R.I.P. Keizo Murase, 1935-2024

[Benjamin Haines]

It has been reported that legendary Showa-era kaiju sculptor Keizo Murase passed away on Monday, a little more than a week after he turned 89.

https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2349750/full/

The list of classic monster suits and props that Murase sculpted is vast and he kept working all the way to the end. He built the monster for the 2019 short Howl From Beyond the Fog and he just released his directorial debut earlier this year, a movie called Brush of the God.

The Media Blasters DVD release of Varan includes a fully-subtitled, feature-length audio commentary by Murase, as well as a fantastic half-hour featurette in which he discusses his techniques while working on replica pieces of Varan. I'll try to rewatch both of those this weekend.

Here's a transcript of Brett Homenick's 2018 interview with Murase, translated by Manami Takagi with Daisuke Sato:
https://vantagepointinterviews.com/2018/05/23/memories-of-japans-master-monster-maker-keizo-murase-shares-the-secrets-of-the-worlds-greatest-kaiju/

Here's a transcript of Nicholas Driscoll's 2019 interview with Murase, translated by Mariko Godziszewski:
https://www.tohokingdom.com/blog/interview-keizo-murase-2022/

R.I.P. Keizo Murase

[Kailem]

Another OG Showa legend passes away. King Ghidorah, Mothra, both King Kong *and* Godzilla in the same movie and plenty of others, he contributed greatly to some of the best movies and monsters of the golden age of tokusatsu. It sucks that it seems as though with each passing year now the number of original artists, performers, actors etc. from that era gets less and less.

Thanks for the links to those interviews, there's some really great information in there. I'll have to put a pin in that Toho Kingdom one and finish reading it later.

I also didn't realise the Media Blasters Varan DVD had those extras! Those sound fantastic! I'd always meant to import Varan on DVD years ago but just never got round to it, and eventually just figured it had become unobtainable after going OOP. But now I see there are a handful of three-pack Toho movies still in stock on Amazon? Ordered! That's pricier than I thought it would be (adding "tax" at the checkout instead of just including it in the listed price will always be something that makes me shake my head), but better late than never!

[lhb412]

Not many legends from that era of tokusatsu artists left. We're extraordinarily lucky he came back in these last few years to demonstrate his old-school skills!