‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Director Takashi Yamazaki on Sequel Pressure, Hollywood Offers and a Possible Third Film

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Writer-director Takashi Yamazaki did everything he could to put the fairytale experience of Godzilla Minus One behind him as he set out to make its highly anticipated sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero.

It was a tall order, considering Minus One received rapturous reviews and became the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever released in the United States. The film also earned a best visual effects Oscar, making Yamazaki, who also served as VFX supervisor, the first director to win in that category since Stanley Kubrick.

Dubbed “the Japanese James Cameron,” Yamazaki earned praise from Cameron himself, as well as Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, among others. Hollywood was also eager to import the filmmaker for his next project, but Yamazaki had unfinished business with the King of the Monsters.

“A lot of producers and very big names in Hollywood reached out to me, and there were several projects I wish I could have jumped on in a heartbeat,” Yamazaki tells The Hollywood Reporter via a translator in support of Godzilla Minus Zero’s Nov. 6 theatrical release. “But I felt I needed to do Godzilla Minus Zero first because there was a story and theme I wanted to explore.”

Despite all the adulation coming from the States, including from the filmmaking heroes of his youth, Yamazaki made a conscious effort not to write Minus Zero with an American sensibility in mind.

“It would’ve been very easy to ride that wave, and I was very tempted to at certain moments. But we didn’t set out to capture a worldwide audience [with Minus One], and that was what made it quite unique,” Yamazaki says. “So I wanted to cherish that origin point, and instead of selling out, for lack of a better phrase, by making a film tailored toward the U.S. or American fans of Minus One, I wanted to tell a story that felt important [at home] right now.”

As production moved forward, Yamazaki repeatedly urged his collaborators to put the surreal experience of Minus One behind them.

“The moment you begin to feel the pressure, you’ve already lost. So I tried not to pay attention to Minus One, and I told our team to do the same. I was like, ‘Guys, stop clenching your fists. Let’s relax a little bit,’” Yamazaki recalls. “We were able to get on the same page in that the biggest motivation for making Minus Zero wasn’t to outdo or exceed what we did with Minus One — it was just to make a great movie.”

Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero, the first Japanese motion picture filmed for IMAX, has already earned critical acclaim on par with its predecessor. The kaiju epic picks up in 1949, two years after the events of Minus One, as the Shikishima family once again takes up arms following the emergence of a new threat in the form of the vaunted King Ghidorah.

Abrams’ admiration for Minus One helped pave the way for him to produce Yamazaki’s upcoming English-language mecha film, Grandgear. Whether Yamazaki has a third Godzilla film in him, however, remains to be seen.

“I would say it’s about fifty-fifty at this point. I’m quite satisfied and happy with the current ending we have,” Yamazaki admits. “That being said, if Godzilla Minus Zero is my last Godzilla film, that would make me a bit sad. I have other films lined up, starting with Grandgear and a few others, but at some point in my career, I would love to revisit Godzilla.”

Below, during a conversation with THR, Yamazaki also explains how Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts wound up as an actor in Minus Zero.

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After the Oscar-winning success of Godzilla Minus One, did you receive offers to make other films before deciding to commit to Godzilla Minus Zero?

Well, I’m very thankful for the success of Godzilla Minus One. A lot of producers and very big names in Hollywood reached out to me, and there were several projects I wish I could have jumped on in a heartbeat. But I felt I needed to do Godzilla Minus Zero first because there was a story and theme I wanted to explore. So I had to set aside all the other interesting projects.

Given the extraordinary response to Minus One, did you feel considerably more pressure while crafting Minus Zero?

For me, the moment you begin to feel the pressure, you’ve already lost. After a great success, there’s a tendency to get really rigid and stiff because everyone wants to outdo the success of the previous film. When you’re really clenched, that rigidness muddies the movie, and you start to make compromises you don’t necessarily want to make. So it becomes impossible to make a truly interesting and engaging film.

I just tried not to pay attention to Minus One, and I told our team to do the same. I was like, “Guys, stop clenching your fists. Let’s relax a little bit.” Of course, completely eradicating that is going to be impossible. But we were able to get on the same page in that the biggest motivation for making Minus Zero wasn’t to outdo or exceed what we did with Minus One — it was just to make a great movie.

Minus One also became Japan’s highest-grossing live-action film in the United States. Did America’s embrace have any influence on how you wrote Minus Zero? Or did you block out that reception as well?

I am very thankful that audiences in the U.S. really fell in love with Godzilla Minus One. For me, that was a huge event, and it dates back to the fact that I’ve always loved Hollywood movies. In the ‘70s, I would go to the theater and watch all of the sci-fi films coming out of Hollywood. That was part of my origin story. So the fact that these same directors and producers were now watching my film just made me ecstatic.

