There are a number of wild cinematic sights to behold in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, but one of my favorites is the image of the King Of The Monsters emerging from the depths of the ocean to curl up inside the Colosseum in Rome for a hibernation stint. Watching the moment, every cat owner on the planet will recognize the titan’s behavior… but what you might not know is that this bit of adorableness serves as a funny link between the upcoming 2024 movie and the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One from last year.
I had the opportunity to interview director Adam Wingard earlier this month during the virtual press day for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and I felt compelled to ask about Godzilla’s special Roman nap in the film. I directly compared the behavior to a cat, and Wingard explained that he took inspiration for the monster from his own pet. Said the filmmaker,
I'm glad you brought that up because my favorite thing in the world to talk about is my cat. And my cat Mischief was the inspiration for that. It actually came about where my production designer was at my place and we were creating concept art for the film, and we had discussed the idea of where is Kong or Godzilla going to hibernate, and there was my cat just curled up in her cat nest, and that's where we came up with the idea. ‘Well, what if we took Godzilla and, you know, made him curl up similarly in the Roman Coliseum?’
That’s super cute, but what makes this story particularly fun is how Adam Wingard’s approach to Godzilla was surprisingly similar to how director Takashi Yamazaki brought the titan to life in the making of Godzilla Minus One. The two filmmakers recently had the chance to discuss their love of and personal histories with the legendary kaiju, and it apparently uncovered a shared love of cats. Wingard continued,
It's really funny because my cat Mischief has been a big inspiration for both Godzilla vs. Kong and this film for Godzilla's mannerisms. And just recently I had a discussion with Yamazaki who directed Godzilla Minus One, and it turns out that his cat was his number one inspiration for his approach to Godzilla. So I don't know what it is about these cats mind-controlling their owners, but for whatever reason, Godzilla directors are taking a lot of inspiration from them.
Anyone who has had a cat for a pet will know that they can be both unholy terrors that leave paths of destruction and wonderful creatures with a knack for getting rid of unwanted pests, so one can see why they might get creative juices flowing for filmmakers.
Fans will soon get to see the end results of this special inspiration as Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is arriving in theaters this Friday, March 29 – featuring an excellent cast that includes Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens and Brian Tyree Henry. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more of our feature and interview coverage of the new chapter in the expanding MonsterVerse.
