Godzilla is back to save the planet

The beast is back – and it’s looking good. When the reptilian, nuclearbreathed Godzilla debuted in 1954 in Toho’s Gojira, he was played by a man in a latex suit. This effective, and somewhat charming, way of representing the King of the Monsters continued for more than 20 years, and the actor who customarily played Godzilla, Haruo Nakijima, become a cult figure himself.

But for the new, high-gloss Hollywood version, British filmmaker Gareth Edwards felt that a more upto- date rendering of the ancient sea creature was necessary. “I love the original Godzilla as much as anyone – but if we just did it straight, it wouldn’t fly with today’s cinema audiences,” he says. “My goal was to make it look as if this creature really exists; that it’s a real thing, and it’s really out there.

“We imagined that back in 1953 [when the first Godzilla film was being made], someone saw the real Godzilla, ran to Toho’s studios, and described it to them. They made their monster from that witness’ description of it. Then you see our version, and it’s the real thing,” says Edwards.

Godzilla may be well-known for its huge feet, radioactive breath, and chilling roar. “It’s the roar I remember most from the original,” says Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, who plays scientist Ichiro Serizawa in the reboot. But the creature is much more than a typical movie monster.

Over the years, it has mutated into a bona fide cultural phenomenon. That’s because unlike most movie monsters it has a specific relationship with realworld modern history.

The original film was produced in the decade after atomic bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the creature, which feeds on radiation, was an obvious symbol of the destructive power of nuclear weapons.

The film’s bleak monochromatic scenes of devastation, and its strident anti-nuclear message, struck a chord with Japanese viewers, and it became a big hit in the country.