TOKYO - Takashi Yamazaki, the director of "Godzilla Minus Zero," has expressed hope that the latest installment in the iconic Japanese film franchise could spur reflection on the realities of nuclear weapons and war.
"I wanted viewers to think of war and nuclear weapons not as someone else's problem, but as something that concerns them personally," he said in an interview with Kyodo News on Nov. 3, when the movie opened in Japanese theaters.
"Godzilla Minus Zero" set a record for a live-action film's first-day box-office revenue in Japan, earning 910 million yen ($5.75 million), Toho Co. said last week. The movie opened three days later in North America, where it topped the box office over the weekend.
Yamazaki, who is also the film's screenwriter and VFX (visual effects) supervisor, said he deliberately included vivid and realistic depictions of war in what is ultimately an entertainment film.
The film is set in 1949, two years after the previous installment "Godzilla Minus One," which won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 2024.
A former kamikaze pilot who confronted Godzilla in the earlier film and a woman who miraculously survived are now married and trying to rebuild their lives. But their newfound peace is disrupted by another catastrophe involving Godzilla and a different monster.
"Godzilla Minus Zero" is widely regarded as delving more deeply than the earlier film into themes surrounding nuclear weapons and the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.
Yamazaki noted that Godzilla is a creature created by hydrogen bomb testing and has always existed as a metaphor for nuclear destruction and war.
Yamazaki, who made his directorial debut in 2000 and has been an avid fan of Godzilla films since childhood, recounted his talk with one of the film's actors regarding the possibility of making a film about the atomic bombing as a possible "answer" to the Christopher Nolan-directed film "Oppenheimer."
"Oppenheimer" follows the life of physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," but does not depict the devastation of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the other Japanese city hit by a U.S. atomic bomb.
Yamazaki said when he had a chance to talk with Nolan, the two discussed the possibility of an "answer" to the film from the Japanese perspective, and Nolan responded that he would definitely want to watch it.
While the Japanese filmmaker thought it best for a film on Hiroshima to be directed by an American, he was also motivated to make one himself by linking it to a Godzilla narrative.
In preparing for the film, he conducted field research in Hiroshima. Among the experiences that left the strongest impression on him was a collection of paintings created through collaboration between atomic bomb survivors' families and high school students.
He recalled being stunned to see an exhibition showcasing paintings by students in an art club depicting the atomic bombing. The students had visited survivors numerous times, revising their work until they were told, "Yes, that is exactly how it was."
Yamazaki said, "The images were far more horrifying than I had imagined."
His encounters in Hiroshima have inspired him to accurately capture the reality of the atomic bombing onscreen. "This is a point I absolutely cannot compromise on," he said.
At the same time, the 62-year-old director struggled with how to present a subject of this kind to a mainstream audience.
Yamazaki also spoke of the differences between the way Godzilla is portrayed in Hollywood and in Japan, and his view that the Hollywood audience may find the Japanese interpretation hard to grasp.
He expressed his view that while Hollywood often depicts Godzilla as "the ultimate monster," in Japan, Godzilla has traditionally been treated more like an awe-inspiring deity rooted in ancient beliefs.
This is illustrated by a scene in the film in which one of the characters says efforts to confront Godzilla are "beyond the bounds of what humans should do."
"Godzilla is the embodiment of both natural disasters and human-made catastrophes such as war. As with the previous film, there was a sense that making the movie was akin to calming an angry god," he said.
The release of "Godzilla Minus Zero" comes in 2026, a year marked by a string of crises, from natural disasters such as the Kumamoto earthquake and flooding in Nepal to heightened international tensions surrounding Ukraine and Iran.
Although he did not consciously set out to mirror current events while making the film, Yamazaki said that "reality naturally begins to resemble fiction."
At a time when the real world feels increasingly unstable and ominous, he hopes policymakers and those who wield great power will watch the film.
Yamazaki was quick to stress that the film is not meant to preach to audiences despite its serious themes and said he hoped that moviegoers would enjoy it as a form of entertainment.
One of the highlights is the appearance of the three-headed King Ghidorah, a monster portrayed as the foe of Godzilla in the long-running franchise of the city-stomping, fire-breathing monster that began with the release of the first film in 1954.
"Godzilla shaped who I am as a filmmaker," said Yamazaki, who as a child was also inspired by works such as "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." He eventually joined visual production company Shirogumi Inc. to pursue a career in special effects.
He recalled how the image of King Ghidorah left a deep impression on him when he saw it in theaters as a boy but felt the portrayal fell short of what he had imagined. From then on, he was determined to create his own version someday.
"Entertainment should never be a sermon, but it can inspire people to take an interest in things," Yamazaki said.
