Roland Emmerich says that he didn’t want to make Godzilla

Before the American Godzilla franchise was rejuvenated with Gareth Edwards’ 2014 film, the big guy didn’t exactly fare all that well in his U.S. debut. Roland Emmerich signed on to helm the first American remake of Godzilla just prior to the release of Independence Day but the film was met with a very harsh reception. It turns out that Roland Emmerich didn’t even want to make Godzilla in the first place.

Roland Emmerich told THR that he had been working on an movie about an asteroid threatening Earth (before the release of Armageddon and Deep Impact) when he was offered a deal to direct Godzilla that he couldn’t refuse.

I didn’t want to do Godzilla. But they made me a deal, which was unheard of. I said, “OK, let’s go about this really radically. I’m not doing big-belly Godzilla. I’m doing him as a lizard.” That was supposed to tell everybody I can’t do this movie. [Godzilla owner Toho] said, “Oh, we’ll call this the new Godzilla, the Hollywood Godzilla. Then, we can still do our fat Godzilla.” [Toho continued to make Godzilla movies with its classic look, while Emmerich’s Godzilla was leaner and faster.] I said, “Shit!” I was constantly working on my meteor film. It just got swept away by Godzilla, and then all of a sudden, Michael Bay came along and did it first.

Although the critics certainly weren’t kind to Godzilla, the film was a modest box-office success, grossing $379 million worldwide. It would take nearly two decades before Hollywood took another stab at Godzilla. Following Gareth Edwards’ film, Legendary’s MonsterVerse has grown to include Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Godzilla vs. Kong. There’s also a Godzilla TV series in the works.

While Roland Emmerich may not have been able to make his meteor movie back in the day, he does have Moonfall set to hit theaters next week. Starring Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry, Moonfall finds the moon knocked from its orbit by some mysterious force and on a collision course for Earth. With life as we know it hanging in the balance and just weeks until impact, a ragtag team is launched into a seemingly impossible mission to land on the Moon and save humanity. Moonfall will hit theaters on February 4, 2022.