‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ showrunner Chris Black joins me on a brand new Geekscape to talk about the making of “that Apple+ Godzilla show”! Along the way, we discuss working with Kurt Russell, the series’ origins at Legendary Pictures, his Godzilla and kaiju fandom, beating out a genre television season, collaborating with comic book writer Matt Fraction on creating the series and so much more! If you’re into TV, Godzilla, or stories in any way, this is a perfect Geekscape conversation just for you!

You can also subscribe to the Geekscape podcast on

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3H27uMH

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3BVrnkW

Conversation Transcript

00:00:01.786 –> 00:00:02.605
Hey, Chris, how are you?

00:00:03.626 –> 00:00:04.206
I’m good.

00:00:04.267 –> 00:00:04.988
Good morning, Jonathan.

00:00:05.008 –> 00:00:06.368
Great to see you.

00:00:06.649 –> 00:00:08.169
So we’re mainly talking

00:00:08.189 –> 00:00:09.429
about Monarch King.

00:00:09.951 –> 00:00:11.131
I was going to say King of the Monsters,

00:00:11.150 –> 00:00:12.371
but that’s Godzilla King of the Monsters.

00:00:13.512 –> 00:00:14.573
He is the King of the Monsters.

00:00:15.233 –> 00:00:18.335
This is Monarch Legacy of Monsters.

00:00:18.614 –> 00:00:21.797
And I got about halfway

00:00:21.817 –> 00:00:22.496
through the show when I

00:00:22.536 –> 00:00:24.759
said I got to have… And you were out.

00:00:24.778 –> 00:00:25.059
You’re like,

00:00:25.079 –> 00:00:26.320
I can’t watch this crap anymore.

00:00:26.539 –> 00:00:27.660
It’s like… Come on now.

00:00:27.760 –> 00:00:28.821
Don’t do that.

00:00:28.881 –> 00:00:29.881
We’ve known each other long

00:00:29.920 –> 00:00:30.621
enough and everything…

00:00:31.521 –> 00:00:32.963
you’ve done since I’ve known

00:00:33.003 –> 00:00:34.003
you I’ve been a fan of and

00:00:34.024 –> 00:00:34.844
then I go back and I’m like

00:00:34.965 –> 00:00:37.167
oh I also liked that but uh

00:00:37.286 –> 00:00:38.948
we met uh when you were

00:00:39.029 –> 00:00:42.470
doing uh we met was it

00:00:42.591 –> 00:00:44.573
outcast it was outcast and

00:00:44.853 –> 00:00:46.174
you that was the first

00:00:46.255 –> 00:00:47.174
adaptation you did the

00:00:47.216 –> 00:00:48.276
robert kirkman comic which

00:00:48.316 –> 00:00:49.758
I i love the comic I love

00:00:49.777 –> 00:00:51.039
paul azateca’s artwork I

00:00:51.079 –> 00:00:52.840
love the show I think you

00:00:52.899 –> 00:00:54.582
and patrick fugate made an

00:00:54.881 –> 00:00:57.664
incredible show uh and then of course

00:00:58.484 –> 00:00:59.706
that was I love working with

00:00:59.765 –> 00:01:02.768
Robert and Paul um and uh I

00:01:02.807 –> 00:01:04.549
can’t remember her uh Liz I

00:01:04.588 –> 00:01:05.510
think was her name who did

00:01:05.549 –> 00:01:08.191
the colors did um uh an

00:01:08.231 –> 00:01:10.013
amazing team and and Robert

00:01:10.072 –> 00:01:11.293
is just the nicest guy the

00:01:11.334 –> 00:01:13.215
most talented funny

00:01:13.314 –> 00:01:14.816
creative sweetest guy you’d

00:01:14.855 –> 00:01:15.615
ever want to work with he

00:01:15.656 –> 00:01:17.177
was unbelievably generous

00:01:17.358 –> 00:01:19.218
to me and and he made it

00:01:19.239 –> 00:01:20.480
very clear early on that

00:01:20.579 –> 00:01:22.100
that you know sort of he

00:01:22.161 –> 00:01:23.081
owned he had creative

00:01:23.141 –> 00:01:25.263
ownership over the comics but that I had

00:01:26.152 –> 00:01:27.373
freedom to make the show

00:01:27.712 –> 00:01:29.274
what it needed to be you

00:01:29.313 –> 00:01:30.614
know that that we didn’t

00:01:30.674 –> 00:01:32.695
have to have this absolute

00:01:32.775 –> 00:01:34.356
fidelity to what he had

00:01:34.397 –> 00:01:35.397
written he just wanted to

00:01:35.456 –> 00:01:36.558
tell the best story and he

00:01:36.658 –> 00:01:39.438
understood that doing a tv

00:01:39.459 –> 00:01:41.219
show an episodic tv show

00:01:41.260 –> 00:01:41.960
was different than writing

00:01:42.001 –> 00:01:43.221
a comic it wasn’t the same

00:01:43.260 –> 00:01:44.081
thing it required a

00:01:44.162 –> 00:01:45.462
different you know approach

00:01:45.483 –> 00:01:46.263
and he was he was

00:01:46.302 –> 00:01:48.004
incredibly kind and

00:01:48.164 –> 00:01:49.125
generous to me and I would

00:01:49.165 –> 00:01:49.885
love to do something with

00:01:49.924 –> 00:01:50.784
him again we just haven’t

00:01:50.805 –> 00:01:51.566
had the opportunity

00:01:52.212 –> 00:01:53.114
There’s an episode you guys

00:01:53.194 –> 00:01:54.417
added that isn’t a

00:01:54.456 –> 00:01:55.378
narrative in the comic book,

00:01:55.397 –> 00:01:56.640
but you added the episode

00:01:56.680 –> 00:01:58.343
about the X coming back.

00:01:59.344 –> 00:02:00.566
And there was a history of abuse.

00:02:01.287 –> 00:02:01.868
Oh, right, right.

00:02:01.888 –> 00:02:05.814
Yeah, that was the sister…

00:02:07.870 –> 00:02:09.330
sister’s character who’s

00:02:09.371 –> 00:02:10.031
kind of spent so long.

00:02:10.070 –> 00:02:10.711
I can’t remember.

00:02:10.811 –> 00:02:11.251
I know.

00:02:11.330 –> 00:02:12.230
I just remember watching

00:02:12.251 –> 00:02:13.570
that episode and just

00:02:13.631 –> 00:02:16.512
loving that deviation from.

00:02:16.592 –> 00:02:17.391
I just saw Ren.

00:02:17.872 –> 00:02:19.233
I had run into Ren who is

00:02:19.293 –> 00:02:20.893
now on and has been for

00:02:20.913 –> 00:02:22.393
several seasons on For All Mankind.

00:02:23.153 –> 00:02:25.334
And I saw her and her

00:02:25.394 –> 00:02:26.554
husband not that long ago.

00:02:26.614 –> 00:02:27.875
I ran into her at an Apple

00:02:27.895 –> 00:02:29.534
event and we went and had

00:02:29.574 –> 00:02:30.675
breakfast and she’s so great.

00:02:30.694 –> 00:02:32.836
She was so great in that in that part,

00:02:33.075 –> 00:02:33.336
you know.

00:02:34.325 –> 00:02:34.445
Well,

00:02:34.485 –> 00:02:36.228
it was all written and then obviously

00:02:36.508 –> 00:02:39.550
Severance, which… Severance was, again,

00:02:39.569 –> 00:02:40.830
I feel like I keep giving

00:02:40.871 –> 00:02:41.991
all the credit to other people,

00:02:42.111 –> 00:02:45.534
but Severance was all Dan Erickson.

00:02:45.735 –> 00:02:46.014
I mean,

00:02:46.074 –> 00:02:49.497
Dan Erickson wrote that pilot on spec.

00:02:49.777 –> 00:02:51.780
It was one of the most

00:02:51.840 –> 00:02:53.001
brilliant special things

00:02:53.040 –> 00:02:54.442
that I had ever read.

00:02:54.461 –> 00:02:56.843
And Dan is just a delight

00:02:56.984 –> 00:02:59.286
and just the kindest,

00:02:59.325 –> 00:03:00.447
sweetest guy who deserves

00:03:00.507 –> 00:03:01.867
all the recognition and

00:03:01.888 –> 00:03:02.868
acclaim that he’s gotten.

