Earlier in the month it was announced that Godzilla Minus One would be nominated for four of Japan's most prestigious film awards--the 48th Hochi Film Awards. The Best Director Award went to Takashi Yamazaki, the film's director, who waited 15 years before the technology was right to develop his film.
Godzilla appeared in his 2007 film, Always: Sunset on Third Street 2, and it proved to him the technology wasn't ready for him to take on his own Godzilla story. "This is what made me postpone directing Godzilla," Yamazaki stated, "I had a staff member who worked for half a year on a scene that only lasted for two minutes, and I thought it would be difficult. Technically speaking, it was still too early."
On winning the Hochi Best Director Award, Yamazaki beamed, "It was a dream come true. It was a super special monster drama. I guess I should win the director's award for that."
Godzilla Minus One was also nominated for Best Film, Best Actor (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and Best Supporting Actress (Minami Hamambe).
Set in a post-war Japan, Godzilla Minus One will once again show us a Godzilla that is a terrifying and overwhelming force. Japan, which had already been devastated by the war, faces a new threat with Godzilla, bringing the country from nothing (zero) into the ‘minus.’
Godzilla Minus One is directed by Takashi Yamazaki. An award winning filmmaker and avid Godzilla fan, his work on Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005) earned him two Japanese Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Screenwriter. He was honored with another Best Director and Best Screenplay nomination for the sequel, Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007). In 2016, he won the Best Director category again for The Eternal Zero. Yamazaki also helmed highly acclaimed actioners, Returner, Space Battleship Yamato and many others.
He gave Godzilla a cameo during an opening dream sequence in Always: Sunset on Third Street 2. In 2021 he returned to Godzilla and directed footage for Seibuen Amusement Park's Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monster Battle Summit.
Godzilla Minus One is now playing in Japan. It opens in the United States on December 1st, 2023.
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Source(s):
Hochi News
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