Mike Dougherty talks Monarch world building and Godzilla vs. Kong

MONARCH acts as the fictional government body which specializes in Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism research and they've been an underlying element in every Monsterverse film so far (Godzilla 2014, Kong: Skull Island). During an interview with Collider, Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Mike Dougherty discussed the process of building this fictional world, dubbed the Monsterverse and how Monarch will play a bigger role in the upcoming Godzilla sequel:

Collider: With all the mythology and world building that’s going into this movie, and obviously you’ve given this a lot of thought, was there, with all the franchise considerations, was there like a Monarch bible already in place or are you writing it as you go?

 

DOUGHERTY: Ah, it wasn’t a bible. More like a pamphlet. It was more like a presentation video. I think the bible is constantly for Monarch being written with each film. You know, it changes. But I really did want this to be the first film that blow open the doors and lets us get a peek behind the curtain. Which is why we’re shooting in Monarch’s headquarters, in their underwater base. I think there was something really powerful about the idea of this secret organization, which has altruistic intentions and noble ideals about trying to understand our place in the world after these creatures have been discovered. So this will be the first film where you finally get to know some of these scientists on a deeply personal level and understand how they interact with each other and how they interact with the creatures. But yeah, well find these things behind the curtain.

Dougherty also spoke a little about his involvement with Adam Wingard's Godzilla vs. Kong, or lack thereof:

Collider: Are you creatively involved in that film in Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong?

 

DOUGHERTY: Not so much. I mean, besides sort of laying the groundwork for the organization and sort of I hope developing a visual bible for what Monarch is, which is still developed from Gareth’s film. We’re keeping a lot of his work intact. The logo, and that sort of realistic feel, and the technology, we’re keeping all of that going. So I’m hoping that sort of gets passed on into the next film. It’s kind of like an exquisite corpse, where the artwork gets passed from one artist to another and ideally they’re adding new and interesting layers to it. But I’m not lording over it by any means.

You can read the full interview over on Collider!