‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Star on Why His Character Hates the Titans

Godzilla: King of the Monsters will bring a larger-than-life conflict onto the big screen this summer, when the titular monster and various other creatures make their presence known amongst humans. According to one of the film’s cast members, that conflict will quickly become pretty personal.

ComicBook.com got a chance to speak to Kyle Chandler during a visit to the King of the Monsters set, where he addressed what motivates his character, Dr. Mark Russell. As Chandler put it, his negative emotions surrounding the Titans can be summed up in a pretty simple way.

“Because they’re mean, ugly, dangerous, and they caused havoc with my family,” Chandler revealed.

“You learn, as the character goes along, his relationship to Godzilla and the other creatures and his wife and his past with this situation over the past many years and the loss that he’s encountered,” Chandler echoed during the same set visit. “And so that’s his dichotomy, what he feels through the storyline. And you get to learn what his emotional drive is through the story. So there’s a learning curve through the story, it’s not just a hatred toward monsters.”

While Chandler’s justification for his character’s feelings is pretty to-the-point, it sounds like King of the Monsters will explore the relationship between man and monster in a more complicated way.

“It’s not like the monsters are suddenly popping up out of nowhere, they’ve always been here, they were here before we were.” director Mike Dougherty explained during the same set visit. “So, the concept we’re running with is that this will belong to them. You know, if anything, [we’re] a really invasive species, and we’ve simply rediscovered something that’s always been underneath our feet, literally. That, they are in some way, the old gods, the first gods.”

Godzilla: King of the Monsters stars Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Sally Hawkins, Kyle Chandler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ken Watanabe, Bradley Whitford, and Thomas Middleditch.

The synopsis for Godzilla: King of the Monsters reads as such, “The new story follows the heroic efforts of the cryptozoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient superspecies, thought to be mere myths, rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.”

Godzilla: King of Monsters is set to hit theaters on May 31st.