00:03:03.825 –> 00:03:05.026
And, you know, I came in,

00:03:05.066 –> 00:03:06.167
he had never sold anything

00:03:06.227 –> 00:03:07.847
before he had never run a show.

00:03:07.907 –> 00:03:09.187
And so I kind of came in as

00:03:09.467 –> 00:03:10.828
the crusty old veteran to

00:03:10.987 –> 00:03:13.527
kind of help him assemble a room,

00:03:13.627 –> 00:03:15.209
hire writers, you know,

00:03:15.248 –> 00:03:15.968
get a team together,

00:03:16.008 –> 00:03:16.748
kind of navigate the

00:03:16.788 –> 00:03:17.889
process of dealing with the

00:03:17.908 –> 00:03:18.889
studio and a network.

00:03:19.490 –> 00:03:19.669
Um,

00:03:20.469 –> 00:03:22.590
and I really saw my role as to just

00:03:22.610 –> 00:03:24.270
kind of defend and support

00:03:24.431 –> 00:03:25.890
Dan’s vision on that show.

00:03:25.971 –> 00:03:29.012
Cause it was so his voice is so unique.

00:03:29.778 –> 00:03:30.560
and and obviously ben

00:03:30.580 –> 00:03:31.640
stiller did an amazing job

00:03:31.681 –> 00:03:32.822
he’s an incredible director

00:03:33.301 –> 00:03:34.423
so much of the casting and

00:03:34.443 –> 00:03:35.383
the look of that show was

00:03:35.544 –> 00:03:38.086
was ben but but the the

00:03:38.106 –> 00:03:39.367
sort of creative dna of

00:03:39.388 –> 00:03:40.729
that show was was old hand

00:03:41.028 –> 00:03:42.971
and um I was really happy

00:03:43.031 –> 00:03:44.532
to be able to to support

00:03:44.551 –> 00:03:45.432
that project it’s really

00:03:45.473 –> 00:03:46.274
special it’s one of the

00:03:46.373 –> 00:03:48.336
it’s one of the the the

00:03:48.376 –> 00:03:49.676
most unique special things

00:03:49.717 –> 00:03:50.897
I’ve ever been associated with

00:03:51.923 –> 00:03:52.242
Loved it.

00:03:52.704 –> 00:03:54.485
And now we’ve got Monarch.

00:03:54.545 –> 00:03:55.165
And Geekscapers,

00:03:55.206 –> 00:03:56.046
I just want to tell you right now,

00:03:56.086 –> 00:03:56.707
if you’re listening to this,

00:03:57.127 –> 00:03:59.069
or maybe we’ll put this out on video,

00:03:59.090 –> 00:03:59.850
but if you’re watching this

00:03:59.911 –> 00:04:00.532
or listening to this,

00:04:00.592 –> 00:04:01.152
we’re going to start

00:04:01.193 –> 00:04:02.054
spoiling it pretty good

00:04:02.074 –> 00:04:02.674
because I really want to

00:04:02.713 –> 00:04:04.436
talk about the full season.

00:04:04.536 –> 00:04:05.757
It’s all aired now, right?

00:04:06.117 –> 00:04:07.038
Yeah, it’s all aired.

00:04:07.299 –> 00:04:08.980
It’s on Apple Plus.

00:04:09.221 –> 00:04:09.901
What’s the statute of

00:04:09.921 –> 00:04:10.983
limitations on spoilers?

00:04:11.022 –> 00:04:11.302
Yeah.

00:04:11.723 –> 00:04:13.163
i think it I think I just

00:04:13.264 –> 00:04:14.085
scratched it with that

00:04:14.125 –> 00:04:15.626
warning and said if you

00:04:15.646 –> 00:04:16.747
haven’t watched all 10

00:04:16.747 –> 00:04:18.067
episodes of monarch legacy

00:04:18.088 –> 00:04:18.908
of monsters we’re gonna

00:04:19.350 –> 00:04:20.310
really get into it and I

00:04:20.711 –> 00:04:22.052
think I’ll just start chris

00:04:22.072 –> 00:04:24.533
with like your involvement

00:04:24.553 –> 00:04:25.514
in it was I mean did

00:04:26.658 –> 00:04:28.519
were you already circling it

00:04:28.699 –> 00:04:30.502
or pitching on it or who

00:04:30.541 –> 00:04:31.963
came to who first and

00:04:32.024 –> 00:04:32.963
obviously severance was an

00:04:33.024 –> 00:04:37.028
apple plus uh right I think

00:04:37.069 –> 00:04:38.769
the fact that I had had had

00:04:38.810 –> 00:04:40.291
had an associate I wasn’t

00:04:40.312 –> 00:04:41.293
circling it it wasn’t

00:04:41.333 –> 00:04:42.374
something I was aware of I

00:04:42.394 –> 00:04:43.314
mean obviously let me back

00:04:43.375 –> 00:04:44.596
up I was obviously aware of

00:04:44.795 –> 00:04:46.978
Godzilla I loved the Toho

00:04:46.999 –> 00:04:48.079
franchise from when I was a

00:04:48.160 –> 00:04:50.021
kid you know watching those movies on my

00:04:51.565 –> 00:04:52.507
on the floor of my parents’

00:04:52.547 –> 00:04:54.428
living room on the Saturday afternoon,

00:04:54.588 –> 00:04:55.970
chiller theater or whatever,

00:04:55.990 –> 00:04:58.512
and had seen all the

00:04:58.552 –> 00:04:59.913
classic Toho movies and was

00:04:59.975 –> 00:05:01.516
familiar with the current

00:05:01.615 –> 00:05:03.158
legendary franchise,

00:05:03.177 –> 00:05:04.199
had seen those as well,

00:05:04.259 –> 00:05:06.120
but was not really aware

00:05:06.180 –> 00:05:07.041
that it was an act of

00:05:07.081 –> 00:05:08.403
development as a TV series.

00:05:08.663 –> 00:05:08.764
And

00:05:09.560 –> 00:05:11.480
there was an old friend and

00:05:11.521 –> 00:05:13.262
colleague of mine who I had

00:05:13.341 –> 00:05:14.723
worked with years ago at

00:05:14.923 –> 00:05:16.644
abc when I was working on

00:05:16.684 –> 00:05:18.564
shows like um ugly betty

00:05:19.305 –> 00:05:20.545
who was then an executive

00:05:20.605 –> 00:05:22.526
legendary and he and I

00:05:22.565 –> 00:05:23.687
remember it vividly because

00:05:23.726 –> 00:05:25.148
it was the last in-person

00:05:25.208 –> 00:05:26.487
meeting was march of 2020

00:05:26.487 –> 00:05:27.769
it was the last in-person

00:05:27.788 –> 00:05:28.569
meeting I had before

00:05:28.629 –> 00:05:29.709
everything shut down for

00:05:29.750 –> 00:05:32.750
covid and uh nick pepper is

00:05:32.771 –> 00:05:34.012
his name who’s a great guy

00:05:34.351 –> 00:05:35.872
and he sat down with me and

00:05:35.892 –> 00:05:36.492
we were talking about

00:05:36.533 –> 00:05:37.814
things that we could do together

00:05:38.598 –> 00:05:39.980
and he said do you know

00:05:40.141 –> 00:05:41.021
godzilla and I was like

00:05:41.041 –> 00:05:42.483
well you know of course I

00:05:42.504 –> 00:05:44.826
know godzilla and uh he

00:05:44.867 –> 00:05:46.108
said we’ve been developing

00:05:46.127 –> 00:05:47.350
it you know legendary you

00:05:48.170 –> 00:05:49.932
know does the movies has its own

00:05:50.757 –> 00:05:52.418
kind of canonical universe

00:05:52.497 –> 00:05:53.557
the legendary feature films

00:05:53.577 –> 00:05:54.519
that are separate from the

00:05:54.579 –> 00:05:57.680
toho uh mythology and he

00:05:57.720 –> 00:05:58.540
said we’ve been trying it’s

00:05:58.641 –> 00:06:00.362
set up at apple we have

00:06:00.382 –> 00:06:01.781
been trying to develop it

00:06:01.841 –> 00:06:02.923
as a series for a while

00:06:02.963 –> 00:06:03.802
we’ve been they’ve been

00:06:03.843 –> 00:06:05.363
working with matt fraction

00:06:05.903 –> 00:06:07.064
but for whatever reason had

00:06:07.105 –> 00:06:08.185
just not been able to get

00:06:08.225 –> 00:06:09.425
it just across the finish

00:06:09.466 –> 00:06:11.447
line at apple apple just

00:06:11.507 –> 00:06:13.228
for just wasn’t seeing it

00:06:13.288 –> 00:06:15.189
yet wasn’t seeing it as an apple show

00:06:15.769 –> 00:06:16.990
So Matt was on it first.

