Set Visit: Michael Dougherty talks Godzilla: King of the Monsters!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Michael Dougherty may not have initially seemed like the most obvious choice to direct GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, as his only two previous directorial efforts were medium budget horror films with sardonic spirits: TRICK R TREAT and KRAMPUS. But let’s not forget Dougherty has dabbled in the big budget arena before, having written the screenplays for X2: X-MEN UNITED and SUPERMAN RETURNS. Even more important: he’s been a mega Godzilla fan since childhood, having gone so far as to sketch the big guy in his bible as a kid. His enthusiasm for the world of Godzilla was obvious during our meeting with him on the Atlanta set of KING OF THE MONSTERS, where he spoke about his history with the character, making this the ALIENS to the first film’s ALIEN, designing the looks and sounds of the creatures and much more!

On getting the job and his history with Godzilla:

It didn’t take very long to answer that call. I’d finished Krampus and was taking a little bit of time off. And then had dinner with Alex [producer Alex Garcia] one night, and he brought up that the opportunity to take on the King of the Monsters had presented itself and it was a very quick yes. I’ve been a fan of Godzilla since I was old enough to walk. I grew up watching the Hanna Barbera cartoon, every Saturday morning from the ages of two to seven. It was Hanna Barbera and Super Friends. I think it ABC had been back-to-back. And then my local TV station had the old black- and-white, the Universal Monsters followed by Godzilla movies. So I was just sort of subjected to it for years. And I fell in love with the character. It was funny too, when I got the job, I went back and looked at an old childhood bible. I went to Catholic school, much longer story. I found an old bible that I had where I had drawn Godzilla into like the various bible illustrations. So there was a picture of like the fall of Jericho and I had Godzilla. I figured add Godzilla to anything, it makes it better. So yeah, he’s been a good friend for a very long time. So it’s a dream come true.

On his take on Godzilla in relation to Gareth Edwards’ 2014 version and how he’s handling the monster-hunting agency Monarch:

I hesitate to say it, but I would call it the Aliens to Gareth’s Alien. It’s a bit more of an ensemble film. Whereas the first movie was really about Ford Brody’s character kind of weaving his way through that adventure and Monarch was the backdrop for that. Here Monarch is the focus, because I find that concept really fascinating, the idea that there’s a secret agency that tracks giant monsters. That is a dream come true for me too. Like if the government said, ‘tomorrow you have to fake your death and abandon everyone you to go hunt the paranormal,’ I would be gone in a heartbeat. So, I felt there was an opportunity to sort of craft Monarch as a group of heroes who – unlike a lot of top secret government agencies like X-Files and whatnot who have their own sort of nefarious mission statement – Monarch has a very positive outlook on what these creatures are and what they represent. And the idea of a team of heroes who are scientists really appealed to me. You know, this isn’t a Marvel film where you have people in mech suits or with superpowers running around and getting into endless fistfights. These are just very intelligent, capable people who are up against impossible odds. In our current climate where science is constantly being questioned and targeted, the idea of creating a film where scientists are heroes I thought was really important.

On when this film takes place in regards to Edwards’ film and how the new creatures play into things:

This film roughly takes place in real time. So, you know, we are placed in the first film in 2014. We’re saying this movie takes place roughly five years after. It’s not like the monsters are suddenly popping up out of nowhere. They’ve always been here. They were here before we were. So the concept we’re running with is that this world belongs to them. If anything, we’re the invasive species, and that we’ve simply rediscovered something that’s always been underneath our feet, literally. They are in some ways the old gods, the first gods. And that’s something that we’re also trying to bring to this film is a more mythological, almost biblical backdrop to the creatures. I mean, it’s called Godzilla. So in some ways we’re putting the God back in Godzilla. The idea that these creatures were once worshipped by some ancient civilization.

Further elaboration on how the mythology of these creatures will play into the film:

I really loved that about the old movies, that Mothra was this deity, it really opened up the mythology. So if Mothra existed thousands of years ago and Godzilla existed thousands of years ago and Mothra was worshipped by some ancient civilization – as was Kong – then it would make sense that the other creatures probably had some contact with human beings at some point too. Like as a kid, it always bummed me out to find out that mankind and dinosaurs never actually crossed paths with each other. Like, after years of Harryhausen films, like that was such a heartbreaking truth to discover. So I’m saying fuck that, no. At some point, ancient humans that we have forgotten about somehow did interact with these ancient beasts.

On whether King Kong will be mentioned much in the film:

He’s out there. I mean, I love the idea of these creatures crossing paths. Loved that idea since I was a kid and even the the original Godzilla vs Kong – for as cheesy as it was – the concept was brilliant. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see that smack down? It makes sense they would exist in the same universe.

