suzuki
Godzilla: Tsutomu Kitagawa
Running time - 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 8/18/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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