After almost a year since its entry into the box office history, Godzilla Minus One still lives its success story. The film caused a huge stir at this year’s Oscars ceremony, with more people flocking to the digital release to watch one of the greatest monster films of the past decade, and now, as the King of All Monsters prepares to reach his seventieth birthday, he returns to theaters next month. What is the key to all this success that director Takashi Yamazaki still wants to talk about after a year? His cats.
Yamazaki embarked on a quick world press tour last year to promote the film’s great success, answering many questions about crafting one of the biggest Godzilla films. But speaking at a panel at New York Comic Con this weekend to celebrate Godzilla on the seventieth anniversary of the franchise, Yamazaki said there’s one thing he wishes more journalists would ask him about.
“After watching Godzilla Minus One, “Yamazaki said through a translator at the panel, “a lot of people came to me and said, ‘Wow, this is Godzilla, sometimes he looks like my cat.’ But then I realized, no, no, no, no, no, it’s not your cat, it’s actually my cat!”
“So every time the media would ask me, ‘Well, why does the movement look so much like a cat,’ I would smile a little and say, ‘Oh, that’s my cat.’ And then I would think, ‘Oh my god, this is my chance, I’ll talk about my cat for about five minutes now!’ and then the interviewer would say, ‘Well, thank you, next question,'” the director added jokingly.
Yamazaki has several cats, and it’s clear that their nature and early movements were key to inspiring how Godzilla Minus One moved. “Every time the animators would show me some shots like ‘Hey Yamazaki, this is the latest shot of Godzilla movement,’ and especially when Shikishima pilots the Shinden plane at the end, as you know… Godzilla’s trying to catch it.” Yamazaki continued. “Every shot I would give a thumbs-up, I think it was subconscious, but it looks like my cat when I play with it.”
The ownership of the cat is shared with another recent Godzilla director: Adam Wingard, who directed the last two films in the Monsterverse series Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla vs. Kong: A New Empire. “I got the chance to have this one-on-one chat with director Adam – I don’t know if you remember the scene (in A New Empire) where Godzilla sleeps on the bleachers. Adam looked at him and said ‘Oh, that reminds me of my cat,’ Yamazaki laughed. “Then I looked and said, ‘I see, you are a cat person too.’
Godzilla Minus One is now available on Blu-ray, digital, and streaming platforms, and will return to theaters for limited showings starting November 1st.
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