Godzilla (movie, 1998)

Synopsis

1960s . A series of French nuclear tests around the Tuamotu archipelago led to the mutation of a lizard . Thirty years later, the monstrous creature attacks a Japanese freighter cruising in the South Pacific . The only survivor is transported to Papeete , where he is interrogated by agents of the DGSE . He whispers the name “Gojira” after an ancient Japanese legend. At the same time, Nick Tatopoulos, a young American scientist working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , is asked to give up his research at Chernobylto go with a group of soldiers to Panama . He discovers the gigantic footprints of the monster, who has crossed the gulf and trampled a village to reach the Atlantic Ocean .

The creature does not take long to talk about her, engulfing several ships. The military, under the command of Colonel Hicks, tries to find the place where the thing seems to be heading. This is New York, on the East coast. Tatopoulos hypothesizes a representative of a new biological species, irradiated by radiation. New York is quickly placed under siege by the army, which fails, despite its large deployment, to stop the reptilian monster. Tatopoulos discovers that the beast is about to lay a hundred eggs in the basement of the city. Her information is stolen by her ex-fiancée, the journalist Audrey Timmonds, who makes a report. Fired by the American army, the scientist is soon recovered by the agent Philippe Roaché, French secret services, who wants to find the nest of “Godzilla” to annihilate it. The army is trying to kill the monster again. Following a fight against submarines, the creature is finally “defeated”

As Tatopoulos and Roaché enter the monster’s lair, they are followed by Audrey and his partner, Victor “Animal” Palotti, who want to report on the “Godzilla” nest. Surprisingly, the monster’s eggs hatch one after the other, giving birth to an army of mini-godzilla. With the means of the edge, the four companions broadcast live, the images of the nest and inform Hicks of its location. The latter sends the F-18 planes to bomb the nest, giving the protagonists time to escape. As the nest is destroyed and the heroes go to leave, the parent “Godzilla” emerges from the ground, proving to have survived. Seeing her offspring annihilated, the creature enters a black rage and pursues the heroes.park avenue ), they manage to trap the monster that, by its size, gets entangled in the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge . The F-18 bombard the giant who collapses in a long and tragic agony. Nick gets closer to the creature, who stares at him, agonizing. This is how “Godzilla” goes out … Still, an egg remains a survivor of chaos …

The film is entitled to a “sequel” with the animated series Godzilla The Series in which the last egg hatches and gives birth to a “new” Godzilla, very different behavior from his parent, Tatopoulos tames to fight against the arrival new mutants (which were born in the same way as Godzilla, by radiation).

Technical sheet

• Title: Godzilla
• Director: Roland Emmerich
• Scenario: Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich , based on a story by Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich , Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio
• Music: David Arnold
• Photography: Ueli Steiger  (en)
• Editing: Peter Amundson and David Siegel
• Special Effects: Volker Engel  (in) , Patrick Tatopoulos , Karen E. Goulekas and Clay Pinney
• Sets: Oliver Scholl
• Costumes: Joseph A. Porro
• Production: Dean Devlin, Kelly Van Horn , Peter Winther , Roland Emmerich , Ute Emmerich and William Fay
• Production Companies: Centropolis Film Productions , Fried Films, Independent Pictures, TriStar with the participation of Tōhō
• Budget: 130 million of USD
• Country of Origin: United States , Japan
• Original languages: English and French
• Format: Colors – 2.35: 1 – DTS / Dolby Digital / SDDS – 35 mm
• Genre: fantastic
• Duration: 140 minutes
• Release dates:
  •  United States : May 18 , 1998(world premiere in New York ), May 20 , 1998 (national release)
  •  Canada : May 20 , 1998
  •  United Kingdom : July 17 , 1998
  •  France : September 16 , 1998
• Monster (s): Godzilla or rather Zilla

