GODZILLA (1994): Jan De Bont's Unmade TriStar Film

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

I kind of wish the Gryphon design would get another stab at the Godzilla universe. Just as a tip of the hat to the crew that created him.

[Psycho Soldier]

[GFan]

Wow, these articles have been mind-blowing. Great to finally know what really killed this project. I have to totally agree with Henry G. Saperstein... they should have just done it with practical/suitmation FX and used CG for wire-erasing and the like.

And then GINO happened.

[RaptorG]

I'm loving these articles. Every time I read these article, it feels a lot like I'm watching a video documentary.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

I mean a high end animatronic and a high end costume would have done it. Leave the CGI for some larger shots. Shinji Higuchi's Gamera shots proved that.

Anyway, its apparent there was a lot of love in this project.

Sometimes I wonder what goes in the heads of studio execs. Cutting the Gryphon monster for budget reasons while making a SIDEKICK MONSTER? What assbackwards thinking is this?

This reminds me of Kevin Smith's experience when we worked on Superman in the mid 90s.

[lhb412]

It's like the complete opposite of the situation with Legendary Pictures. Tristar bought the rights for the name value, but didn't care a jot about Godzilla and the franchise. When they had a group trying to make a Godzilla film that was, well, like a Godzilla film the studio butted heads with them and eventually shut it down, only to make a very un-Godzilla-like film a few years later.

Then you have Legendary Pictures, which seemed to have Godzilla fans all the way up, including the company's CEO, an enormous fan. There was an emphasis on delivering a spectacular but very traditional Godzilla all the way through the process.

[walshiam]

Politics make me sick, particularly when the guys in charge think they have all the answers.

[Kailem]

These articles continue to be goldmines of information and unseen artwork. After reading this latest one, particularly the "Things Fall Apart" section, so much of what we ended up getting in the 1998 Godzilla makes sense now. "Americanized" Godzilla indeed.

It really makes it even more tragic that the movie fell apart, because reading this you can tell that everyone involved wanted to be respectful of the material and do the best they could to make a proper Godzilla film. Everyone except the studio, apparently. Yet another example of why the "clueless studio executive" stereotype exists.

"The movie is going to cost too much; how about you cut the Gryphon out? Oh, but also, how about you add a little sidekick monster as well?" Yep, that sounds like top-level studio thinking right there.

I can't wait to read the last part. As I said before, I've always been interested in really in-depth 'making-of's, so I'm eager to hear the details of how things morphed from the Jan De Bont version of the film to the one we eventually got (and I'm sure that, much like the first three parts, it will also be a most excellent indeed ).

[Pkmatrix]

Great article! I'm also looking forward to Part 4 and seeing how things transformed from Jan de Bont's version to the final form we got in 1998.

[Henry88]

studio execs are about a brainless as a jellyfish.

[kpa]

SciFi Japan’s look at the unproduced 1994 TriStar GODZILLA concludes with the aftermath of the movie’s cancellation, Sony’s attempt to relaunch the project with a revised screenplay, the fateful decision to take Godzilla in a totally different direction under filmmakers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, and the ongoing legacy of “Godzilla 1998/Zilla” at Toho.

This last chapter features a new interview with screenwriter (1995 rewrite) Don Macpherson, final comments from the GODZILLA ‘94 team (including director Jan De Bont ; writer Terry Rossio; concept artist Ricardo Delgado; creature sculptor Joey Orosco and FX supervisor Boyd Shermis) and more never-before-seen photos from the unmade film.

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2015 ... rt-4-of-4/

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

Tragedy. That's all I can say in one word.

The people who made Godzilla 98, really hated what the character was all about and shows. And the people at Toho were either greedy with wanting to get the movie done, or not assertive enough with their character.

Maybe it was one of those Japanese culture things where you can't say "No" because it's seen as rude?

[RaptorG]

Those four articles were perfect and I feel as though it 's the closing of the Sony/Tristar Godzilla drama. Looks like everything can be pen pointed down to Sony/Tristar as the main blame for where it all went wrong and the biggest issue I see with Devin/Emmerich were their "No reveal" policy that ruin many companies. I have always thought that was the fault of the marketing team.

[Gwangi]

Reading this last chapter, it makes one want to diss on Devlin and Emmerich all over again.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

What would have been Godzilla 94, and what is Godzilla 2014 is a labor by people who know the material, respect it, and in some cases, love it.

This movie was made by people who hated Godzilla movies, didn't get the character. Of course we're still going to hate it after all this years. Night and day.

[Psycho Soldier]

I don't believe G94 would have been a great movie. Entertaining, sure, but even after the Macpherson rewrite, some elements seem underwhelming and/or sharply un-Godzilla. But it's clear that the folks involved were on the right track. Trying to respect the source material, but also trying to make an outstanding movie. The ambition, passion, and talent were all in place.

We could just as well call this article series, "How to Ruin Something Good: A Case Study." All my respect to Keith for putting it together.

[GFan]

Wow. GREAT read! Many thanks for putting these articles together. They've been a kind of fanboy-therapy session for me.

So here's a question: what changes do you think would have been made if they HAD done test screenings? Would Godzilla had lived?

[Pkmatrix]

[kpa]

[Shokara]

[TerranigmaFreak]

I finally finished reading the entire thing. What a ride! The entire article could have been made into a movie. Very interesting.

Which design did you guys like better? I found the Stan Winston designs to be superior only because Gryphon looked better. The Godzilla designs were a toss up.

[zilla92]

Wow. What an amazing read. Thank you so much for your time and effort putting this together. It does sadden me that a core group of people who actually cared about the source material and worked their damn tails off got the shaft especially a director who wanted to make the real star the star,while two filmmakers who in my opinion got lucky with one hit, got the keys to the kingdom handed to them only to destroy it. And they wonder why they get so much hate still.

[Gwangi]

[kpa]

SciFi Japan’s four part overview of TriStar’s unmade American GODZILLA from director Jan De Bont is now collected in one “monster-sized” article!

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2015 ... -complete/

[Kailem]