©Courtesy of Toho Pictures.
“It’s a monster, it’s a kaiju, it’s Superman!”
According to director James Gunn, his upcoming Superman film debuting on July 11 was inspired by Toho’s recent Godzilla Minus One movie, which was released to mark the 70th anniversary of that franchise.
In an interview with Cinematoday, Gunn made it clear that he had the Tokusatsu genre in mind, a reference to films that employ giant monsters as adversaries. The director was quoted as saying, “I tried to fuse elements like giant monsters, robots, flying dogs, other superheroes.” Continuing, Gunn said that his goal was “to make a film that depicts Godzilla like Godzilla Minus One but also [as] a great human drama. Superman and the flying dog [Krypto] also appear in this film, but at its core is a human story. The relationship between Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and [villain] Lex Luthor is at the core of the work.”
Godzilla Minus One, which won the Toho studio an Oscar—its first—for visual effects in addition to being a blockbuster at theaters the world over, was made on a relatively low budget of $10-$15 million. On the heels of these triumphs, Toho said that writer/director Takashi Yamazaki would be making a new film in the Godzilla franchise, though no further details were revealed.
In announcing the new project, Yamazaki said he was optimistic about the future of the franchise, adding that he was “really happy to see this excitement. I’m also happy that there are so many children here. Godzilla has gradually become something for adults, so the fact that there are more children as fans and that the next generation is growing is really good for Godzilla’s future.
Gunn’s upcoming Superman film stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, and Isabela Merced, among others. The director was also quoted as telling CinemaDaily Japan that he tried to portray the Man of Steel “with goodness, kindness, compassion, and an attitude that values human life.”