'Godzilla Minus Zero': Takashi Yamazaki Destroys His Hometown at Last

Two years after "Godzilla Minus One" won the visual effects Oscar, director Takashi Yamazaki has opened "Godzilla Minus Zero" in theaters — the 38th Godzilla film and the 34th produced by Toho, and the first Japanese feature ever shot for Imax screens.

Yamazaki made history with that Oscar. He became the first director to receive the VFX trophy since Stanley Kubrick for 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey." He has not forgotten the improbability of it.

"It was just such a shock to us. I never thought that would happen in a million years because here we are on the other side of the planet making movies for our domestic market," Yamazaki said, speaking through a translator. "That people in Hollywood even saw the movie, let alone give it a nomination and responded to that, shows how open-minded the Academy is to different types of films." The win, he said, opened up "doors, options and possibilities for my career."

What changes for the Shikishima family?

The sequel picks up in 1949, two years after the events of "Godzilla Minus One," and follows the Shikishima family — with Kamiki Ryunosuke and Hamabe Minami returning — as they face "an all-new calamity." Yamazaki directs and supervises the visual effects again.

The title carries the theme. "Zero represents this idea of neutrality," he said. The family briefly attained an ordinary life after the first film, only to be hit by a new tragedy. He drew on mathematics: in certain disciplines, a negative sign in front of zero signals approaching zero. "That's exactly what the characters in this film are doing. They're trying to claw their way back to what feels neutral — an ordinary life."

How do you make a small Godzilla feel enormous?

The film's signature shot — Godzilla rising from the ocean as a seaplane takes off — required roughly 2 billion water particle visual effects elements. The screenplay said only: "Godzilla emerges from the ocean and chases the seaplane." Yamazaki, who storyboards his own films, chose a long lens. This Godzilla stands 50.1 meters (164 feet), smaller than most incarnations, and compressing the depth of field created the illusion of scale. The seaplane races toward camera, waves mounting behind it — Godzilla in pursuit. "If it does, it's over for everyone," he said. It is the first full frontal view of Godzilla emerging from the ocean in the series, and Yamazaki defended the heavy rendering spend: the audience must feel the threat.

Why King Ghidorah means Matsumoto

Ghidorah debuted in "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" — the first kaiju to appear in Matsumoto City, where Yamazaki was born and raised. As a child he went to the theater hoping to watch Ghidorah smash his hometown. Instead, the monster simply flew over Matsumoto Castle. "So I was disappointed," he said. "With 'Godzilla Minus One,' I was able to make the movie I wanted to see as a child. King Ghidorah appears in Matsumoto City... and it smashes it up. It's really a dream come true for me."

The levitation scene in the trailer — a mother and baby lifted by Ghidorah's gravity beam, then falling — was the hardest to shoot. The crew built a tilted set and flew drones around it, then fleshed out the footage with VFX. Yamazaki calls it "a very scary and violent scene" that shows the monster's power indirectly.

Young Sae Nagatani, who plays Akiko, was 2 during the first film; the crew shot whenever she was about to cry. At 5, she now performs on direction. "It felt very authentic," Yamazaki said.

Asked whether another Godzilla film is in him, he answered with a tease: "Let's all stay excited for the third installment of this franchise."