Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki recently revealed that he turned down a lot of directing offers so that he could helm Toho’s next Godzilla movie.
After Godzilla Minus One became the epic box office and critical success that it was, a lot of studios came knocking on Yamazaki’s door, and one of those studios was Marvel.
The filmmaker confirmed he met with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige during a recent interview, which translated from Japanese. It doesn’t sound like that ended with the director jumping into the world of the MCU.
Here’s an excerpt from VG+’s report: “When asked by announcer Shinsuke Kasai, who appeared on stage wearing a ‘Operation Kaishin’ T-shirt that day, ‘I heard that Operation Kaishin is popular with foreigners,’ he admitted, ‘Yes, they seem to like that kind of down-to-earth fighting style.’
“He also shared some surprising information, saying, ‘The president of Marvel told me, ‘Wadatsumi!’ (laughs). ‘Wadatsumi, good.’
“‘The president of Marvel’ is thought to refer to Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, and Director Takashi Yamazaki continued, ‘He told me, We’re all having meetings every day to see if we can make it happen like that.’ I think it’s just lip service.’
“He also revealed that he received a ‘great offer’ from overseas, but turned it down in order to film a new Godzilla movie, although he couldn’t reveal the details.”
You know, while Yamazaki is a great director who has the talent to make an awesome Marvel movie, I would much rather see him steer clear of studios like Marvel and DC to do his own thing.
In the end, I’m happy that he is making another Godzilla movie, but I’m also excited to see what he does after that.