FILM 1833: GODZILLA

FILM 1833: GODZILLA

TRIVIA: In a television interview, Matthew Broderick said that the entire cast were given wet suits to wear underneath their costumes while filming in Hawaii. He was upset because his wet suit zipped up in the back, which made it difficult to put on every day. One day during a break in filming, he was talking with co-star Hank Azaria, who had his shirt off, revealing a wet suit that zipped up in front. Broderick remarked, "Oh, your wet suit zips up in front." Puzzled, Azaria replied, "They ALL zip up in front." Broderick had been putting his wet suit on backwards every day. 

Fruit of the Loom lost their license to sell any Godzilla-related apparel when they leaked images of Godzilla on the Internet in November of 1997. What Fruit of the Loom didn't know was that the images they were given were unique fakes released by the studio as part of an effort to see which companies they could trust to not leak images to the public, as the studio intended to keep Godzilla's appearance a secret until the film opened.

Mayor Ebert and his assistant Gene are spoofs of the late film critics Roger Ebert and his partner Gene Siskel (who would pass away less than a year after the film's release). This is in response to the duo giving negative reviews to Emmerich and Devlin's earlier films Stargate (1994) and Independence Day (1996). The film also co-opted the duo's trademarked "Thumbs Up" gesture from their various television shows by depicting Mayor Ebert's campaign as "Thumbs Up for New York!" and Gene later disapproving of his decision to exploit the disaster by giving him a thumbs down. When the actual Siskel and Ebert reviewed the film on their show, it received two thumbs down and Gene Siskel commented on being spoofed in the film; he said it was "petty" and asked the filmmakers "if you're going to go through the trouble of putting us in a monster movie, why don't you at least take advantage of having the monster either eat or squash us". The duo would later name the film as one of their worst films of 1998.

Halfway through a screening, Kenpachirô Satsuma, who played Godzilla from 1985-1995, walked out, saying "It's not Godzilla. It doesn't have the spirit."

This movie features more Simpson voice actors than any other project besides The Simpsons (1989) itself: Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Nancy Cartwright. The Simpsons and its creators are huge Godzilla fans and Godzilla, and his roar is used quite frequently in the show.

The film created quite a backlash among the fan base of the original series. The fans conceived a nickname to distinguish this film from the original: G.I.N.O., which is an acronym for "Godzilla in Name Only," indicating their dislike for it.

The policeman seen during Godzilla's arrival is the same policeman (both played by same actor) seen suddenly leaving his patrol car in the middle of an intersection in Independence Day (1996).

Dean Devlin aggressively defended the movie on internet message boards, at times telling the Godzilla fans "to hell with you" if they had a negative opinion over it. The official Godzilla message board was shut down soon thereafter due to all the heated arguing. Years later, Devlin has admitted to recognizing the movie's faults and apologized to the fans in various interviews.

Matthew Broderick's character's name is Dr. Niko Tatopoulos. Godzilla's designer and supervisor is Patrick Tatopoulos.

When this modern remake was first conceived in 1990, James Cameron was originally offered the chance to direct. When he passed, Tim Burton was connected for a few years, with Joe Johnston's name bandied about for some time also. Paul Verhoeven was going to direct but he passed on the project. Then Jan de Bont was attached and set to direct, but his budget for the film, estimated at $150 million, was higher than the studio was willing to pay. After he was let go, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin came in.

Due to the tight deadlines and likely because the monster's look was to be kept secret, the movie wasn't given test screenings. The studio later deemed this a mistake, since this had meant that none of the movie's faults could be fixed for the theatrical release. This was one of the reasons behind the movie's grandiose promotional campaign, since the execs expected the movie to fail without sufficient marketing push.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: Roland Emmerich: [44] Cab in final chase sequence is cab MN 44.

BOOK 148: THE DROWNING OF ARTHUR BRAXTON: CAROLINE SMAILES

BLURB: An urban fairy tale from the acclaimed author of 99 Reasons Why.

