This week saw our inaugural Monsterverse watchalong and it was a blast. We began as all good things should with the king of monsters himself, Godzilla! The 2014 movie is a dark and thoughtful monster movie starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and of course, Big G himself. Director Gareth Edwards joined us to do his first ever live tweet of the movie from the official Godzilla account and it was a total riot. Not only did we—and the fans who joined us—get to enjoy the awesome monster mashup, but Edwards revealed a whole bunch of amazing new art, information, and secrets about production!
Legendary, Toho
Edwards opened his first ever Godzilla live tweet with a super cool tidbit about those rad opening titles.
A lot of the footage used in the titles was actually shot as it's own scene. We were originally going to start the film with a test in the south pacific, but to reduce time it became just titles.
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
The watchalong was filled with plenty of cool moments, but this early reveal of some cut make-up design was especially exciting!
One of my favorite things that got cut out, was a scene with some dead miners in this cave. The make-up team did an amazing job... pic.twitter.com/KgJRp0JrjO
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
The director also revealed the real location of the gorgeous house where Ford and his family live.
This house was actually in Vancouver. We asked the location team to look for a Japanese house on a hill, expecting that they'd fail and we'd have to go to Japan! But unfortunately they found one.
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Edwards also filled the chat with hilarious little production reveals like this charming anecdote about filming the “nuclear plant.”
This 'nuclear plant' location was actually a sewage factory, so it smelt like sh*t the whole time we were filming #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Viewers also got some great insight into sweet moments on set like this Brian Cranston gem.
Love @BryanCranston he made my job easy. There was a very funny outake where he pretended his wife's death was actually a birthday surprise gag and she came out smiling
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Edwards might have forgotten to use this prop but at least he has a nice memento at home.
I remember asking the prop department to make a book written by Serizawa to put on the shelf behind Aaron in this scene. They gave it me as a gift and I stupidly forgot to put it on the shelves in time #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
If this moment had made it in, it would have been such a cool nod to the classic movies that came before!
We actually shot a scene that went at the end of this sequence of Ford falling asleep watching Toho Movies #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
For all us Monsterverse fans out there, Edwards revealed a little about how the Monarch logo came together.
Kyle Cooper who did the titles, also designed the monarch logo. His brief was for it to be like an M or butterfly or warning symbol. He did all three. Genius #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Important goo content!
The Special Effects Supervisor (Joel Whist) on the film once spent a morning showing me six different types of 'goo' for me to pick from. I went home thinking 'and we get paid to do this!' #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
We also learned that crafting the new daikaiju, known as MUTOs, wasn’t easy.
The MUTO was one of the hardest designs to nail. We were messing with the look of the MUTO's till the last possible second. #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
But Edwards did share some awesome concept art that would end up shaping the massive monsters.
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
This sounds like a presentation we would have died to attend tbh…
So, the real emergency response people came to talk to our production about how they would deal with a threat like Godzilla. It was the most surreal experience to sit in a meeting like that with power point presentations. #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
In a nice literary nod to monster stories of yore, the shooting title was a reference to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Nautilus was the codename for our film to keep it a secret whilst shooting #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
But Edwards also revealed that wasn’t the original shooting title…
It was originally codenamed 'Fatman' after the bomb in Hiroshima, but everyone kept thinking it was a comedy film #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
We also learned about a homage that was built into Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character.
Ford was named after Harrison Ford, because when @MAXBORENSTEIN (screenwriter) and myself were asked what character he should be like, we both said a young Harrison Ford #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
One of the coolest parts of the watch along was all the rad art Edwards shared, like these early storyboards.
Early rough storyboards #MonsterverseWatchalong pic.twitter.com/UpdpndOxfv
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Edwards’ commentary was filled with cool secrets that you’d have never known unless you were actually on set!
The voice 'could be a second bogie' is Allen Maris the VFX producer #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
He also shared that some interesting method acting that went on to get those screams from the kids.
That kids scream in the bus is my favorite sounds. The sound designer dressed up as a monster and genuinely terrorized kids to get that authentic scream. #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
More gorgeous roughs of giant monsters preparing to fight!
rough sketches for fighters dive bombing as MUTO hits the water pic.twitter.com/TwhyD2CUs1
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Not that we needed anymore proof, but Ken Watanabe is the best.
So when we shot this scene a mosquito landed on Ken's nose and he carried on like a true pro. Afterwards he said 'Let them Bite' #MonsterverseWatchalong #TrueStory
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Even as massive Monsterverse fans, we learned some new Easter eggs whilst taking part in the watchalong.
Keep an eye out for the tiny soldiers on the rooftops when you see the big shots of the monsters fighting #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
More beautiful concept art. This might be our favorite piece that was revealed during the whole movie.
Another great bit of concept art #MonsterverseWatchalong pic.twitter.com/ZQWCSgF7iG
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Though it should surprise no one that an inventive director like Edwards had unexpected influences, this one is a standout!
Believe it or not, Rocky films were an inspiration for this end sequence. Your hero has to get the living sh*t beat out of him for you to cheer at the end #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Turns out one of the movie’s most iconic moments began as a joke!
We tried so many different ways to do Godzilla's 'knock out blow' to the MUTO, I suggested this one as a joke, but it stuck. #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
Edwards threw us through a loop with this deep take on his apparently ambiguous thoughts on the ending…
OK, so you can argue that Ford died here, and the stadium is heaven. #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
And of course, it’s always good to get a reminder that you never have any idea of the order a film was shot in!
This last moment was Elizabeth Olsen's first day of the shoot. What a star #MonsterverseWatchalong
— Monsterverse (@Monsterverse) April 10, 2020
You can join us for our next #NerdistFromHome #MonsterverseWatchalong Kong: Skull Island on Thursday, April 16, at 5pm PT!
Header Image: Legendary, Toho
Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.
