R.I.P. Mike Schlesinger, 1950-2025

[Benjamin Haines]

Sadly, several trades have reported that longtime Hollywood repertory executive Mike Schlesinger passed away on Thursday, January 9 at age 74.

https://www.indiewire.com/news/obituary/michael-schlesinger-dead-74-years-old-obituary-1235084275/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/michael-schlesinger-dead-repertory-executive-1236107509/

When Schlesinger worked for Sony, he produced and wrote the US version of Godzilla 2000, overseeing a team that included editor Mike Mahoney and supervising sound editor Darren Paskal. The three of them recorded an audio commentary for the DVD release (also later included on the BRD), giving fans a unique opportunity to hear the team that edited a Godzilla film for its US release offering their perspectives on the process while watching the film.

Schlesinger continued to champion Toho's fantasy films during his time at Sony. In July 2006, following a screening of the US cut of G2K at the "Giant Monsters On The Loose" film festival at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre, he and the voice cast and crew took part in a panel discussion. He worked on Sony's three-disc "Icons of Sci-Fi: Toho Collection" 2009 DVD set containing The H-Man, Battle In Outer Space and Mothra. In November 2009, Schlesinger attended a screening of the restored print of Mothra on the Sony Studios lot. In July 2016, Schlesinger again participated in an onstage discussion for a double-feature screening of G2K and Mothra during "Godzilla Night" at the Historic BAL Theatre in San Leandro.

He even posted here on MZ back in the day a total of 24 times under the username miyasaka, the name of Shiro Sano's character in G2K: https://www.scifijapan.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=449

Here's a link to Steve Ryfle's 2014 article "The Godzilla Sequel That Wasn't" on SciFi Japan: https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/the-godzilla-sequel-that-wasnt

^ That article is an in-depth interview with Schlesinger about his unmade proposal for a sequel to G2K. Sony Pictures still held the option to produce a sequel to G'98 for five years after release, which they decided not to immediately exercise, prompting Toho to resume making their own Godzilla movies. After Sony released G2K in the US, Schlesinger pitched them to exercise their G'98 sequel option by instead producing a much cheaper sequel to G2K to be directed by Joe Dante with traditional suitmation and miniature effects provided by Toho. Schlesinger wrote a complete script titled Godzilla Reborn, envisioning it to be set in Hawaii starring a mix of American and Asian actors. Although the movie was never made, it's a fascinating interview that reads like a follow-up to the G2K audio commentary.

Here's a link to a 2001 interview with Schlesinger on The Digital Cinema: https://www.thedigitalcinema.info/michael-schlesinger

Here's a link to a 2008 interview with Schlesinger on the HK and Cult Film News blog: https://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2008/07/return-of-classics-another-exclusive.html

R.I.P. Mike Schlesinger

[lhb412]

I always loved when Mike would unexpectedly turn up in the special features on some Blu-ray or DVD. Like running into an old friend while out and about. Man was a font of knowledge and used it in the realms of restoration and curation.