00:06:17.490 –> 00:06:18.170
Matt was on first.

00:06:18.230 –> 00:06:18.930
Matt came in early.

00:06:18.951 –> 00:06:19.951
Matt had been there for a while,

00:06:20.011 –> 00:06:21.732
had done a few different

00:06:21.791 –> 00:06:22.812
iterations of it and

00:06:22.872 –> 00:06:26.634
working with another producing team,

00:06:26.675 –> 00:06:27.435
these producers at a

00:06:27.475 –> 00:06:28.536
company called Safe House

00:06:28.615 –> 00:06:29.536
and then with the in-house

00:06:29.555 –> 00:06:30.557
team at Legendary.

00:06:31.353 –> 00:06:33.357
And had done great work and had really,

00:06:33.797 –> 00:06:34.057
you know,

00:06:34.096 –> 00:06:36.279
and Matt is a passionate fan of Godzilla.

00:06:36.300 –> 00:06:38.262
I mean, Matt Fraction, who was, again,

00:06:38.302 –> 00:06:39.043
I feel like I just keep

00:06:39.062 –> 00:06:40.685
heaping praise on other people,

00:06:40.745 –> 00:06:41.786
who’s just a delight and

00:06:41.807 –> 00:06:42.687
one of the best guys in the

00:06:42.708 –> 00:06:44.009
world to work with.

00:06:44.829 –> 00:06:48.855
It has the kanji symbols for

00:06:48.915 –> 00:06:50.838
Godzilla tattooed across his knuckles.

00:06:51.553 –> 00:06:52.314
So, I mean,

00:06:52.374 –> 00:06:54.875
that’s the degree of the passion,

00:06:54.894 –> 00:06:56.074
the depth of history and

00:06:56.095 –> 00:06:57.255
passion that Matt brings to it.

00:06:57.596 –> 00:06:58.415
But for whatever reason,

00:06:58.516 –> 00:07:00.117
Apple wasn’t seeing it as a show yet.

00:07:00.177 –> 00:07:02.476
They just were not seeing, you know,

00:07:02.677 –> 00:07:04.038
what was this,

00:07:04.637 –> 00:07:06.738
what could we bring to this

00:07:06.819 –> 00:07:08.899
big kind of sci-fi monster

00:07:08.959 –> 00:07:10.279
driven franchise that felt

00:07:10.300 –> 00:07:11.060
like an Apple show.

00:07:12.129 –> 00:07:13.569
And I started working with

00:07:13.610 –> 00:07:14.531
Matt and with Legendary,

00:07:14.571 –> 00:07:15.632
and we came up with this

00:07:15.891 –> 00:07:19.495
way into it that was this young woman,

00:07:20.096 –> 00:07:20.396
Kate,

00:07:20.435 –> 00:07:21.857
who discovers that her father is

00:07:21.896 –> 00:07:23.077
keeping the secret and has

00:07:23.137 –> 00:07:24.139
a whole other family.

00:07:24.358 –> 00:07:25.680
And, you know,

00:07:26.401 –> 00:07:28.182
once we kind of changed our

00:07:28.262 –> 00:07:29.744
tack and came to Apple and said,

00:07:29.783 –> 00:07:30.824
it’s not a show about monsters.

00:07:30.884 –> 00:07:31.985
It’s a show about people who

00:07:32.026 –> 00:07:33.146
happen to live in a world

00:07:33.187 –> 00:07:34.487
where monsters exist.

00:07:35.269 –> 00:07:36.509
They started to see it as a

00:07:36.550 –> 00:07:38.151
show for their for their brand.

00:07:39.338 –> 00:07:41.418
And that was kind of what cracked it open,

00:07:41.439 –> 00:07:42.540
was the Kate and Kentaro

00:07:42.579 –> 00:07:43.779
searching for their dad of it all.

00:07:44.500 –> 00:07:46.079
And I feel like the original

00:07:46.100 –> 00:07:48.281
Godzilla that Max Bornstein

00:07:49.600 –> 00:07:53.701
had been working on had that element,

00:07:54.101 –> 00:07:54.401
you know,

00:07:55.081 –> 00:07:58.002
with the humans being the focus.

00:07:58.262 –> 00:07:59.343
The 2014 version.

00:07:59.942 –> 00:08:01.382
Yes, yes.

00:08:02.322 –> 00:08:03.322
But in 2020,

00:08:03.322 –> 00:08:05.002
when y’all are having this conversation,

00:08:05.023 –> 00:08:06.024
there’s King of the Monsters.

00:08:06.084 –> 00:08:07.283
And King of the Monsters really is…

00:08:08.103 –> 00:08:08.845
it’s the monsters.

00:08:08.884 –> 00:08:09.985
And I love that movie

00:08:10.024 –> 00:08:11.867
because it is so many of

00:08:11.927 –> 00:08:12.966
the greatest of playing the

00:08:13.007 –> 00:08:15.189
greatest hits from the Godzilla universe.

00:08:15.249 –> 00:08:16.089
And of course you want to

00:08:16.110 –> 00:08:17.471
see Congress’s Godzilla,

00:08:17.490 –> 00:08:18.651
which was the movie that

00:08:18.932 –> 00:08:20.593
came out during the, you know,

00:08:20.612 –> 00:08:21.913
it got hit by the pandemic,

00:08:21.934 –> 00:08:23.314
but it was still really enjoyable.

00:08:23.355 –> 00:08:25.555
And there’s this, there’s this new one,

00:08:25.576 –> 00:08:28.458
the kingdom one coming out here in March.

00:08:28.918 –> 00:08:29.059
Yeah.

00:08:30.855 –> 00:08:32.576
But it feels like… Also,

00:08:32.677 –> 00:08:34.918
it’s funny what a small

00:08:34.957 –> 00:08:36.658
town it is in Hollywood.

00:08:36.719 –> 00:08:39.421
Godzilla X Kong and Godzilla vs. Kong,

00:08:39.461 –> 00:08:40.922
both directed by Adam Wingard,

00:08:41.522 –> 00:08:42.923
who directed the Outcast pilot.

00:08:43.403 –> 00:08:44.082
I remember that.

00:08:44.443 –> 00:08:45.803
I remember when he was

00:08:45.865 –> 00:08:47.264
announced for the Outcast pilot.

00:08:47.865 –> 00:08:49.086
I love that Outcast pilot.

00:08:49.306 –> 00:08:50.907
And I think that his

00:08:51.587 –> 00:08:53.489
Godzilla Kong movies are so much fun.

00:08:53.668 –> 00:08:54.548
And you can tell that

00:08:54.889 –> 00:08:56.650
everyone’s playing with

00:08:56.890 –> 00:08:57.711
toys that they love.

00:08:57.730 –> 00:08:58.511
Right.

00:08:59.873 –> 00:09:00.754
When you come in,

00:09:01.234 –> 00:09:02.294
we talk about you should

00:09:02.315 –> 00:09:03.755
say that refer to them as

00:09:03.796 –> 00:09:06.096
toys because it’s really Fraction.

00:09:06.116 –> 00:09:07.518
And I talk about this a lot

00:09:07.717 –> 00:09:10.659
is that we are so honored

00:09:10.720 –> 00:09:12.841
and lucky to come play like

00:09:12.941 –> 00:09:15.503
Legendary and Toho invited

00:09:15.562 –> 00:09:18.384
us into their sandbox and basically said,

00:09:18.664 –> 00:09:19.785
here, you can play with our toys.

00:09:20.166 –> 00:09:22.187
Don’t break them, but have fun with them.

00:09:22.567 –> 00:09:22.888
You know,

00:09:23.028 –> 00:09:23.707
and that was there a lot of

00:09:23.768 –> 00:09:24.769
oversight on their end.

