Godzilla Minus One Director Reveals How Just 35 People Did 610 VFX Shots in Eight Months

Back in the late 70s, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are taking audiences to the final frontier - or bringing the final frontier to Earth. A young Takashi Yamazaki is rapt at the massive spacecrafts onscreen, and whatever doubts he'd had about this Spielberg person quickly give way to awe. Coincidentally, the very same VFX studio that captured Yamazaki's starry eyes in middle school, George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, would someday become his competition, contending for an Academy Award with his colossal epic, Godzilla Minus One.
For the final feature in our FYC screening series with Landmark Theatres, Collider was excited to sit down with Yamazaki to discuss what our own Chase Hutchinson calls, "one of the most thrilling takes on the character in recent memory." Godzilla Minus One smashed into theaters in December 2023 and has since garnered critical acclaim, an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and has even become Japan's highest-grossing film in the U.S. in history. It's an ambitious take on Toho's most iconic kaiju that explores another look at the titan's World War II origins, and the people and homes that were devastated by them.
During a conversation with Collider's Steve Weintraub, Yamazaki talks about how Spielberg, a filmmaking god as far as he's concerned, first inspired him to become a director, what it was like meeting him at the Oscar luncheon, and what this nomination means to him and his crew. This marks only the second time a director has been nominated, placing Yamazaki in the same ranks as Stanley Kubrick. He discusses how they managed to tackle 610 VFX shots in only eight months, which scenes proved to be the most challenging, the Godzilla Minus One sequel timeline, and so much more.
#godzillaminusone2023 #TakashiYamazaki #Godzilla
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[@vokasimid5330]

Great translator, he's not only fluent in Japanese but film too

[@arrowmaxwell]

Always a great interview and shared experience for all of us to take in and enjoy. The sheer achievements that were made through this film his nothing short of historic. Much love and respect!

[@823gth2]

なるほど大戸島のシーンはそうしたかったんだ。その方が悲劇性が増すね。にしてもMCもマニアックだし、山崎監督が楽しそうに話すこと！少年時代の夢が叶ってまだ好きで楽しくてたまらないなんて羨ましいし幸せですよね。

[@PumpkinKingPat]

7 minutes ago! First muthafuggahs!!! Can’t wait to buy the 4k steelbook I saw this film 8 times in theaters. Only once in IMAX though unfortunately. Cheers💫

[@thedarkknight2221]

And I’m certain that they were all horribly underpaid. Seriously look up how little that Japanese VFX artists are paid, it’s disgusting.

[@ME-ed7gc]

Yes this is true of all Asian countries but don’t act like it will change it’s the culture it’s the culture in Latin America as well. They don’t fret about that though they are fulfilled by their art and their purpose in life not money

[@sterio2131]

That is wrong, because the amount of money is about the average wage in Japan.

[@lilmilontiktok]

The real budget wasn’t $15M. I feel like they purposefully misled people for quite some time.

[@user-lj9tk7ji1c]

people like you keep saying this but have zero proof of it. stfu

[@Jayy997]

It was less

[@lilmilontiktok]

@@Jayy997 that sounds impossible. There has to be a catch. The vfx artists were probably in terrible conditions

[@shibatsun]

実際は1500万ドルもかかっていません それは監督自身も言っています

[@L1VE3V1L]

11 million