Then and now.
ctformerz asked:
Can you tell us more about Unmade Godzilla Films? Like for example Two Godzillas!: Tokyo SOS!
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Gigan concept art for Godzilla vs. Gigan. The artist is unknown, though the art is based on Takayoshi Mizuki’s design for the character.
Fun note: Gigan is canonically a cybernetic “space dinosaur,” according to the 1985 book Godzilla Monsters All Overall Encyclopedia. His design was influenced by birds as well.
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Shunsuke Kikuchi, who composed the scores for Gamera vs. Guiron, Gamera vs. Jiger, Gamera vs. Zigra, and Gamera: Super Monster, is an incredibly prolific composer whose other work includes Kamen Rider, Doraemon, and even Dragon Ball Z.
Yumi Kameyama became the first known woman to wear a kaiju suit onscreen in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, in which she portrayed the Super Gyaos. According to Shinji Higuchi, he cast Kameyama because “the shape of a woman’s body is different from that of a man’s” and “since virtually all of the people who work in the special effects field are men, I thought that I could make it a little easier for women to enter the field by having one play Gyaos.”[
Takateru Manabe and Jun Suzuki both served as Gamera’s suit actors in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. They were chosen for their short stature as, according to special effects director Shinji Higuchi, “I wanted to shoot a large amount of low angle footage of Gamera and Gyaos, and the only way to avoid having the ceiling of the set be seen in the footage was to have short actors play the monsters” and “If the monster actors are tall, the miniature sets must be large, but if the monster actors are short, smaller sets can be used. We saved money by using small sets because it costs more to construct and maintain larger sets than smaller ones. In addition, if the monster actors are short, only two people are needed to help them get in and out of their costumes.”
The monster suit actors in the Showa Gamera films are notoriously uncredited, however we know two of the actors who played Gamera himself. Teruo Aragaki played the character in Gamera vs. Barugon, Gamera vs. Gyaos, and Gamera vs. Viras. Aragaki is best known as one of the primary monster suit actors in the original Ultraman and as Rodan in Destroy All Monsters.
Umenosuke Izumi played Gamera in Gamera vs. Guiron and Gamera vs. Jiger. Izumi played Antlar in the pilot episode of Ultraman and also played Ragon and Magular later in the series.
Unfortunately, none of the suit actors for Gamera’s many foes are currently identified.
The original Gamera suit was so heavy and hard to move in that Daiei recruited weightlifters from a local weightlifting school to wear the suit. None of them were able to last more than a day of filming. Members of the filmmaking staff then took turns wearing the suit during the rest of filming.
In response to a request, we will be posting about some unmade Godzilla films for the near future. First up is Bride of Godzilla?, a screenplay submitted by actor Hideo Unagami to producer Tomoyuki Tanaka in 1955, following the release of Godzilla Raids Again. Though the screenplay was unsolicited, Tanaka was interested enough to order two more drafts.
The story revolves around the discovery of a Hollow Earth ecosystem populated by a host of giant creatures, including Anguirus, a giant chameleon, and a giant Archaeopteryx. When Godzilla returns to Japan, the Bride of Godzilla - a giant robot invented by Dr. Zenji Shida - is activated. The Bride kills Anguirus and the Archaeopteryx, impressing Godzilla who becomes infatuated with her. The two return to Godzilla’s Hollow Earth lair to “wed,” where a hydrogen bomb inside the Bride detonates, sealing off the Hollow Earth and leaving Godzilla’s fate unknown.
The story was never filmed, and John LeMay proposed in his book The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films: Mutated Edition that this was because it would have proven too expensive. Hideo Unagami later received a story credit for Rodan, which carried over some elements from Bride of Godzilla? Unagami also wrote the short story which inspired The H-Man, though he passed away before filming began.
In 1978, with the Godzilla series on hiatus, Tomoyuki Tanaka asked screenwriter Shuichi Nagahara to rewrite Bride of Godzilla? He completed three drafts, retaining the giant flea from the original story, which became Shockirus in The Return of Godzilla.
Two Godzillas: Japan S.O.S.! was a precursor to Son of Godzilla written by Kazue Kiba, the first woman ever to write for a Godzilla film. In the story, there was a thirty meter blue-skinned juvenile Godzilla named Godzilla Junior who unlike Minilla was a threat to Japan. He hunted giant mussels in the ocean. This screenplay was discarded, but the idea of Godzilla having a son was retained in the finished product, on which Kiba still served as a writer.