‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Director Reveals His Inspirations

The Godzilla franchise has seen dozens of entries which date back all the way to the ’50s, confirming that the monster’s reign won’t come to an end anytime soon. American iterations of the creature, however, haven’t always been major successes, with a 1998 film being notoriously poorly received. Luckily, 2014’s Godzilla was a big enough success to earn the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters, though the monster’s legacy meant director Michael Dougherty had to find some unconventional inspiration to bring the story to life. The filmmaker shared with ComicBook.com at a press event for the film that he tapped into his childhood to motivate his vision.

“I’ve been a fan of Godzilla since I was old enough to walk. I grew up watching the Hanna Barbera cartoon…but every Saturday morning, from the ages of like two to seven, it was the Hanna Barbera cartoon and Super Friends, I think ABC had them back to back, and then my local TV station had old black and white Universal monsters followed by a Godzilla movie,” Dougherty shared. “So, I was sort of subjected to it for years. And I fell in love with the character.”

Dougherty went on to detail that he was so obsessed with the character as a kid, he injected Godzilla into some unlikely situations.

“And it was funny, when I got the job, I went back and looked at an old childhood bible,” the director revealed. “I went to Catholic school, much longer story, and I found an old bible where I had drawn Godzilla into the various Bible illustrations. So, there was a picture of the fall of Jericho and I added Godzilla, because I figured adding Godzilla to anything makes it better. So, yeah, he’s been a good friend for a very long time. So, it’s a dream come true.”

Not all of his influences came from the filmmaker’s childhood, as he also teased there were some darker elements being brought into the sequel.

“I wouldn’t call it a horror movie, there’s definitely horror elements, we’re definitely trying to bring in some of that, definitely going for a lot of suspense, and fear, and tension, and occasionally some gross out moments, the fact that you referenced The Thing is fitting,” Dougherty confessed. “You know, ’cause regeneration is one of the things that is also drawn from nature…I’ll leave it at that. Yeah, there’s definitely a little bit more horror to it than I think the previous film had.”

Godzilla: King of Monsters will land in theaters on May 31st.

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