Set Visit: Everything we learned from the Godzilla: King of the Monsters set

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Back in August of 2017, JoBlo.com was invited the set of Warner Bros.’ epic GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, the follow-up to Gareth Edwards’ 2014 reboot of the famed Toho character and the prelude to GODZILLA VS. KONG. Yours truly was lucky enough to get the call. As a lifelong fan of the character – and, admittedly, someone who hasn’t been blown away by his last couple big screen appearances – I was incredibly excited to see what director Michael Dougherty had up his sleeve, especially since he had Toho’s entire monster catalog to play with. While on the set, I got to spend a few hours hanging out in monster-hunting organization Monarch’s secret headquarters, talked to the Dougherty and a couple of the actors, checked out the aftermath of some monstrous battles and just generally geeked out about what could end up being the ultimate creature feature. Be warned, there are some spoilers ahead, but nothing that will ruin the movie for you – if anything, you’ll just get a little more excited.

-Filming took place at Blackhall Studios, right outside Atlanta, Georgia. We were told the majority of the film was shot on the massive soundstages of Blackhall, with some exteriors shot around Georgia and second unit photography taking place in Mexico City and New Mexico.

– Godzilla was using up practically all of the stages at Blackhall, both inside and out. Among the sets we were shown: a mock up of Fenway Park’s exterior – which had been destroyed, evidently, by three-headed dragon from hell King Ghidorah – and an Antarctica stage that used over 44,000 pounds of epsom salt for snow. There was the remnants of crashed plane on this set, and one of the producers told us that several main characters were in that plane when it crashed and had to scamper out of its remains. Also spotted: a building marked Outpost 32, clearly a reference to Outpost 31, the setting of John Carpenter’s The Thing. This film will be riddled with film geeky references, rest assured.

– The main set we were privy to was Monarch’s underwater headquarters, known as Fathom. This place was really elaborate, so high-tech it almost gave you the feeling of being in a Bond villain’s secret lair. We were able to walk through several rooms, all of which were dedicated to locating and tracking the dreaded “Titans,” of the movie, of which there are many.

– By now we know that Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah are the main Titans in this film, but according to a very large computer monitor on one of the sets, there are several more out there. Alongside vague outlines of monstrous shapes we saw the code-names “Baphomet,” “Typhoon,” “Abaddon,” “Bunyip,” “Methuselah,” and, of course, “Kong.” So it seems we don’t have to worry about this franchise running out of monsters anytime soon.

– The scene being shot while we were present featured a large number of the film’s main cast, including Kyle Chandler, Ken Watanabe, Bradley Whitford, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Zhang Ziyi and Sally Hawkins. All were seated around a large conference table as the camera did a 360 around them, making for some very long takes. (They must have shot this scene a dozen times, at least.) In the scene, Hawkins is talking about the dangers of a man named Jonah Alan, played by Charles Dance. Alan is a fanatic, the head of a large paramilitary group intent on, quote, “Leveling the global playing field.” Alan has kidnapped Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison, the daughter of Kyle Chandler and Vera Farmiga’s characters, because she has some special connection to the monsters. Chandler’s character is understandably not very happy with this development.

– Dance’s character is evidently responsible for freeing Mothra upon the world, and subsequently wants to capture it. “What would anyone want with a giant worm,” asked O’Shea Jackson, to which Chandler replied, “To catch a big fish.” From what we can gather, the Dance character is intent on capturing the titans for, well, nefarious reasons. He’s also on the lookout for a device called “Orca,” which is used to communicate with the creatures. Yes, folks, we’re officially talking to Godzilla in this movie, and yes, Orca is definitely a Jaws reference.

– Chandler’s character is having none of it, he’s just concerned for the safety of his daughter. At one point he yells at the table, “I’d advise you to kill all of these things, especially HIM,” pointing at an image of Godzilla. It’s my understanding that Chandler will ultimately accept Godzilla as an ally, which is for the best.

– In reference to Mothra, Bradley Whitford’s character says it is a “living, breathing atomic weapon; it’s just larva now but something bigger and meaner is going to hatch.” Want another fun easter egg? Whitford’s character is loosely modeled after – no joke – Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty. (According to Dougherty, the character even drinks a lot, keeping with the spirit of the Sanchez reference.)

– From what I could glean, the film opens with Mothra in containment, but it’s eventually freed by the soldiers led by Charles Dance. Later in the movie, Rodan is unleashed from a volcano near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. King Ghidorah comes out of the ice, presumably in Antarctica, and it was implied that he’s not exactly of this Earth. If so, that would be in line with the character’s original backstory from the 60s.

– In addition to the various Monarch sets, we were shown a room filled with incredible concept art, designs and sculptures for the film. This room was kaiju-heaven, and if the movie’s monster sequences even approach some of what was on display, we’re all in for a treat. Obviously, we weren’t able to take any pictures, or steal any paintings, but there were depictions of King Ghidorah’s destruction of Fenway Park and subsequent face-to-face meeting with Millie Bobby Brown’s character; an aerial chase featuring Rodan and Monarch planes; Mothra cocooned in ice; a three-way fight between Godzilla, Rodan and Ghidorah, and much more. Hopefully this stuff will be shown to the public not long after the film’s release.