Distribution

• Matthew Broderick (VF: Jean-Pierre Michael and DV: Antoine Durand ) : D ^r . Nick Tatopoulos
• Jean Reno (VQ: Guy Nadon ) : Philippe Roaché
• Maria Pitillo (VF: Sybille Tureau and VQ: Christine Bellier ) : Audrey Timmonds
• Hank Azaria (VF: Gabriel Le Doze and VQ: Alain Zouvi ) : Victor “Animal” Palotti
• Kevin Dunn (VF: Jean-Claude Donda and VQ: Louis-Georges Girard ) : Colonel Hicks
• Michael Lerner (VF: Mario Santini and VQ: Aubert Pallascio ) : Mayor Ebert
• Harry Shearer (VF: Serge Blumenthal and VQ: Jean-Marie Moncelet ) : Charles Caiman
• Doug Savant (VF: Jean-François Vlérick and VQ: Benoît Rousseau ) : Sergeant O’Neal
• Arabella Field (VQ: Violette Chauveau ) : Lucy Palotti
• Vicki Lewis (VF: Anne Deleuze ) : D ^r . Elsie Chapman
• Malcolm Danare : D ^r . Mendel Craven
• Lorry Goldman (VF: Yves Beneyton and VQ: Luis de Cespedes ) : Gene, the mayor’s assistant
• Greg Callahan : The Governor of New York City
• Chris Ellis (VF: Philippe Dumond) : General Anderson
• Richard Gant : Admiral Phelps
• Stephen Xavier Lee : Lieutenant Anderson
• David Pressman (VF: Regis Ivanov) : Captain of the Anchorage Submarine
• Christopher Carruthers (VF: Eric Etcheverry ) : Radio Delta 9
• Nicholas J. Giangiulio (VF: Patrick Mancini and VQ: Eric Gaudry ) : Ed, the WIDF News Engineer
• Christan Aubert : Jean-Luc
• Philippe Bergeron : Jean-Claude
• Frank Bruynbroek : Jean-Pierre
• François Giroday : Jean-Philippe ¹
• Nancy Cartwright : Caiman’s secretary
• Lola Pashalinski : the pharmacist
• Ralph Manza  (in) : Joe, the old fisherman
• Leonard Termo  ( VF: Michel Tugot-Doris ) : the first SDF
• Lee Weaver  (in) : the second SDF
• Lloyd Kino : the Japanese survivor
• Jérémie Golfier : a young boy
• Glenn Morshower : Kyle Terrington
• Robert Lesser : Murray

Production

Development

In the 1980s , American director Steve Miner received a “special permission” from the Toho to produce an American film starring Godzilla . With illustrator William Stout  (in) and screenwriter Fred Dekker , it attempts to build the project. Unfortunately, no American studio wants to invest ^2 , 3 .

In 1992, TriStar acquires the rights to Godzilla with the Tōhō to produce a trilogy ⁴ . Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are then engaged. They deliver their final script in 1994 ⁵ . A few months later, Jan de Bont is chosen as director and begins the pre-production of the film, scheduled to come out in the summer of 1996 ⁶ . The director finally left the project after the refusal of TriStar to allocate a budget of 100 to 120 million ⁷ .

Shortly before the theatrical release of Independence Day , the director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin signed to take over the project, provided that they can bring their own ideas ⁸ . They rewrite almost the entire original script of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio . Ecologist and antinuclear convinced, Roland Emmerich decides to include elements related to French nuclear tests (relaunched by Jacques Chirac in Moruroa , French Polynesia , after hiselection in 1995 ) ⁹ .

Distribution of roles

In addition to including allusions to French nuclear tests , Roland Emmerich has the idea to engage the French actor Jean Reno who then refuses the role of Agent Smith in the movie Matrix . As for the main role namely that of D ^r . Niko Tatopoulos, Roland Emmerich directly thought of actor Matthew Broderick . Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno had formerly lent their voices for the movie The Lion King : Matthew Broderick doubled adult Simba in original version while Jean Reno doubled Mufasa in French version.

The character of Mayor Ebert and his assistant Gene, respectively incarnated by Michael Lerner and Lorry Goldman, were chosen because of their physical similarities with the famous film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel who squelched the previous achievements of Emmerich, Stargate and Independence Day . This is a revenge, the references to the critics are obvious including the famous thumb up , the characters are calculating and make bad decisions ^{10 , 11 , 12} .

Shooting

Filming began in May 1997 in New York ¹³ . As filming takes place in Jersey City , a powerful tornado arrives on the city. However, the team decides to take advantage of it and films certain images after the tornado, which will be very useful in post-production ⁹ .

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by David Arnold . However, most of the titles on the album released by Epic are songs by rap – rock artists . Title Come with Me , which takes a sample of Kashmir from Led Zeppelin , an overnight sensation in single ^{[ref. necessary]} . Deeper Underground will also be a success in the world.

Home

The film is inspired only very vaguely from the film Godzilla made in 1954 by Ishirō Honda . In the wake of the film’s bad reviews, the creature of the film was dubbed GINO ( Godzilla In Name Only ) ¹⁵ and Zilla in Japan .

The trilogy finally planned by Sony Pictures Entertainment was canceled after the release of this film. An animated series , Godzilla, the series , was born from 1998 to 1999, acting as a sequel to Emmerich’s film. She received better reviews than the film, and her protagonist (the only descendant of the creature of the film) was much more appreciated by fans, because closer to the original Godzilla.

Toho takes advantage of the critical failure to realize the millennium saga ( Godzilla 2000 , Godzilla X Megaguirus , GMK , Godzilla X Mechagodzilla , Tokyo SOS and Final Wars )

Distinctions

Awards

• 1998 European Cinema Award :
  • People’s Choice Award for Best European Film
  • People’s Choice Award for Best Director for Roland Emmerich
• Razzie Awards 1998 : worst remake and worst supporting actor (Maria Pitillo)
• BMI Film Music Awards 1999 for David Arnold

Appointments

• Razzie Awards 1998 : worst film, worst director and worst scenario
• 1999 Saturn Awards : Best Fantasy Film and Best Director ¹⁶

Notes and references