Most Of Lance Reddick's Godzilla Vs. Kong Scene Ended Up On The Cutting Room Floor
"Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" is now in theaters, and while the movie offers silly but fun Saturday morning cartoon vibes (according to Witney Seibold's review for /Film), one former MonsterVerse cast member's absence will be felt. Talented actor Lance Reddick passed away unexpectedly in 2023, and though he didn't seem to have a planned return to the franchise in the works at the time of his death, he appeared in 2021's "Godzilla vs. Kong."
The MonsterVerse may not have had big plans for the future of Guillerman, the Monarch Director whom Reddick played in Legendary's first Godzilla-Kong showdown, but director Adam Wingard did initially intend for Reddick to have a larger part of that film. "Originally, Lance's part was a little bit bigger as he plays the Monarch director, he's running the organization," Wingard told GamesRadar+ around the time that "Godzilla vs. Kong" was released in theaters (per Syfy). The veteran actor, who's perhaps most remembered for his roles in "The Wire" and the "John Wick" franchise, originally had a bigger moment in the movie, but the sometimes-brutal blockbuster editing process ended up leaving at least one of his character's scenes on the cutting room floor.
Reddick actually had scenes cut from two Godzilla movies
"There was a scene earlier in the film, a big board room scene where they're setting up the mission," Wingard explained. "He had a larger role, but ultimately we didn't need that scene, [and] we changed a couple of plot details during the editing process, [and] that earlier stuff got cut." As is, Guillerman mostly just helps move the film along with a few lines, though the film's novelization more clearly defines his character's role. In the same interview (which, again, was done before Reddick's death), Wingard said Guillerman's role ended up more like "a fun cameo" in which the actor was "still top credited, it's still part of his contract." As he explained, "[Reddick] shows up in the opening credits and then turns up for four lines, maybe three, in the movie ultimately."
Incredibly, this wasn't actually the first time Reddick filmed a scene in a Godzilla movie: he also had an uncredited appearance in 1998's "Godzilla," a critical disappointment directed by Roland Emmerich. In that movie, he played a soldier on a bridge in a scene that was ultimately cut, although Reddick once told DiscussingFilm he was meant to have a bigger role then, too.
Wingard had plans to work with the late actor again
Ahead of the release of "Godzilla vs. Kong," Reddick told the website, "In the [1998] 'Godzilla,' I had one line in a scene that was directed by the second unit director, and the scene ended up on the cutting room floor. So, I have the credit, but I'm not actually in the film." It's ironic and a bit tragic that Reddick was once again largely cut from a "Godzilla" movie decades later, and that it would turn out to be his only other chance to appear in the franchise.
For his part, Reddick called the "Godzilla vs Kong" shoot "a completely different experience" from the '98 film, and hyped the MonsterVerse movie as "full of incredible action and visual effects." In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" hitting theaters, Wingard confessed that he had hoped to reunite with Reddick for the sequel to another movie the pair made together — the darkly comedic 2014 thriller "The Guest" – but didn't get to make it before the actor's passing. "I wanted to get back in there with him," he told THR, "and every movie I develop, I'm always like, 'Ah, this character would've been perfect for Lance.'"