00:09:25.793 –> 00:09:28.035
there was weirdly more

00:09:28.135 –> 00:09:29.177
oversight I think from

00:09:29.278 –> 00:09:30.438
legendary not in an

00:09:30.538 –> 00:09:32.179
intrusive way no but it has

00:09:32.201 –> 00:09:33.282
to dovetail with what

00:09:33.302 –> 00:09:34.883
they’re doing with the

00:09:34.903 –> 00:09:36.264
feature films exactly and

00:09:36.304 –> 00:09:38.086
so it was much more like a

00:09:38.186 –> 00:09:39.967
lot more kind of eyes on us

00:09:39.988 –> 00:09:41.470
to making sure that we fit

00:09:41.830 –> 00:09:43.652
neatly into that space and

00:09:43.792 –> 00:09:44.832
our timeline for the show

00:09:44.893 –> 00:09:46.674
is between 2014 godzilla

00:09:46.735 –> 00:09:47.635
and king of the monsters

00:09:47.936 –> 00:09:48.515
which there’s like a

00:09:48.576 –> 00:09:50.618
five-year gap between the movies.

00:09:50.677 –> 00:09:53.279
So it’s a pretty good span

00:09:53.299 –> 00:09:54.580
of time where we can create

00:09:54.639 –> 00:09:56.061
our own world where you

00:09:56.160 –> 00:09:57.682
don’t know what’s going on

00:09:58.222 –> 00:09:59.302
in the feature timeline.

00:09:59.342 –> 00:10:01.345
So we had to take some care with them.

00:10:01.404 –> 00:10:02.044
Toho was great.

00:10:02.085 –> 00:10:03.566
Toho was just so excited

00:10:03.586 –> 00:10:05.486
that we were even doing the show.

00:10:05.626 –> 00:10:05.868
I mean,

00:10:05.908 –> 00:10:08.929
they have been incredibly supportive.

00:10:09.629 –> 00:10:10.471
They loved the show.

00:10:10.530 –> 00:10:12.192
They loved the scripts.

00:10:12.851 –> 00:10:15.094
When we shot in Tokyo for the first season,

00:10:15.153 –> 00:10:16.754
they invited us to the studio,

00:10:16.815 –> 00:10:17.414
which was fantastic.

00:10:18.011 –> 00:10:19.114
And it was like a pilgrimage.

00:10:19.313 –> 00:10:19.594
You know,

00:10:19.634 –> 00:10:21.657
we were going to where these

00:10:21.777 –> 00:10:23.139
original movies had been made.

00:10:23.158 –> 00:10:24.041
They have a statue of

00:10:24.081 –> 00:10:25.241
Godzilla at the entrance to

00:10:25.282 –> 00:10:26.604
Toho Studios in Tokyo.

00:10:26.783 –> 00:10:28.586
And they’re the best,

00:10:28.767 –> 00:10:31.811
just incredibly lovely, supportive, smart,

00:10:31.890 –> 00:10:33.092
fun people to work with.

00:10:33.433 –> 00:10:34.394
And they’re just excited

00:10:34.414 –> 00:10:34.995
we’re doing the show.

00:10:36.514 –> 00:10:37.955
the opening of the show when

00:10:37.975 –> 00:10:41.136
you have um you know this

00:10:41.197 –> 00:10:42.418
is where I was like oh this

00:10:42.477 –> 00:10:43.418
is going to be a lot of fun

00:10:43.918 –> 00:10:45.820
because you have the john

00:10:45.860 –> 00:10:47.100
goodman version oh wait the

00:10:47.120 –> 00:10:48.922
skull island william randa

00:10:49.422 –> 00:10:50.403
and he’s back on skull

00:10:50.503 –> 00:10:51.802
island and that’s your

00:10:51.883 –> 00:10:54.264
jumping off point is that

00:10:55.081 –> 00:10:56.322
You’re back with William

00:10:56.381 –> 00:10:57.562
Randa or Bill Randa that

00:10:57.601 –> 00:10:59.663
you met in Skull Island And

00:10:59.763 –> 00:11:00.403
that’s where I felt like

00:11:00.442 –> 00:11:01.283
you guys were gonna cast

00:11:01.303 –> 00:11:03.083
the entire net and in it

00:11:03.124 –> 00:11:04.445
really celebrate the entire

00:11:05.105 –> 00:11:06.466
Legendary monster verse

00:11:06.885 –> 00:11:08.907
right and at least hopefully so,

00:11:08.927 –> 00:11:11.368
you know just kind of fit it in here and

00:11:12.087 –> 00:11:15.070
to um kind of like fill in

00:11:15.110 –> 00:11:16.171
the cracks of the stuff

00:11:16.191 –> 00:11:17.831
that we want to see and and

00:11:17.871 –> 00:11:19.232
I loved how much more

00:11:19.253 –> 00:11:20.352
william randy we got and of

00:11:20.413 –> 00:11:22.154
course if you read max

00:11:22.215 –> 00:11:23.535
bordenstein’s graphic novel

00:11:23.556 –> 00:11:24.615
that came out as a prequel

00:11:24.635 –> 00:11:26.638
to the 2014 godzilla you

00:11:26.738 –> 00:11:28.979
picked up like the

00:11:29.019 –> 00:11:29.519
character that he

00:11:29.538 –> 00:11:30.740
introduced in it and he’s a

00:11:30.820 –> 00:11:31.880
major character here in

00:11:32.561 –> 00:11:34.923
shaw oh yeah yeah no I did

00:11:34.982 –> 00:11:36.423
it was funny well it’s a

00:11:36.923 –> 00:11:37.543
there’s a lot there to

00:11:37.583 –> 00:11:39.144
unpack I mean the you

00:11:39.164 –> 00:11:40.225
talked initially about the

00:11:40.285 –> 00:11:40.926
godzilla king of the

00:11:40.966 –> 00:11:42.326
monsters which really is

00:11:42.427 –> 00:11:43.788
this kind of fun grab bag

00:11:43.808 –> 00:11:45.929
of all the classic monsters

00:11:45.970 –> 00:11:46.630
and we knew we kind of

00:11:46.650 –> 00:11:47.451
couldn’t do that because

00:11:47.490 –> 00:11:48.312
it’s not a feature film

00:11:48.331 –> 00:11:48.932
we’re not telling a

00:11:48.972 –> 00:11:50.214
complete story in two hours

00:11:50.874 –> 00:11:51.835
you know you have to be

00:11:51.914 –> 00:11:53.015
able to have a story that

00:11:53.035 –> 00:11:54.657
can continue through 10

00:11:54.657 –> 00:11:55.817
episodes and if we’re lucky

00:11:55.837 –> 00:11:57.058
a second season third

00:11:57.119 –> 00:11:58.139
fourth fifth season who

00:11:58.179 –> 00:11:59.520
knows thank you um

00:12:01.914 –> 00:12:03.056
So we couldn’t just pack all

00:12:03.135 –> 00:12:04.817
the classic characters into

00:12:04.856 –> 00:12:05.677
the first episode.

00:12:05.717 –> 00:12:06.719
You know, we had this sort of,

00:12:06.739 –> 00:12:09.620
and plus as purely as a practical matter,

00:12:10.241 –> 00:12:11.322
we didn’t have the budget for it.

00:12:11.523 –> 00:12:12.003
And, you know,

00:12:13.544 –> 00:12:15.285
we had to tell a human

00:12:15.385 –> 00:12:18.908
centric story because those

00:12:19.188 –> 00:12:21.490
big digital monsters are expensive,

00:12:21.792 –> 00:12:22.131
you know?

00:12:22.392 –> 00:12:24.014
And if you’ve seen the first

00:12:24.053 –> 00:12:24.874
season of the show,

00:12:26.014 –> 00:12:28.615
Godzilla appears in less

00:12:28.655 –> 00:12:30.677
than four minutes of actual screen time.

00:12:31.136 –> 00:12:33.118
That being said… But you

00:12:33.177 –> 00:12:34.418
feel his presence over the

00:12:34.477 –> 00:12:35.798
whole… He’s huge.

00:12:35.818 –> 00:12:37.559
You have the Golden Gate

00:12:37.600 –> 00:12:39.059
sequence from the first film,

00:12:39.799 –> 00:12:41.221
and how much of that was

00:12:41.421 –> 00:12:43.402
footage from that first film?

00:12:43.481 –> 00:12:43.822
None of it.

00:12:44.241 –> 00:12:45.702
So you had to remake those

00:12:45.743 –> 00:12:46.582
giant set pieces.

00:12:46.883 –> 00:12:46.962
Well,

00:12:46.982 –> 00:12:48.504
and that I have to give Max Chapman

00:12:49.063 –> 00:12:49.984
the director credit for,

00:12:50.024 –> 00:12:51.684
because when we wrote it,

00:12:52.544 –> 00:12:53.905
initially the thinking was, well,

00:12:53.926 –> 00:12:55.226
we’ll save money.

