This is one of those good news bad news situations.
Everyone loves an underdog story, and that’s where we’ll begin. Gareth Edwards directed a (very) small film called Monsters that saw him multi-tasking like a mad man in the role of director, writer, special effects wizard, best boy, and more, all for under a few hundred thousand dollars. The story followed two strangers forced to walk through a near future Mexico that is now home to giant alien creatures. He garnered heaps of critical praise for both the film and his ingenuity as the film made the rounds on the festival circuit, and that attention led to it being acquired by Magnolia for a limited theatrical release. That in turn led to Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures offering Edwards the director’s chair on a big budget studio film.
That’s the good news. Yay for the little guy!
The bad news? That big budget studio film is the remake of Godzilla.
Rights to the scaly giant were picked up by Legendary earlier this year, and a script by David Callaham was set into play. With the addition of Edwards the production has reportedly abandoned that script (at least in part) and is currently on the hunt for a new writer.
So why is this part of the story bad news? Because it’s another goddamn Godzilla movie. Did we learn nothing from Roland Emmerich? On the plus side Edwards now gets to make a movie about giant creatures that actually includes more than ten minutes of giant creatures. That isn’t a knock on his film, but seriously, it should have been called Waiting For Monsters. The film’s focus was on the two strangers forced together by the situation… which brings up another point. Monsters was roughly 95% action-free and followed two main characters walking and talking. So while it’s great that Edwards has gotten this gig it’s a giant question mark if he can handle real action, actors, and budget. Even a conservative estimate of $100 million for the new Godzilla’s budget is roughly 200X the one he had on Monsters. Daunting to say the least.
I’m not saying the guy won’t turn in a kick ass giant lizard movie. I’m just saying Joseph Kosinski was once a hotshot young director known for great style on a limited scale too. [Heat Vision]
Related Topics: Monsters
