Godzilla Minus One director on its Oscar nomination for best visual effects, going back to the kaiju’s original interpretation, and being proved wrong

Though it was largely intended for Japanese audiences, Godzilla Minus One became the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever in the US and Canada

Much like Oppenheimer, Godzilla Minus One examines the nuclear holocaust and the hydrogen bomb – a deliberate move by writer-director Takashi Yamazaki

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Godzilla Minus One was an unexpected hit when it landed in US cinemas in December 2023, and it has been nominated for best visual effects at the 2024 Oscars. Photo: AP

Published: 4:15am, 21 Feb 2024

Godzilla has been to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, San Francisco, Boston, Moscow, London and Hawaii. But before now, he has never been to the Oscars.

When the Academy Awards roll around on March 10, Godzilla will stretch its scaly, reptilian legs down the Oscars red carpet for the first time in the franchise’s 70-year history. Godzilla Minus One, the 37th film in the series, has been nominated for best visual effects.

Though one of the most potent and long-running (or at least long-stomping) forces in films, Godzilla has never made it to the Academy Awards.

Its domain has been, well, the Pacific Ocean, but also the more popcorn-chomping realm of moviedom. Laying waste to metropolises has not, typically, been a gateway to Hollywood’s biggest night.

“We knew of the existence of the Oscars, of course, but there was never any kind of link between what was happening on the other side of the world and what we were doing,” says Takashi Yamazaki, the writer-director of Godzilla Minus One. “It’s entirely unexpected that these two worlds collide.”

But Godzilla Minus One has proven to be an especially border-breaking phenomenon. And its success at both the Oscars and the box office reflects a deeper shift in movie-goer – and Oscar-voter – tastes toward international productions.