00:12:55.287 –> 00:12:56.827
We’ll set it inside the

00:12:56.868 –> 00:12:57.707
school bus because you see

00:12:57.727 –> 00:12:59.448
the buses on the bridge in the movie.

00:12:59.929 –> 00:13:00.769
And we thought, well,

00:13:00.830 –> 00:13:01.671
we put this character in

00:13:01.711 –> 00:13:03.192
that bus and then we can

00:13:03.272 –> 00:13:04.613
take footage from Gareth

00:13:04.673 –> 00:13:06.394
Edwards’ film and we can

00:13:06.413 –> 00:13:07.094
put it through the windows

00:13:07.153 –> 00:13:08.414
and we can save money that way.

00:13:08.554 –> 00:13:10.155
And then when Matt Shackman came in,

00:13:11.056 –> 00:13:12.236
he looked at it and he said,

00:13:12.277 –> 00:13:13.638
to give you the sequence you want,

00:13:13.658 –> 00:13:15.019
to give you the impact you

00:13:15.058 –> 00:13:16.240
want of this character’s

00:13:16.299 –> 00:13:17.600
loss and the trauma this

00:13:17.639 –> 00:13:19.422
character experiences,

00:13:20.062 –> 00:13:21.822
we need to stage our own scenes.

00:13:22.520 –> 00:13:23.981
and so that’s what he did

00:13:24.042 –> 00:13:25.121
and it’s spectacular they

00:13:25.162 –> 00:13:27.283
shot it in a in vancouver

00:13:27.302 –> 00:13:28.543
in a parking lot with that

00:13:28.624 –> 00:13:30.644
that bus on a big uh like

00:13:30.744 –> 00:13:31.904
air bladder so it bounced

00:13:31.965 –> 00:13:32.865
up around and then blue

00:13:32.904 –> 00:13:33.926
screens all around to put

00:13:33.946 –> 00:13:34.966
the bridge and everything

00:13:34.985 –> 00:13:36.366
in the background and the

00:13:36.386 –> 00:13:37.807
big rain birds pouring rain

00:13:37.866 –> 00:13:38.947
up above and filled with

00:13:39.008 –> 00:13:40.489
extras and cars and it was

00:13:40.688 –> 00:13:41.708
it was fantastic that was

00:13:41.788 –> 00:13:43.809
all matt and was there a pushback

00:13:45.071 –> 00:13:47.552
No, I don’t think so.

00:13:47.611 –> 00:13:49.613
There was no creative pushback.

00:13:50.052 –> 00:13:51.293
I think there were always

00:13:51.573 –> 00:13:52.875
eyes on the money we’re spending.

00:13:53.115 –> 00:13:54.355
And that’s partly my job, too.

00:13:54.995 –> 00:13:56.537
As the executive producer of the show,

00:13:57.716 –> 00:13:58.937
part of my responsibility

00:13:58.998 –> 00:14:02.259
is to deliver something within the

00:14:03.043 –> 00:14:04.845
financial parameters they’ve

00:14:04.904 –> 00:14:05.645
given us and they were

00:14:05.666 –> 00:14:06.785
generous it was a generous

00:14:06.826 –> 00:14:07.527
I don’t want to talk about

00:14:07.586 –> 00:14:09.607
numbers sure sure but but

00:14:10.207 –> 00:14:11.928
it it’s far and away the

00:14:11.948 –> 00:14:12.909
biggest most expensive

00:14:12.929 –> 00:14:13.710
thing I’ve ever been

00:14:13.730 –> 00:14:14.850
associated with they gave

00:14:14.890 –> 00:14:16.032
us a very generous amount

00:14:16.072 –> 00:14:17.412
of money to accomplish this

00:14:18.212 –> 00:14:19.994
with but you find you burn

00:14:20.014 –> 00:14:21.014
through it very quickly

00:14:21.033 –> 00:14:23.735
when you start putting

00:14:23.775 –> 00:14:24.856
godzilla on the screen so

00:14:24.876 –> 00:14:25.756
can we get some more people

00:14:25.797 –> 00:14:27.197
talking maybe no but but

00:14:27.618 –> 00:14:28.739
you guys did a great

00:14:29.509 –> 00:14:31.510
But that makes it a TV show,

00:14:31.571 –> 00:14:34.592
because a TV show is, you know,

00:14:34.793 –> 00:14:36.533
the best TV, I think, is people talking.

00:14:36.813 –> 00:14:37.634
You know, I mean,

00:14:38.294 –> 00:14:40.636
it’s the difference between, you know,

00:14:41.217 –> 00:14:43.298
doing it as a series and doing, say,

00:14:43.359 –> 00:14:46.881
one of Adam’s movies, which is, you know,

00:14:46.902 –> 00:14:47.422
on an IMAX,

00:14:47.481 –> 00:14:49.583
designed to be seen with an

00:14:50.004 –> 00:14:51.705
audience on an IMAX movie screen.

00:14:52.085 –> 00:14:53.306
That being said, Geekscape,

00:14:53.446 –> 00:14:55.148
there’s a kaiju pretty much

00:14:55.187 –> 00:14:56.268
in every episode,

00:14:56.307 –> 00:14:57.729
and there are new kaijus in…

00:14:58.610 –> 00:14:59.331
in the universe.

00:14:59.471 –> 00:15:00.831
And I loved the creativity

00:15:00.991 –> 00:15:01.692
with that stuff.

00:15:04.274 –> 00:15:05.456
We knew it was the Godzilla show.

00:15:05.495 –> 00:15:06.996
It’s like, we couldn’t just make it,

00:15:07.096 –> 00:15:08.798
you know, you know,

00:15:08.818 –> 00:15:11.221
we couldn’t do mad men, you know,

00:15:11.240 –> 00:15:13.802
it was like, it had to be people come.

00:15:13.863 –> 00:15:16.446
If you call it monarch legacy monsters,

00:15:17.145 –> 00:15:17.365
you know,

00:15:17.446 –> 00:15:18.847
and people refer to it as the

00:15:18.908 –> 00:15:19.687
Godzilla show,

00:15:19.788 –> 00:15:21.309
Apple is doing the Godzilla show.

00:15:22.198 –> 00:15:23.479
fans of the franchise,

00:15:23.740 –> 00:15:25.460
fans of the movie are going

00:15:25.480 –> 00:15:27.041
to come and want to see Godzilla.

00:15:27.201 –> 00:15:28.681
And they, you know, we,

00:15:29.061 –> 00:15:30.282
it was a little bit of a

00:15:30.302 –> 00:15:31.562
balancing act to tell this

00:15:31.621 –> 00:15:33.482
character driven story about a family,

00:15:33.543 –> 00:15:34.403
about these people,

00:15:34.602 –> 00:15:35.302
about a brother and a

00:15:35.383 –> 00:15:37.303
sister on a journey

00:15:37.364 –> 00:15:38.443
searching for their father.

00:15:38.504 –> 00:15:39.725
That was the kind of quest.

00:15:39.804 –> 00:15:41.926
We talked a lot about the hero’s journey.

00:15:42.485 –> 00:15:44.005
You know, this was their, their, their,

00:15:44.265 –> 00:15:45.567
their quest, you know,

00:15:45.586 –> 00:15:47.648
to find their dad and solve

00:15:47.668 –> 00:15:48.727
the mystery of, you know,

00:15:49.725 –> 00:15:52.586
of monarch but still give

00:15:52.625 –> 00:15:54.167
the audience what they

00:15:54.187 –> 00:15:56.787
expect which is the the

00:15:56.826 –> 00:15:58.788
monster verse you know and

00:15:59.388 –> 00:16:00.349
so I think we did a good

00:16:00.369 –> 00:16:01.469
job we didn’t want it to be

00:16:01.528 –> 00:16:02.408
monster we didn’t want it

00:16:02.428 –> 00:16:03.730
to be a monster of the week

00:16:03.789 –> 00:16:06.110
procedural but we knew

00:16:06.171 –> 00:16:09.312
there had to be some either

00:16:09.371 –> 00:16:10.912
a kaiju presence or a titan

00:16:10.951 –> 00:16:12.232
or a monster presence

00:16:12.913 –> 00:16:13.893
either in the present day

00:16:13.913 –> 00:16:15.433
story or the flashback story

00:16:16.114 –> 00:16:17.275
in pretty much every episode.

