Godzilla: King of the Monsters Director Always Planned to Include Millie Bobby Brown

Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty reveals Stranger Things star Millie [...]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty reveals Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown won her role as Madison Russell because the 15-year-old actress was first used as a stand-in during pre-visualization work.

"Millie's great. She was still... Season 2 of Stranger Things had just been shot. Not even aired yet. I was a huge fan of the show and my pre-viz animators and I used her face as reference, as a model for the pre-viz for the movie before we ever cast her," Dougherty told Screen Rant.

"We got so used to seeing her face that we just kind of said, 'Well...why don't we make her the offer?' And we had a breakfast here at The London, years ago, and we actually spent more time talking about our mutual love of animals and pet reptiles and just a love of nature that I think she clicked with the themes of the film."

The Godzilla sequel marks Brown's feature film debut, and casting the fan-favorite star was a "no brainer," Dougherty told Variety.

"I'll be completely honest that she was such an amazing breakout performance there," he said of the hit Netflix series, adding it was "an honor and a privilege" to steer Brown. "Millie is actually an old soul. So as much as she looks like, you know, your average 15-year-old, she has a wisdom and a strength about her that is rare."

Added Kyle Chandler, who plays Brown's on-screen father, "She's a kid, and she's a cool kid. She's got a great curiosity and she likes to study what she does so she knows her craft. She's a pretty interesting young person in the business. I think you'll see a lot of her do a lot of different things in the future."

Though admittedly not a fan of the skyscraper-sized creature before finding herself caught in the middle of clashing titans, Brown became a fan after joining the legendary franchise.

"One of the things you should know is that if you are a diehard Godzilla fan, you're going to love this movie," she said. "If you're not one, you're going to be a diehard Godzilla fan [after it]."

Godzilla: King of the Monsters opens May 31.

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