Takashi Yamazaki Reveals He Got a Lot of Offers to Direct Other Films After the Success of ‘Godzilla Minus One’

Takashi Yamazaki, director of the film ‘Godzilla Minus One’ (2023, appeared in the talk corner “Izakaya Godzilla” at the “Godzilla Festival 2024” held in Hibiya, Tokyo, and shared his enthusiasm for the new Godzilla film, whose production was announced yesterday.

The talk show, which has become a regular feature of the “Godzilla Fest,” was met with a huge uproar as soon as Director Yamazaki took to the stage. Welcomed by a cheer of “Takara,” Director Yamazaki announced once again, “We’re going to be shooting a new Godzilla movie!” The audience erupted in cheers and thunderous applause.

Director Yamazaki said with a shy smile, “I’m here to tell you that I can’t announce any more about the new film,” and while looking around the audience, he added, “I’m really happy to see this excitement. I’m also happy that there are so many children here. Godzilla has gradually become something for adults, so the fact that there are more children as fans and that the next generation is growing is really good for Godzilla’s future.”

On the other hand, he made the fans laugh by saying, “Godzilla-1.0 went a little too well, and a lot of hurdles have come up. Thinking about it, I feel like this might be the worst draw,” and he added with enthusiasm for the new film, “I’ll do my best!“

During the talk, he also reflected that due to the success and positive reception of “Godzilla 1.0,” “I started receiving all kinds of great (film) offers,” and revealed, “I can’t tell you what offers they were. I turned them down, crying tears of blood, because they were making a new Godzilla movie.”

Also on stage, footage from their attendance at New York Comic Con in the US was shown, along with special footage shown there. Director Yamazaki reminisced about the reaction of local fans at the screening of Godzilla 1.0, saying, “The fans over there seemed to love the parachute scene. They stood up and got really excited.“

He also smiled as he recalled the overseas reaction, saying, “It seems they also like steady fighting styles like Operation Wadatsumi. Even the president of Marvel told me that. He said, ‘We all have meetings every day about whether we can create a plot development like that.‘”

Furthermore, video messages from Kamiki Ryunosuke and Hamabe Minami , who starred in “Godzilla 1.0,” were shown, with Kamiki revealing that Yamazaki suffered from particularly bad seasickness during filming, and also mentioning that Anno Hideaki, director of ” Shin Godzilla ” (2016), had come to visit the set. Looking back on his conversations with Anno, Yamazaki said with a smile, “He would start directing things like, ‘Make that cut a little longer,’ and saying, ‘It’s not yours. Do it yourself.’ That’s the nature of a director.“

The director shared many other behind-the-scenes stories, and said about the new Godzilla film, “It’ll take a little longer, but I’ll do my best to make a Godzilla film that will surpass Godzilla-1.0, so please look forward to it! Thank you very much.” The audience cheered, led by announcer Shinsuke Kasai, who acted as MC, saying, “Good luck, Taka!”

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