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  • 13/04/2025
Everyone who’s ever watched a sci-fi movie, especially the long history of gigantic monster/kaiju movies, has their favorite type of Godzilla movie. Whether you’re more into the popcorn blockbuster style of the MonsterVerse or if the terror of Ishirō Honda’s 1954 classic is your thing, there’s a monster mash waiting for you to dig into.

With Godzilla Minus One, writer/director Takashi Yamazaki cited three of the best Godzilla films as being important influences on Godzilla Minus One. While, of course, his direct live-action predecessor, Shin Godzilla, was one of them, there were two others that he submitted as sacred texts that absolutely reflect the tone and spirit of this sleeper movie schedule hit.
Transcript
00:00So, in Japan, Shin Goja did really well, and that's what we were following up to.
00:14So, Shin Goja, you know, it's about politicians, you know, the character design for Shin Goja was creepy.
00:20We actually intentionally wanted to do, really go the opposite way.
00:24So, for example, our Godzilla character design, we were more going for the cool factor, not the creepy factor.
00:31And instead of politics or government, this is a story about civilians.
00:36And, yeah, so that was some influence with Shin Goja, but also GMK.
00:42I guess on a subconscious level, I didn't realize how much I was influenced by GMK.
00:49But when I look back, I do see that GMK influence is sprinkled in there, especially towards the end.
00:56And, yeah, the first Godzilla movie, I mean, hands down, it's the most important.
01:01It's the most important.
01:03And I wanted to follow in its footsteps as far as that strong human, there's a lot of human relationship, the human experience versus the monster.
01:13And it was just so solidly done with the monster and the human experience that I wanted to definitely attain that in Godzilla Minus One.