– One of the main highlights was getting some time with writer-director Michael Dougherty; some few highlights from our chat with him: Dougherty has been a longtime fan of Godzilla, so much so that he used to draw pictures of the character in his bible at Catholic school. “Godzilla makes everything better,” Dougherty remarked.

– On comparing his film to the first one directed by Gareth Edwards, Dougherty said his is like Aliens compared to Edwards’ Alien, in that it’s more of an ensemble film and more action-oriented. King of the Monsters takes place five years after Edwards’ film, and so it depicts a world that is definitely comfortable with – or at least living with – the reality that monsters are among us.

– Dougherty said he’s putting the God back in Godzilla. His idea is to bring a mythological, almost biblical backdrop to these creatures. The film will acknowledge that thousands of years ago, ancient civilizations worshipped these creatures as deities, so in a way we’ve always known they’ve been here. Mothra fans can take heart that the fairies so well connected to the character may make an appearance in this film, although Dougherty would neither confirm nor deny it.

– Dougherty had a massive sound system installed on set that he played the monsters’ roars on, which he says really had an effect on the actors’ performances. The monsters will all have their own distinctive noises that will be recognizable from previous incarnations, but of course they’ll be updated somewhat, just as Godzilla’s famous roar was in the 2014 film.

-Similarly, all of the creatures will look much like their original designs, but they’ve been updated a little to make them even more imposing, especially Mothra. Dougherty asked himself, how do you take a giant moth and make it look cool? He did a deep dive into moths for reference and discovered a way to make a Mothra that would be intimidating – and beautiful – for 21st century audiences.

– Given his horror background, it’s no surprise Dougherty is bringing a little more of a “horror” element to this film than the previous film had. He also said the tone he’s predominantly going for is a “fun” one, and once again compared his movie to Aliens in that it’s not quite as straight-forward and serious as the first film, it allows for some tongue-in-cheek moments.

– Like Edwards’ film, King of the Monsters treats its creatures with a sense of reality. Dougherty was careful to make sure every shot in the film looks like it could have been taken by a human being; in other words, there’s no “magical flying camera” as he put it. He never wanted the camera movements to feel artificial, adding weight to the proceedings.

– The film delves quite a bit into the Monarch operation. Dougherty described the group as a team of heroes who are scientists. He really liked the idea of scientists being depicted as noble and altruistic, even if they are up against impossible odds. They have only good intentions for the Titans, but obviously it’s in question whether or not the Titans feel the same way about them. (You can read Dougherty’s full quotes in our interview with him.)

– While it has been reported the film will be utilizing some practical effects for the creatures, we didn’t see any evidence of that while we were there. Kyle Chandler told us he’d only been reacting to tape and tennis balls, but that the sounds Dougherty pumped into the stages were more than effective.

– Chandler went on to note he had no problem playing pretend on set, as 100mph wind gusts from fans, rain machines and the harrowing idea of searching for your lost child was more than enough to get his head in the game.

You don’t have to act too hard on some of these sets, because there’s complete devastation. You get the big fans up there blowing over a hundred miles an hour and you start spaying cold water into it and you’re standing out in the middle of the night in the rain. You’re looking for your daughter, no acting needed.”

– Chandler also talked about working with green screens (which, he noted, he had done extensively on Peter Jackson’s KING KONG) and Dougherty’s use of loud sounds during filming.

You’re creating what’s there and that’s sort of enjoyable. And when you’re working with it or running through it, or jumping over it, it doesn’t matter what you see or what it is, they put something there for you. So it’s sort of fun to jump over something and wonder, I wonder what I’m going to see in the film. Is it ice or is it a bullet or what have you.

Whether it’s we’re being attacked, there’s titans battling, things falling and helicopters falling out of the sky and what have you and you create your own deal. And just to give you a sense of what’s going on over the loud speaker, you know, Godzilla (imitates Godzilla roar) and all this, just sort of livens it up.

– Chandler mentioned that, much as the original Godzilla had a none-too-subtle message about the effects the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on Japan in the 40s, this film will too carry a broader message. “How to heal the planet” appears to be the message this time around, something a little more environmental. As a side note, the set visit took place on August 8th; the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? August 6th and 9th, respectively. Interesting timing.

-It’s not all heroic scientists at the forefront of the film. As we learned from O’Shea Jackson, Jr., heavily involved is a special military group called the G-Force, which is tasked with taking on the Titans when necessary. Jackson is the veteran of the team, which is the cream of the crop according to him. He said, and I quote, “we eat Titans for breakfast.” That said, he too recognizes that Godzilla is likely more friend than foe.

-Jackson was thrilled to get in on the Titan action after his two Straight Outta Compton co-stars Jason Mitchell and Corey Hawkins were cast in Kong: Skull Island. Much like everyone else on set, Jackson has been a fan of Godzilla for a long time, and mentioned Gigan as his favorite villain.

It’s always difficult to tell what a film will ultimately look like based solely on a few hours spent on its set, but I certainly have reason to be optimistic about GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS. Dougherty talked the talk, for sure, the sets were extremely cool, and the concept art I was able to check out almost made my eyeballs pop out of my head. As someone who wasn’t in love with Gareth Edwards’ film and its aversion to showing us a lot of Godzilla action, I can safely say it appears KING OF THE MONSTERS puts the big fellow – and his adversaries – front and center for much of the film, and their battles look to be downright apocalyptic.

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS opens May 31st.