It would’ve been very easy to ride that wave, and I was very tempted to at certain moments. But to your point, I had to set all of that emotion aside to figure out why Minus One resonated with so many people. I think it’s because we didn’t set out to capture a worldwide audience at all, and that was what made it quite unique. The fact that we tried to make a film for our own domestic market became our greatest strength.

So I wanted to cherish that origin point, and instead of selling out, for lack of a better phrase, by making a film tailored toward the U.S. or American fans of Minus One, I wanted to tell a story that felt important [at home] right now.

I appreciate how the flashbacks in Minus Zero recontextualize the events of Minus One. Was that one of the elements that most interested you about making a sequel?

While we were in production on Godzilla Minus One, I didn’t have a clear image of what was happening outside or behind the scenes of the story we told in the movie. But afterwards, when Godzilla Minus Zero was green-lit, I began to dive a little deeper and say, “Well, perhaps this was happening behind the scenes in Godzilla Minus One all the while.”

As I began to imagine and dig even deeper, some of my ideas were actually quite terrifying. Of course, it was great for the movie, but it was really scary to think about what other people were experiencing during the events that unfolded in Godzilla Minus One.

These events fleshed out the world and presented Godzilla Minus Zero with a lot of elements that drove the story forward. So the process of filling in the gaps, so to speak, was quite fun for me, and it gave us the chance to explore events that we didn’t know about at the time.

Before creating your battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah, did you revisit their previous on-screen duels in order to differentiate your take?

I actually made a conscious effort not to watch old films where Godzilla and Ghidorah go at it. I wanted to create a completely new experience as I imagined it. And while I kept that stance, of course, it’s impossible not to be reminded of certain scenes. So as much as I made a conscious effort not to look back at the old films, I am inevitably influenced by them. And this isn’t unique to the Japanese-produced Godzilla films. Legendary did their interpretation of King Ghidorah, and that crossed my mind as well.

Having seen all of these films, certain moments are just burned into my memory. Whether it’s within the films themselves or their movie posters, I couldn’t help but have certain compositions and moments cross my mind as I was creating this film. So I tried to imagine King Ghidorah in battle without recreating anything from the past, but naturally, perhaps through osmosis, some of these older scenes crept their way into it.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the director of Kong: Skull Island, appears in Minus Zero. How did his cameo come about?

Well, Jordan makes quite frequent trips to Japan. During one of his trips, he reached out to us, and we set up a dinner. That’s when he said, “Hey, I’d really love to be in the next Godzilla movie you’re working on.” And I said, “Well, if you’re in Japan, perhaps there’s a scene we could work you into.” But if he was to appear, I said, “You’re going to have to shave your beard because that’s what the role would need.” I knew he really loved his beard, but perhaps his desire to make a cameo in this film exceeded that.

He ultimately accepted all of our conditions. He shaved his beard, and when we said, “We’re going to film on this day,” he made the effort to come out to Japan. That’s when I thought to myself, Oh my gosh, I’m going to have to include him in this scene.

The scene itself has a very nuanced emotional message and moment. Jordan did an amazing job with his performance. He can act. So, in the end, the scene came together quite nicely.

Grandgear is slated to be your next film, but the ending of Minus Zero does leave room for another story. Do you intend to cap your trilogy someday with Godzilla Plus One?

(Laughs.) I would say it’s about fifty-fifty at this point. I’m quite satisfied and happy with the current ending we have. It entrusts the interpretation to the audience in terms of how they want to receive it and what they want to walk out of theaters with. That being said, if Godzilla Minus Zero is my last Godzilla film, that would make me a bit sad. I do have other films lined up, starting with Grandgear and a few others, but at some point in my career, I would love to revisit Godzilla and see how we can expand this world.

Lastly, what made Grandgear the right project for your English-language debut?

For a long time, I’ve wanted to make a film like Grandgear, which is a live-action take on the mecha genre, the giant robot movie. In Japan, this genre has been explored quite thoroughly in anime or animation, but it’s never really been done in live-action. So that’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

But as a large production and what it would take to produce it, it was hard to visualize a full Japanese cast and a Japanese pilot for the mechs. So I thought to myself, Well, maybe this is the right moment for my Hollywood co-production debut and doing it in live-action. And when we started taking it around, J.J. Abrams was very excited by the project and what the movie could do. I then thought, Well, this is perhaps a perfect moment.

It wasn’t so much that my first priority was making a Hollywood movie or a Japanese co-production, et cetera. It was more that the environment around me aligned with the type of movie I happened to want to make at that moment.

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Toho’s Godzilla Minus Zero is now playing in movie theaters nationwide.