Arthur Braxton runs away from school.

He hides out in an abandoned building, an old Edwardian bathhouse.

He discovers a naked woman swimming in the pool.

From this point on, nothing will ever be the same.

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton is an unflinching account of the pain and trauma of adolescence and of how first love can transform the most unhappy of lives into something miraculous. It is a dark and brooding modern fairy tale from one of our most gifted writers.

REVIEW: I’m going to keep this short, and so I probably wont do this justice.  First of all I am too old for this book.  It is a teenager’s book, one of those ones with sex and swearing in to make it really appealing to the teens, make them feel like they’re doing something a bit naughty when they read it.  The word ‘cock’ was used, in my opinion, far too many times and as an adult I found it juvenile. However the book it narrated by teenagers, so then one could argue that the writer really does have an ear for the way teenage boys speak. And they do say cock a lot.

Many who read it describe this book as an urban fairy tale but I think it’s missing something that a fairy tale should have, it’s missing heart.  And I agree with many reviewers that Laurel (a criminally underused character that you start to connect with in the first chapter) is the most (or only) appealing character in the whole thing.

However, despite my criticisms, I did read this quickly and despite the fact that I knew what would happen in the end (Clue: it’s in the title) I did want to read the whole thing and it did keep me engaged. I must say it wasn’t what I was expecting but it was a quick read especially since the chapters with dialogue were laid out as a script and without the added nuisance of he said/she said, a technique I would like to see more often if I’m honest but also found quite lazy writing, I’m torn by this book, I am. Read it, you’ll either be confused or you’ll love it.

(A side note: If I’m honest, I didn’t like Arthur Braxton, I know teenage boys can be like this, but they don’t have to be, you should feel sorry for him, he’s going through a terrible time but you don’t because he’s a twat (and this is what he calls himself.)

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… OF THE DAY

There was such an odd atmosphere today.  The air was heavy with a wet, misty fog.  It was cold but beautiful.

… OF THE DAY

It rained a lot to day.  It was warm in the shed but it didn’t get as hot as it usually does.  I did a bit of design work today and a bit of organizing which always makes me feel like I’ve achieved something, also my whole computer is backed up!

… OF THE DAY

Not a lot of time to be creative today, a busy day of work and then straight to a pub quiz, I think my disappointment is obvious in this little poem…

FILM 1187: RASHOMON

TRIVIA: During shooting, the cast approached Kurosawa en masse with the script and asked him, "What does it mean?" The answer Akira Kurosawa gave at that time and also in his biography is that Rashomon (1950) is a reflection of life, and life does not always have clear meanings.

Often credited as the reason the Academy created the "Best Foreign Film" category.

The title of the film has recently been added to the Oxford English Dictionary as describing "...resembling or suggestive of the film Rashomon (1950), esp. in being characterized by multiple conflicting or differing ... interpretations."

In the downpour scenes showing the Rashomon Gate, Akira Kurosawa found that the rain in the background simply wouldn't show up against the light gray backdrop. To solve this problem, the crew ended up tinting the rain by pouring black ink into the tank of the rain machine. The ink is clearly visible on the Woodcutter's face towards just before the rain stops.

Even during high noon the parts of the forest that the crew needed to shoot in were still too dark. Rather than use a regular foil reflector, which did not bounce enough light, Akira Kurosawa and cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa opted to use a full-length mirror "borrowed" from Daiei's costume department. The crew bounced light from the mirror through leaves and trees to soften it and make it look more like natural sunlight. Miyagawa later called it the most successful lighting effect he had ever done.

In the wife's vision, the music used was only available during post-production. Akira Kurosawa and his editor was amazed when they found that the music corresponded almost perfectly with the action on the screen, and thus they didn't need to change the scene to make it match the music.

In his autobiography, Akira Kurosawa recalled that one of the biggest problems his crew encountered while filming in the forest was that slugs kept dropping out of the trees onto their heads. The cast and crew had to constantly slather themselves with salt to keep the slugs off.