Godzilla: King of the Monsters has stomped its way into cinemas this weekend and we’ve all had the chance to marvel at the visual effects work painted across the silver screen. The Godzilla franchise was built upon (and helped create) the technique known as suitmation, a stunt performer dressing up as a giant monster who stomps around mini model cities and landscapes. The American versions of the creature, however, have always relied upon more modern techniques to bring the giant green dinosaur to life. The newest film from director Michael Dougherty is no different. In fact, there were several visual effects houses brought on board to breathe life into Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah – and all the mass chaos and destruction these kaiju bring with them.
I had the opportunity to chat with the Alejandro Diego, the VFX executive of Ollin VFX (Mindhunter, Deadpool), one of the visual effects teams behind this summer’s blockbuster. Alejandro and Ollin were tasked with rendering several jaw-dropping pieces throughout King of the Monsters. Ollin VFX is based out of Mexico where portions of the KotM were filmed. Production wanted assistance with on-set, live VFX and called up Ollin. Initially, Alejandro and his team were only asked to deliver 150 shots for the film. As time rolled on, that number quickly skyrocketed to 530.
Taking on a massive challenge such as Godzilla and what is considered by many to be a sacred cow, I assumed Alejandro must be a fan of The King. I was surprised by his response, “Well, honestly, I wasn’t so much [a fan] until we worked on this movie. Now, I actually love it. I used to watch them when I was a little kid, of course…I think [we] did a really good job, from what I can tell, to represent the Titans. What’s cool is now you have a lot more than just Godzilla…It’s something I think the fans will like a lot.”
Since we held this interview a week prior to the film’s release, I couldn’t help but try and dig up a little insider info about the film itself. I wanted to know if there were any “monster” surprises outside of the advertised quartet of Big G, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. While Alejandro assured me those were the main Titans to appear on screen, he also assured me this: “Compared to the last one (Godzilla ’14), I think the battle scenes and the Titans themselves look so real.”
Speaking of Gareth Edwards’ introduction to the MonsterVerse, I was curious how this film would differentiate itself stylistically. Godzilla ’14 is an overall dark film with a consistent greyish-blue color palette. From the trailers alone, it would seem KotM adds a bit more depth to the overall color story. Alejandro backs this up by stating, “This one will feel a lot more alive! There are a lot more vibrant colors throughout the show.” Again, he takes the chance to hype up the epic monster showdowns, “The battle scenes are much better in terms of detail. It makes you feel like you’re in the middle of it all…It makes you [feel] at awe at how big they are in terms of us humans.”
Considering the epic scale of these battles and the love fans have for “The Titans,” Alejandro and his team didn’t seem nervous to take on such a monster-sized task. “More than nervous, it was just a huge challenge. We loved it. It was really a lot of fun…Legendary and the whole group of production involved in this project really did a great job in kind of understanding what the whole series is about and communicating it in turn to us. They’re always pushing the envelope. And at the end of the day – how do we make it better? Better story? More engaging…how do you make it better?”
The man wearing “make it better” on his shoulders was, of course, Dougherty. It’s easy to imagine a director calling all the shots on a live action production, but what about the VFX side? “At the end of the day [Dougherty] is the one who has the final say on every single shot in the movie…It’s amazing to me how [a director] can zoom into the details of one particular shot, and always have it in their mind the idea of what the whole thing has to look like.”
Dougherty explained during our set visit how important it was to capture the spirit of the original Toho monsters through their sound and design. For Alejandro, it made the VFX team’s job that much easier having a director with such a strong vision. “He had a very clear idea of what he wanted, and he definitely did his research.” With so much respect being paid to the history of Toho and its creations, I wanted to know just which towering behemoth was Alejandro’s favorite. “If I had to pick one, I guess Ghidorah would be my favorite one, just because of the…because of what it takes to make it look real and having to deal with the three heads. It’s always a challenge…I don’t know if I could pick a favorite. It’s tough.”
It’s clear that a lot of time, love, and care went into the production of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. As of now, only time will tell if this entry stands the test of time and pleases the diehard fans as well as general audiences. As far as American takes on Godzilla, the last two efforts were certainly met with their share of criticism. Alejandro makes a pretty bold promise for the U.S. of A’s latest attempt: “[Audiences] will be surprised at how action packed it is, how hopefully engaging the whole show will be for them…It’s definitely a step up from the previous one…It’s something you walk out of [the theater] like ‘wow! That was really cool’.”
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is out this weekend in theaters!