On the sound design for the monsters’ roars:

I think you should be able to close your eyes and listen to the creatures and be able to identify them without having any visual whatsoever. Because the sounds of the creatures in the originals is so distinct. You know, like Ghidorah’s has got that really cool trill shriek to it. So what I did is I gave a super cut of all the creature noises from the original films to the sound designers and said start here and then start layering and playing. But they have to be as distinct as the original films.

On terrifying his cast with creature noises:

When we’ve been shooting on set, my sound mixer Whit created this massive speaker system, I call it Behemoth. And I’ve got an iPad in the tent and I’ve been playing monster noises. So any scene that involves our cast running and screaming and terror, there’s a lot of them, I’ve been playing the creature noises. And it really ups their performance. Something pops when they hear the noises. So in some ways the creatures have been on set with us, but getting the noises right is huge. I thought they did a great job with Godzilla’s roar in the first movie, I’m actually pushing them a bit further to bring it even closer to the original, even more. But all the other creatures will have some semblance of their original screeches.

On the creatures’ designs and how true they will be to the original looks:

Similar to the sounds of the creatures, to me it’s really important that the silhouettes of the creatures honor the originals. Like, that’s always the basis for any good creature design, is the silhouette. And again, like in the same way that you have to be able to listen to the creature noises and identify the creature without seeing it, you need to be able to look at the silhouette of your monster, whether it’s the alien or Godzilla or Rodan or whatever, and being able to identify it. So we started with silhouettes, just to make sure we get that. There are very distinct shapes, you know, you can’t have Ghidorah without the two tails and three heads, you know? And then he’s got to have the right amount of horns and then the wings are a very distinct shape. You know, they’re not traditional western dragons. So those have been marching orders from the beginning is to make sure that Ghidorah looks more like an eastern dragon versus a Western one. We don’t want it to look like Game of Thrones dragons. Same thing with Rodan: two horns, very distinct wings, the armor chest plate. And the good news too is that Toho has very specific requirements, all of which I completely agree with.

On making sure Mothra looks "cool":

The bigger challenge had been Mothra, because it’s like how do you take a giant moth and make it look cool? It can’t just be a moth magnified big. The beauty of it is, I had to go down a rabbit hole and really research months, and it turns out moths are better than butterflies, they are super cool insects. And there are so many different species of moths that have very different shapes, some of which almost look predatory, you know? Like some of them are much more sleek and a little scary looking than the typical Mothra design. So that allowed some leeway. The approach with Mothra is to create an insectoid, huge creature that looks believable, from every angle and especially in motion, but also looking at the different kinds of aspects that you can draw from nature of bioluminescence, moth dust. And also you can go back to the idea that if these creatures were once worshiped as gods, what would she look like flying in the sky at night? I wanted to jump off this idea that if you saw Mothra hovering in the sky, you'd think that you’re looking at an angel, that you’re looking at a god.

On whether or not he considers this a horror movie:

I wouldn’t call it a horror movie. There’s definitely horror elements. I’m definitely trying to bring in some of that. Obviously, I’m 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, cause regeneration is one of the things that is also drawn from nature. I’ll leave it at that. But yeah, there’s definitely a little bit more horror to it than the previous film had.

On how he would describe the tone of the film:

It’s fun, but what I appreciated about Gareth’s film is that it took things seriously. I think there’s a fine line between the two. This isn’t like a knee-slapping comedy by any means. But again, it’s like if you compare Alien, which is a very straight science fiction film with not a lot of yucks compared to Aliens, which had a bit more fun and tongue and cheek moments. We’re somewhere in the middle there.

On whether or not we’ll see more creature action in this film as opposed to Edwards’ original:

Yeah, we definitely see the creatures a lot more than this movie. But again, what I loved about the visual aspect of Gareth’s film is that he treated them with a sense of reality. You know, there was never a magic CGI flying camera. Every shot of the creatures felt like it could have been shot by an actual human being, whether they’re in a helicopter, on a crane, you know, handheld, whatever. The camera movements were never artificial. And so that’s also one of our ground rules. Because it does take you out of the movie consciously or subconsciously, when you realize, ‘Oh, there’s no way a camera could have possibly gotten that shot.’ It adds a sense of weight and reality to it, which I think is missing from a lot of blockbuster movies.

On whether or not he’s involved with Adam Wingard’s GODZILLA VS. KONG:

Not so much. I mean, besides sort of laying the groundwork for the organization and sort of, I hope, developing a visual Bible for what Monarch is, you know, which was still developed from Gareth’s film. We’re keeping a lot of his work intact, the logo, that sort of realistic feel what the technology, keeping all that going. So I’m hoping that it kind of gets passed on into the next film. That’s kind of like an exquisite corpse, you know, where the work gets passed from one artist to another and ideally they’re adding new interesting layers to it. But I’m not lording over it by any means. [Note: Since this set visit, it has been revealed Dougherty and his writing partner Zack Shields did indeed work on the GODZILLA VS. KONG screenplay.]

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS opens May 31st!