A lot of people enjoyed director Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One, and it’s one of those movies that movie fans can’t stop talking about. I mean, it is the best Godzilla movie that has been made, and fans really want to see Yamazaki direct the sequel.
While the filmmaker isn’t sure if he is going to direct the sequel, he set the film up for one, and now he’s saying that if he does make it, we are going to see some familiar faces.
During a recent Q&A session hosted by Movie Walker, a fan asked if Yamazaki would prefer to revisit Godzilla as a sequel or through an entirely new project. After thinking it over, Yamazaki shared that he’d want to pursue a sequel to Godzilla Minus One. He explained:
“My honest feelings, I would like to see a continuation of those people’s story. If I could make it [A Godzilla Minus One sequel], I would like to make a movie that involves what happens to them after that.”
Well, I’m sure that Toho will offer him the opportunity to make that sequel, he just needs to take it. The director previously explained that he laid the foundation for a sequel and how the open ending of Godzilla Minus One can lead to the next chapter of the story:
“Godzilla is both a monster and a god. Godzilla is the Tatari-gami that appears in Princess Mononoke. After all, if you really think about it, isn’t it strange that the thing awakened by America’s nuclear tests is going to attack Japan? However, if you think of it as the Tatari-gami, it makes sense. A story about everyone working together to quell an attack by the Tatari-gami.”
Tatari-gami means “cursing gods” and it was the demon that was in Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke. It’s a manifestation of negative energy that causes catastrophes and lays curses. Yamazaki believes these curses have a lot in common with Godzilla, and explains:
“Godzilla was born as a result of an American nuclear test and yet it was created in Japan. Isn’t it incredibly absurd that this happens? However, I believe that Japanese people sense they must accept this and consider it a curse.
“The Tatari-gami from Princess Mononoke also comes to a village he has no connections with, messes it up, and leaves behind a curse. That’s how I felt after making this film. I felt that making a Godzilla movie was a divine ritual. The ritual [gathers] the anxieties of the world at the time and summons them as a cursed deity which must be appeased.”
Godzilla Minus One ends with our main characters reuniting as Koichi learns Noriko ended up surviving a destructive Godzilla attack. We then learn that there’s a black mark hiding on Noriko’s neck, which tells us that she has been cursed by the kaiju.
When previously asked if the filmmaker was going to make a sequel, he said: “I’d like to see someone else’s Godzilla, but I want to make a next time as well. I’ve got very complicated feelings.”
The movie is set in Japan 1945-1947. “After the war, Japan has been reduced to zero. Godzilla appears and plunges the country into a negative state. Against the most desperate situation in the history of Japan, how — and with whom — will Japan stand up to it?”
What would you like to see in a sequel for Godzilla Minus One?
