The original idea [for Destroy All Monsters!] was to show all of the monsters.

I don't really have a positive or negative opinion about them [the Heisei Godzilla films]. The special effects technically are very sophisticated, but the films lack imagination.

Ishirō Honda (本多 猪四郎) (7 May 1911 - 28 February 1993) was a Japanese director and one of the creators of the Godzilla franchise.

Quotes

• The intention of not only the screenwriter, but also the entire production staff, was to focus on how people would react if a creature such as Godzilla really did appear. What would the politicians do? How about the scientists? How would the military handle the situation? Given this, it was inevitable that the film would seem at least somewhat like a documentary.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• Ghidrah was merely meant to be a modern interpretation of the eight-headed snake of Japanese myth.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• The original idea [for Destroy All Monsters!] was to show all of the monsters. We then started thinking about undersea farming. Eventually, we came up with the idea of an island on which all of the monsters had been collected for scientific study. You see, we imagined that undersea farming would be required to feed all of the monsters. I very much wanted to explore that idea, but because of financial constraints, I was not allowed to do so. Only the idea of an island of monsters survived.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• I don't really have a positive or negative opinion about them [the Heisei Godzilla films]. The special effects technically are very sophisticated, but the films lack imagination. It seems as if all Toho is trying to do is show things being destroyed. I don't fault the members of the production department, though, because I know that that is what Toho's executives are demanding.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• Godzilla was a product of the times. There previously had been no monster like him. So, people were frightened, and shocked, by him. Now, when Godzilla appears in a city, most of the buildings are even taller than he is! The image of what a monster is shouldn't stay the same. It should be different so that people will be shocked and surprised, just as they were by GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS in 1954. Something new, and strange, must be created.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

External links