00:16:17.316 –> 00:16:18.116
I think there’s only one

00:16:18.157 –> 00:16:19.697
episode that there’s not a monster in,

00:16:19.738 –> 00:16:20.818
might be episode seven,

00:16:20.879 –> 00:16:22.600
which is the main flashback story.

00:16:22.701 –> 00:16:23.903
I don’t think it has a monster in it,

00:16:24.003 –> 00:16:27.547
but we tried to keep it alive.

00:16:27.746 –> 00:16:29.509
And part of the mandate too

00:16:29.589 –> 00:16:32.172
was to embrace the classic

00:16:32.211 –> 00:16:33.173
canon of monsters.

00:16:33.393 –> 00:16:33.753
Obviously,

00:16:33.812 –> 00:16:35.855
Godzilla is the premier

00:16:35.895 –> 00:16:37.557
headliner of season one.

00:16:38.240 –> 00:16:40.861
but also to expand the Pantheon.

00:16:40.902 –> 00:16:41.121
I mean,

00:16:41.162 –> 00:16:43.423
I think Apple very much wanted to

00:16:43.464 –> 00:16:44.325
see some creatures that

00:16:44.345 –> 00:16:45.885
were new to their universe,

00:16:46.486 –> 00:16:49.908
not just mining the back

00:16:49.929 –> 00:16:52.751
catalog of Toho monsters.

00:16:53.236 –> 00:16:54.636
the ice mole monster is

00:16:54.677 –> 00:16:56.177
still my favorite it was

00:16:56.217 –> 00:16:56.977
cool it turned out great

00:16:56.998 –> 00:16:58.097
didn’t it that was that was

00:16:58.258 –> 00:16:59.678
awesome yeah that was

00:16:59.719 –> 00:17:01.058
something that that I i

00:17:01.099 –> 00:17:01.778
can’t remember it might

00:17:01.798 –> 00:17:02.659
have been matt fraction

00:17:02.720 –> 00:17:03.519
someone in the room had

00:17:03.559 –> 00:17:04.480
come up with the idea of

00:17:04.539 –> 00:17:05.681
those the the sort of the

00:17:05.740 –> 00:17:07.800
star-faced moles or moles

00:17:07.820 –> 00:17:09.461
that have the face that has

00:17:09.541 –> 00:17:10.721
the little tentacles on it

00:17:11.382 –> 00:17:13.022
as a as a foundation for it

00:17:13.083 –> 00:17:14.702
and then sean conrad who’s

00:17:14.742 –> 00:17:15.303
our visual effects

00:17:15.343 –> 00:17:17.124
supervisor in the in the

00:17:17.144 –> 00:17:18.763
team the concept artists

00:17:18.784 –> 00:17:19.403
and everybody kind of

00:17:19.463 –> 00:17:21.164
evolved it into this kind of weird

00:17:21.982 –> 00:17:23.023
sort of pangolin

00:17:23.144 –> 00:17:24.484
armadillo-looking thing

00:17:25.226 –> 00:17:27.247
that lives under the ice.

00:17:27.307 –> 00:17:27.928
And it was cool.

00:17:27.988 –> 00:17:28.807
It really turned out great.

00:17:29.328 –> 00:17:30.390
What I liked about it the most,

00:17:30.609 –> 00:17:31.570
and why I think it’s great

00:17:31.671 –> 00:17:32.852
to have in an early episode,

00:17:32.872 –> 00:17:34.512
is it sets up what becomes

00:17:34.593 –> 00:17:35.794
important later with the ants.

00:17:36.354 –> 00:17:37.934
And you start to justify

00:17:38.036 –> 00:17:39.757
some of the sci-fi that

00:17:40.356 –> 00:17:41.597
makes the characters make sense.

00:17:41.657 –> 00:17:43.200
And we can talk about Kurt and…

00:17:43.880 –> 00:17:45.121
Wyatt Russell playing the

00:17:45.141 –> 00:17:46.561
same character and the time jumps.

00:17:46.582 –> 00:17:47.482
Because I want to find out

00:17:47.762 –> 00:17:49.364
how you outlined the

00:17:49.903 –> 00:17:51.244
differences between the

00:17:51.244 –> 00:17:52.145
1950 story you’re telling

00:17:52.405 –> 00:17:56.348
and the 2015 story that you’re telling.

00:17:56.588 –> 00:17:57.490
And you have to keep both of

00:17:57.549 –> 00:17:58.190
those parallel.

00:17:59.151 –> 00:18:00.171
i think only one episode

00:18:00.211 –> 00:18:02.311
again doesn’t throw back to

00:18:02.332 –> 00:18:04.173
the 50s and then is it was

00:18:04.212 –> 00:18:05.333
it similar to the same way

00:18:05.353 –> 00:18:06.212
you’re outlining and

00:18:06.252 –> 00:18:07.294
keeping parallel stories

00:18:07.834 –> 00:18:08.773
with severance where things

00:18:08.814 –> 00:18:09.775
are happening in the same

00:18:10.315 –> 00:18:11.174
at the same time in

00:18:11.214 –> 00:18:12.576
severance for the most part

00:18:13.195 –> 00:18:14.996
but the characters are are

00:18:15.036 –> 00:18:15.696
living in two different

00:18:15.737 –> 00:18:16.336
worlds of the same

00:18:16.376 –> 00:18:17.616
character like how are you

00:18:17.797 –> 00:18:19.337
outlining that stuff and

00:18:19.637 –> 00:18:20.758
how are you planting things

00:18:20.778 –> 00:18:21.858
like seeds etc

00:18:22.798 –> 00:18:23.680
it’s funny I hadn’t really

00:18:23.720 –> 00:18:24.941
thought about it much maybe

00:18:25.121 –> 00:18:26.462
maybe subconsciously but

00:18:26.482 –> 00:18:27.323
until you just mentioned it

00:18:27.383 –> 00:18:28.545
but it is very much like in

00:18:28.565 –> 00:18:30.346
the audi world of severance

00:18:30.445 –> 00:18:31.788
and I mean the main thing

00:18:31.827 –> 00:18:32.627
is you just do it in the

00:18:32.667 –> 00:18:34.710
room matt and I and um the

00:18:34.769 –> 00:18:36.392
other um writing ep on the

00:18:36.432 –> 00:18:38.394
show andy colville and and

00:18:38.413 –> 00:18:39.634
the staff we have a great

00:18:39.694 –> 00:18:40.516
staff of writers

00:18:41.317 –> 00:18:42.397
um you put things up on the

00:18:42.438 –> 00:18:43.317
board and you put colored

00:18:43.337 –> 00:18:44.318
cards up and these are the

00:18:44.358 –> 00:18:45.278
present day cards and

00:18:45.318 –> 00:18:46.659
here’s the we would always

00:18:46.719 –> 00:18:48.960
refer to shaw uh older

00:18:49.000 –> 00:18:50.079
characters shaw and younger

00:18:50.140 –> 00:18:51.500
character is lee so there

00:18:51.519 –> 00:18:53.539
would be shaw and lee um uh

00:18:54.580 –> 00:18:55.361
because he was lee in the

00:18:55.401 –> 00:18:56.080
past and shaw in the

00:18:56.121 –> 00:18:56.941
present and they would have

00:18:56.980 –> 00:18:57.861
different colored cards and

00:18:57.901 –> 00:18:59.801
we would put them up uh and

00:18:59.842 –> 00:19:00.781
you would sort of be able

00:19:00.842 –> 00:19:02.041
to you would move things

00:19:02.082 –> 00:19:03.182
around and you would you

00:19:03.221 –> 00:19:04.022
just be able to kind of

00:19:04.083 –> 00:19:05.843
look at the boards and see oh

00:19:06.772 –> 00:19:07.794
you know this story is too

00:19:07.854 –> 00:19:08.534
weighted towards the

00:19:08.594 –> 00:19:09.434
present there aren’t enough

00:19:09.454 –> 00:19:11.977
flashback cards or but you

00:19:11.997 –> 00:19:14.458
know tracking the story

00:19:14.518 –> 00:19:16.378
lines we it wasn’t always

00:19:16.459 –> 00:19:17.079
easy I mean there were

00:19:17.099 –> 00:19:19.121
times I joke where some we

00:19:19.141 –> 00:19:20.342
would get excited about a

00:19:20.422 –> 00:19:22.763
pitch and our writer’s

00:19:22.824 –> 00:19:24.124
assistant would kind of go

00:19:24.345 –> 00:19:25.204
um guys that character

00:19:25.244 –> 00:19:26.385
hasn’t been born yet and

00:19:26.405 –> 00:19:29.208
we’d be like oh like that’s

00:19:29.268 –> 00:19:30.689
right because we because we

00:19:30.729 –> 00:19:31.789
weren’t we’d get so wrapped

00:19:31.829 –> 00:19:32.549
up in telling the story

00:19:32.589 –> 00:19:33.431
that we hadn’t we weren’t

00:19:33.451 –> 00:19:34.411
keeping track of what year

00:19:34.431 –> 00:19:35.332
it was you know

00:19:36.284 –> 00:19:37.684
Um, but it all sorted.

