Shin Godzilla's Director Had To Produce A 'Radio Drama' Version Of The Movie To Get It Made
Hideaki Anno is one of the most brilliant voices in animation — a writer, director, and animator responsible for masterpieces such as the hugely influential "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (and its many endings), but also the anime that did the same twist as Pixar's "Lightyear" much better and decades earlier. Anno additionally belongs to the prestigious club of animators who successfully made the jump to directing live-action projects alongside Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Brad Bird, Tim Burton, and more. Anno not only brought Go Nagai's "Cutie Honey" to live-action successfully, but he also reinvented iconic franchises like "Kamen Rider" and "Godzilla."
The last one is important because Anno's "Shin Godzilla" is part of a new golden age of Godzilla stories. "Shin Godzilla" is a more satirical take on the King of the Monsters and a poignant movie inspired by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as well as the response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. It was also a rather big departure for the franchise and wasn't exactly easy to get it made, let alone approved by Godzilla's guardians at Toho.
After a screening of the film at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival, executive producer Akihiro Yamauchi said he was worried about letting Anno loose, particularly when he turned in a giant script with a page count for a three-hour-long movie.
"I knew I'd have to cut something," Yamauchi said (via Otaku USA Magazine). "I thought about cutting the climax entirely. Looking back now, I realize that would've been impossible. But I was worried."
Still, Anno promised Yamauchi that the film would be two hours long. "I've heard so many directors tell me the same thing," the producer joked. So, they decided to hire a group of voice actors to do a table read, radio drama-style.
Hideaki Anno's fast-talking script
The whole thing came in at just 97 minutes. "With the action scenes, plus the end credits, it came in at two hours. That convinced me a little bit," Yamauchi added.
Indeed, a big part of the appeal of "Shin Godzilla," and what makes it such a unique movie in the 70-year-old franchise, is its satirical tone and fast-paced, quick-witted dialogue. Most of the film is spent on emergency board and committee meetings where government officials discuss what to do about the threat of Godzilla ... and take too long to actually do anything about it.
This movie is all about bureaucratic red tape and the response to a disaster, be it a natural one or a giant monstrous lizard destroying Tokyo. At times, it even resembles one of Armando Iannucci's movie satires in its approach to politics and witty dialogue. But, of course, this is still a Godzilla movie, and "Shin Godzilla" delivers the goods. Anno gives the iconic kaiju different forms throughout the movie, a then-controversial move that has proven influential, with shows like "Godzilla: Singular Point" and the recent "Godzilla: Minus One" continuing the trend of making Godzilla evolve during the film.