‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Director Explains the 72 Year Franchise’s First R-Rating at World Premiere: ‘Censoring’ the Action ‘Was Not an Option’
Movie’s Title
Ahead of its debut later this year, Godzilla Minus Zero has been rated R for “violent content-bloody images,” making it the first entry in the 72-year-history of the franchise to receive an R-rating.
Returning to helm the sequel after his 2023’s Godzilla Minus One became a monstrous success, Yamazaki says securing the rating was “essential to the film.”
“Logically, as a studio — and even as a director — you want as many people from the general public to be able to see your film,” Yamazaki said. “So, an R-rating might seem like a barrier to entry, and conversations about, ‘Hey, could we have not gotten this down to PG-13?’ of course did happen. In spite of that, though, there were certain scenes that, for me as a director, were so essential to the film that censoring them or cutting them was just not an option for me.”
That stigma has faded over the past decade, starting with the blockbuster success of 2016’s “Deadpool” ($782 million).
In 2019, “Joker” ($1.07 billion) became the first R-rated film to cross the $1 billion threshold. That record was later broken by 2024’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($1.33 billion).
More recently, Christopher Nolan’s R-rated historical epic, The Odyssey, which was released in July, currently stands as the 17th highest-grossing film of all time, with the astonishing figure of $1.72 billion (and still running).
No Spoilers, Please
When Yamazaki took the stage to thunderous applause, he asked the crowd not to spoil any of the sequel’s many surprises on social media.
“You are the first to see this film,” the filmmaker said. “There are a lot of ‘Godzilla’ fans around the world, so let’s work together and do not do any spoilers. No spoilers, please! I am trusting all of you guys.”
Origins
Yamazaki explained how he never intended to create a sequel to “Godzilla Minus One.” Executives at Toho started asking him about a follow-up movie once they saw the first cut of “Minus One,” a thought that made him nervous. It wasn’t until the movie opened in theaters and was celebrated around the world that the director realized a sequel would be a viable option.
Godzilla Minus Zero picks up two years after the giant monster was seemingly defeated due to the efforts of Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a former kamikaze pilot.
But surprise: Godzilla is still alive in Minus Zero.
When approaching a sequel, Yamazaki took note of internet chatter about what fans were expecting next – so he could do the exact opposite.
“There were several ideas, great ideas actually, floating around the internet, all kinds of theories,” he said. “But my mission then becomes, how do I exceed that expectation? Because if I do it as the fans predicted, then what’s the point of me as a creator? That would bum me out. So my goal became to shock audiences and do something that they didn’t predict on the internet.”
“There was a lot of internet theories about, ‘Well, is Noriko going to become the next kaiju somehow? So I told myself, that’s the one thing we’re not going to do!”
As in the previous movie, the relationship between Koichi, Noriko and their adopted daughter Akiko, plays a key role in the new one. The same child actress, Sae Nagatani, returns in the role, though she may not have vivid memories of making the original.
As noted, after 39 movies over more 72 years, it’s the first to ever receive an R rating. The bump up from PG-13 stems from the film refusing to shy away from the horrifying realities of war.
Metaphor for Atomic bombs and Nuclear Power
Several disturbing scenes show bloodied victims or burned bodies in the aftermath of either giant monster attacks or the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, fitting with how Godzilla has always been a metaphor for nuclear weapons.
“Godzilla, as a character, it’s impossible to peel it apart from its history as a metaphor for war and atomic bombs and nuclear power,” Yamazaki noted, adding that he wanted to “go all the way back to the 1954 ‘Godzilla’ and that imagery of where it was born from” with the “Minus” movies.
“There is one issue, however. We’ve gone ‘Minus One’ and ‘Minus Zero.’ So if there is another sequel to this, where do we take it from here?”
Godzilla Minus Zero hits movie theaters on November 6.
