The MonsterVerse cinematic universe will return to fans in March with the film Godzilla x Kong: New Empire. The script continues the events of Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), follows Kong to find the hollow land inside the Earth – the birthplace of the titans. The project is expected to expand the scale of MonsterVerse, opening the door to welcome more new monsters to this cinematic universe. On the occasion of the movie's upcoming release, director Adam Wingard shared interesting things with us Godzilla x Kong: New Empire and MonsterVerse.
Directed by Adam Wingard.
For you, what is the point of improvement? Godzilla x Kong: New Empire compared to the previous film?
There are a lot of changes. In the previous part, I tried not to change much about the appearance of the two monsters to avoid the audience feeling like they became new characters. Kong's appearance is only designed to look a little older to make sense of the time context. Godzilla remains almost the same as previous films.
However, for this part, I knew for sure that I needed to refresh Godzilla. But I don't want those changes to happen randomly but based on the story in the script. I think Godzilla fans are very excited about this. The story of this Godzilla movie is an evolution. To develop, it will do things that audiences have never seen.
During the first meetings, my colleagues and I thought about letting Kong hold a machine gun. However, I feel those ideas go a bit far. I also don't think I'm the right person to bring a version of Kong holding a machine gun to the screen. In this part, we also gave the monkey a new weapon in his hand to make him look cooler.
Can you reveal more about Skar King – the villain of this part?
The quality of a movie depends a lot on the villain. Unlike super-strong villains who still act according to animal instincts like Ghidorah, Skar King possesses intelligence similar to that of humans. It's like an evil version of Kong, lacking emotions like pity and humanity. This character resembles a dictator, existing to dominate and crave power.
What is the reason for the absence of the main actors of the previous part such as Millie Bobby Brown or Alexander Skarsgård? Are they likely to return in future installments?
I think there's still a chance they'll return in future installments. The direction of this part is to focus more on monsters. You won't need many lines of dialogue to understand what they want to do. For about the first 5 minutes, no human characters even appear. We will listen to the images that tell the story.
The reduction in the number of human characters caused us to reconsider the selection of the cast. This part will focus more on the deaf girl Jia (played by Kaylee Hottle), who was introduced in the previous episode. She is the only character in the MonsterVerse who can communicate with Kong. Therefore, the idea of Jia appearing and being the center of the human character line in this film came very naturally.
Godzilla x Kong's female lead Millie Bobby Brown will be absent from part 2.
In the trailer, audiences can see a humorous scene where Kong and Godzilla run away from danger together. Where did you get the idea to build a rather special and humorous relationship for these two monsters?
From the beginning when I embarked on this project, I wanted something fun, maybe even considered silly at times. During meetings with producers, the first ideas we came up with were even crazier than the final version you will see in theaters. I also think that the ideas that weren't chosen were a bit too much for the majority of the audience. However, they will appear in comic book versions and photo books released near the time of the movie's release. You will find many interesting things in it.
This direction was influenced by the monster movies of the 1970s. I really liked the Godzilla movies at that time. I want to bring those emotions into MonsterVerse. This cinematic universe has gone from very serious scripts to some not so serious scripts and vice versa.
As a filmmaker, I often ask myself what style is right for the MonsterVerse. Strangely enough, I've often been thinking about the Fast & Furious franchise lately, a series that only really found its style after the fifth installment. The first episode was made quite traditionally, like a version of Point Break but with racing people. Then crazy ideas started to be applied. I want the MonsterVerse to become more and more senseless like that.
In a meeting with the producers, I said Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire would be the MonsterVerse's version of Fast & Furious 5, as the franchise begins to move in a more defined style. There will be fans who want extremely serious movies. Others will understand that sometimes it is not so important.
This movie is currently still in balance. Even though there are some humorous and senseless details, we still restrain and focus on building the characters seriously. Even the scene where Kong and Godzilla run away together is the same. I once read some comments that the crew made the proportions wrong and the movements of the characters in that scene were unreasonable. However, this movie is using the perspective of monsters, not ordinary people like the previous parts. Therefore, viewers will have the feeling that they will move normally like humans.