00:19:37.744 –> 00:19:38.664
I’m sure there, if you,

00:19:38.724 –> 00:19:41.106
I’m sure if you watch the show closely,

00:19:41.126 –> 00:19:41.807
I’m sure there are people

00:19:41.866 –> 00:19:42.867
on Reddit who are,

00:19:42.968 –> 00:19:43.988
there’s probably stuff we

00:19:44.008 –> 00:19:45.788
screwed up and things that

00:19:45.808 –> 00:19:47.509
don’t line up quite right

00:19:47.529 –> 00:19:48.411
and stuff that always slips

00:19:48.431 –> 00:19:49.010
through the cracks.

00:19:49.070 –> 00:19:49.932
But when, you know, we,

00:19:50.031 –> 00:19:51.732
we tried to be really diligent about,

00:19:51.952 –> 00:19:53.353
you know, it was, it’s all planning.

00:19:53.512 –> 00:19:54.314
It’s all just the more…

00:19:55.130 –> 00:19:56.371
the more time you have to

00:19:56.471 –> 00:19:57.711
build the architecture to

00:19:57.791 –> 00:19:59.953
blueprint it out you know

00:19:59.973 –> 00:20:02.675
uh um and pressure test it

00:20:02.855 –> 00:20:04.076
then then you know then it

00:20:04.116 –> 00:20:05.758
works on the screen and we

00:20:05.778 –> 00:20:06.618
would try in terms of

00:20:06.679 –> 00:20:07.819
making the stories line up

00:20:07.839 –> 00:20:09.099
but sometimes they were

00:20:09.201 –> 00:20:12.063
linked by by a plot element

00:20:12.242 –> 00:20:14.144
but but what we tried to do

00:20:14.243 –> 00:20:17.886
most often was link them

00:20:17.906 –> 00:20:19.167
sort of emotionally like

00:20:19.228 –> 00:20:20.348
what what is going on in

00:20:20.368 –> 00:20:21.930
the past with these characters

00:20:22.671 –> 00:20:24.633
that is reinforcing how they

00:20:24.692 –> 00:20:26.034
feel in the present you

00:20:26.074 –> 00:20:27.615
know what you know I think

00:20:28.355 –> 00:20:30.538
you know uh episode six is

00:20:30.558 –> 00:20:31.519
a good example episode

00:20:31.640 –> 00:20:32.820
eight is a good example um

00:20:34.201 –> 00:20:36.104
of what what shaw was going

00:20:36.203 –> 00:20:38.226
through in the past that

00:20:38.445 –> 00:20:39.787
informed the decisions that

00:20:39.807 –> 00:20:41.489
he made in the present um

00:20:42.009 –> 00:20:42.789
you know those those were

00:20:42.809 –> 00:20:43.951
the kind of linkages that

00:20:43.990 –> 00:20:45.772
we made or tried to make when they worked

00:20:46.806 –> 00:20:46.965
Well,

00:20:46.986 –> 00:20:49.928
we’ve met that world before in Kong

00:20:49.948 –> 00:20:51.388
vs. Godzilla, the underneath.

00:20:51.730 –> 00:20:54.191
When you start to introduce

00:20:54.230 –> 00:20:56.593
the element that time works

00:20:57.874 –> 00:20:59.855
drastically different between the worlds,

00:21:00.296 –> 00:21:02.297
and we’ll absolutely talk

00:21:02.336 –> 00:21:05.538
about the Kiko-Sha reunion scene,

00:21:06.099 –> 00:21:08.621
but was there anything that

00:21:09.021 –> 00:21:09.862
on the legendary side

00:21:10.522 –> 00:21:12.824
caused some conflict there

00:21:12.844 –> 00:21:14.144
where it’s like, well,

00:21:14.265 –> 00:21:16.267
we have both worlds in our movies too,

00:21:17.415 –> 00:21:21.397
And that might change the plots in our,

00:21:21.558 –> 00:21:22.078
you know, because,

00:21:22.558 –> 00:21:23.640
because they have the same world.

00:21:23.680 –> 00:21:24.440
So they want to play by the

00:21:24.480 –> 00:21:25.381
same rule of time.

00:21:25.401 –> 00:21:26.961
I think that was,

00:21:27.182 –> 00:21:27.981
I think that was the

00:21:28.041 –> 00:21:29.323
biggest minefield that we

00:21:29.423 –> 00:21:31.243
stumbled into in breaking

00:21:31.263 –> 00:21:32.644
the first season, you know,

00:21:32.744 –> 00:21:35.787
was that in it evolved a lot.

00:21:35.826 –> 00:21:37.887
It changed over the course of the season.

00:21:37.907 –> 00:21:38.827
It was not supposed to

00:21:38.948 –> 00:21:40.249
originally end the way it ended.

00:21:40.348 –> 00:21:41.250
It was like one of the,

00:21:43.317 –> 00:21:44.597
I’ll give you a little peek

00:21:44.617 –> 00:21:45.317
behind the curtain.

00:21:45.377 –> 00:21:45.679
I mean,

00:21:46.358 –> 00:21:48.240
the initial idea was that they were

00:21:48.319 –> 00:21:50.221
going to travel to Hollow

00:21:50.301 –> 00:21:50.961
Earth and they were going

00:21:50.981 –> 00:21:52.623
to find Hiroshi there, the father,

00:21:52.784 –> 00:21:54.484
that that was where he disappeared to.

00:21:55.365 –> 00:21:56.506
And we got about midway

00:21:56.546 –> 00:21:58.186
through the season and it

00:21:58.247 –> 00:21:59.748
started feeling like this,

00:22:00.009 –> 00:22:01.289
that the search for dad was

00:22:01.329 –> 00:22:02.430
getting very frustrating,

00:22:02.691 –> 00:22:03.971
like that they were just missing him,

00:22:04.031 –> 00:22:04.491
just missing.

00:22:04.531 –> 00:22:05.332
How many more times could

00:22:05.352 –> 00:22:06.173
they just miss him?

00:22:06.913 –> 00:22:08.253
And we got to episode six

00:22:08.295 –> 00:22:09.234
and I believe it was Andy

00:22:09.295 –> 00:22:10.736
Colville in the room who pitched, well,

00:22:10.756 –> 00:22:11.696
why don’t they just find him?

00:22:12.392 –> 00:22:14.034
What if they just find them?

00:22:14.453 –> 00:22:16.276
Maybe that’s the surprise we need.

00:22:16.316 –> 00:22:17.497
That’s the twist we need,

00:22:18.117 –> 00:22:19.179
is that they come up over

00:22:19.219 –> 00:22:21.882
that sand dune in North Africa.

00:22:23.134 –> 00:22:24.316
Not technically a sand dune.

00:22:25.497 –> 00:22:25.916
I’m sorry?

00:22:26.477 –> 00:22:27.718
Not technically a sand dune.

00:22:27.857 –> 00:22:29.019
Yeah, not technically a sand dune.

00:22:29.058 –> 00:22:30.759
There weren’t a lot of sand

00:22:30.779 –> 00:22:34.000
dunes in British Columbia where we shot.

00:22:34.521 –> 00:22:34.761
Right.

00:22:34.781 –> 00:22:36.583
That kind of mountain ridge or whatever.

00:22:36.722 –> 00:22:38.163
It was a sleeping Godzilla

00:22:38.243 –> 00:22:39.585
is what I’m saying.

00:22:39.984 –> 00:22:41.246
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:22:41.286 –> 00:22:42.526
It’s not a sand dune at all.

00:22:42.546 –> 00:22:43.666
He’s taking a cat nap.

00:22:43.686 –> 00:22:45.367
I think that was a very, very…

00:22:47.728 –> 00:22:49.410
very early pitch by Joby

00:22:49.450 –> 00:22:50.611
Harold who was one of our

00:22:50.651 –> 00:22:51.892
non-writing producers who

00:22:52.051 –> 00:22:53.192
who kind of said wouldn’t

00:22:53.212 –> 00:22:54.273
it be cool if they had a we

00:22:54.294 –> 00:22:55.414
had a scene that played out

00:22:55.595 –> 00:22:57.676
on Godzilla’s body yeah and

00:22:57.717 –> 00:22:59.117
that ultimately evolved

00:22:59.178 –> 00:23:00.599
into that sequence where he

00:23:00.640 –> 00:23:01.760
was kind of sleeping in the

00:23:01.820 –> 00:23:03.162
desert in North Africa and

00:23:03.201 –> 00:23:05.443
the the dunes it’s one of

00:23:05.483 –> 00:23:06.305
my favorite episodes that’s

00:23:06.365 –> 00:23:07.465
episode six it’s one of my

00:23:07.486 –> 00:23:08.185
favorite episodes of the

00:23:08.226 –> 00:23:09.867
season and the the Sean and

00:23:10.228 –> 00:23:11.548
the VFX team just knocked

00:23:11.589 –> 00:23:13.010
it out of the park I mean it’s a

00:23:13.371 –> 00:23:15.219
that big reveal where he you

00:23:15.539 –> 00:23:17.428
know rises up and he knocks

00:23:17.468 –> 00:23:18.894
the helicopter out of the sky and

00:23:19.616 –> 00:23:20.678
There’s a there’s a shot.

00:23:21.077 –> 00:23:21.837
And I remember this is a

00:23:21.877 –> 00:23:23.058
great budget conversation

00:23:23.078 –> 00:23:24.038
because there was a shot

00:23:24.578 –> 00:23:26.099
where Godzilla kind of his

00:23:26.200 –> 00:23:28.040
tail sweeps around over the

00:23:28.080 –> 00:23:29.902
guy’s heads and then hits

00:23:30.021 –> 00:23:34.663
this kind of cliff face behind them.

00:23:34.683 –> 00:23:36.765
And that shot was on the chopping block.

00:23:36.805 –> 00:23:37.925
It was a really expensive

00:23:37.965 –> 00:23:39.467
shot and we were over budget.

00:23:40.247 –> 00:23:41.607
And I remember us having a

00:23:41.667 –> 00:23:42.688
conversation when we were

00:23:42.728 –> 00:23:43.828
spotting the effects saying.

00:23:44.693 –> 00:23:46.734
it’s like it it link it puts

00:23:46.775 –> 00:23:47.914
our characters in the frame

00:23:47.934 –> 00:23:49.355
with him it gives a sense

00:23:49.394 –> 00:23:51.675
of scale it’s it’s it’s one

00:23:51.695 –> 00:23:52.635
of the only shots where

00:23:52.655 –> 00:23:53.936
they’re actually tied into

00:23:54.037 –> 00:23:55.497
frame with him you need

00:23:55.537 –> 00:23:56.557
that for jeopardy for sure

00:23:56.717 –> 00:23:58.438
it yeah and it was a really

00:23:59.117 –> 00:24:00.378
expensive shot but I felt

00:24:00.419 –> 00:24:01.858
it was really important and

00:24:01.898 –> 00:24:02.939
so we put it in and it’s

00:24:02.999 –> 00:24:04.539
great it’s you know it’s

00:24:04.599 –> 00:24:07.079
really spectacular but um

00:24:07.941 –> 00:24:09.161
uh yes it was god it was

00:24:09.221 –> 00:24:09.941
not you’re right it was not

00:24:09.961 –> 00:24:10.922
a sand dune it was godzilla

00:24:10.961 –> 00:24:12.481
but it was like the uh

00:24:13.035 –> 00:24:15.297
so then the whole back half

00:24:15.376 –> 00:24:16.778
of the of the season

00:24:16.838 –> 00:24:18.820
changed it wasn’t you know

00:24:18.840 –> 00:24:20.663
it was like and I can’t

00:24:20.702 –> 00:24:21.663
remember at what point in

00:24:21.683 –> 00:24:22.964
the development I think we

00:24:23.005 –> 00:24:24.385
knew very early on that we

00:24:24.426 –> 00:24:25.448
didn’t want keiko to be

00:24:25.488 –> 00:24:27.509
dead that when she drops down that

00:24:28.433 –> 00:24:31.095
whole uh that that rift that

00:24:31.154 –> 00:24:32.194
chasm at the at the

00:24:32.255 –> 00:24:33.315
plutonium plant in the

00:24:33.335 –> 00:24:35.195
beginning that that you

00:24:35.236 –> 00:24:36.236
know we we knew we would

00:24:36.276 –> 00:24:37.436
see her again we wanted to

00:24:37.457 –> 00:24:38.317
see her again I don’t think

00:24:38.517 –> 00:24:39.777
I don’t think we had quite

00:24:39.836 –> 00:24:40.877
figured out yet how that

00:24:40.917 –> 00:24:42.417
was going to play out you

00:24:42.458 –> 00:24:45.398
know uh and just over the

00:24:45.459 –> 00:24:46.479
course of breaking the

00:24:46.519 –> 00:24:47.779
season and a lot of people

00:24:47.819 –> 00:24:49.420
pitching ideas you know

00:24:49.480 –> 00:24:51.381
that the idea of her being

00:24:51.500 –> 00:24:52.921
sort of preserved in time

00:24:53.000 –> 00:24:54.481
and not having ages it’s

00:24:54.521 –> 00:24:55.402
not the most it’s a

00:24:56.001 –> 00:24:57.563
You know, it’s a genre trope.

00:24:57.682 –> 00:24:59.182
It’s not like the most

00:24:59.222 –> 00:25:00.243
original idea in the world.

00:25:00.304 –> 00:25:02.084
But we knew we wanted that actor back,

00:25:02.124 –> 00:25:03.924
Mari Yamamoto, because she’s amazing.

00:25:04.704 –> 00:25:06.586
And as you say,

00:25:06.625 –> 00:25:08.465
it teed up that fantastic

00:25:08.506 –> 00:25:11.406
scene with her and Kurt at

00:25:11.446 –> 00:25:12.907
the end when they see each

00:25:12.948 –> 00:25:14.208
other again for the first time.

00:25:14.307 –> 00:25:17.449
But to talk about the legendary of it all,

00:25:18.430 –> 00:25:18.630
you know,

00:25:18.670 –> 00:25:20.549
we had originally pitched it as

00:25:21.570 –> 00:25:22.151
Hollow Earth.

00:25:22.759 –> 00:25:23.818
because we knew that was

00:25:23.878 –> 00:25:26.480
kind of a key piece of the

00:25:26.520 –> 00:25:27.500
feature mythology.

00:25:27.580 –> 00:25:29.162
And then the feature team

00:25:29.201 –> 00:25:30.021
started getting a little

00:25:30.061 –> 00:25:31.082
nervous about it because

00:25:31.442 –> 00:25:32.563
their movie was coming out,

00:25:32.603 –> 00:25:33.903
and Hollow Earth was a huge

00:25:34.144 –> 00:25:35.163
component of that.

00:25:35.243 –> 00:25:36.724
And I think they were

00:25:36.765 –> 00:25:39.006
concerned that the stories

00:25:39.046 –> 00:25:39.945
weren’t going to line up,

00:25:40.046 –> 00:25:41.326
and they didn’t want us

00:25:41.366 –> 00:25:42.666
stepping on each other’s toes.

00:25:43.326 –> 00:25:46.709
So it was a little bit of a…

00:25:47.873 –> 00:25:49.013
a little dance we came up

00:25:49.034 –> 00:25:50.355
with this idea of axis

00:25:50.414 –> 00:25:52.738
mundi which is sort of a

00:25:52.817 –> 00:25:54.138
subterranean realm an

00:25:54.199 –> 00:25:55.460
alternate realm where time

00:25:55.480 –> 00:25:57.122
moves differently that’s

00:25:57.162 –> 00:25:58.103
sort of hollow earth

00:25:58.163 –> 00:26:00.865
adjacent so the characters

00:26:00.904 –> 00:26:02.727
of the film can still age

00:26:02.767 –> 00:26:04.188
concurrently with anybody

00:26:04.308 –> 00:26:05.930
on earth exactly we had to

00:26:05.990 –> 00:26:07.070
we had to kind of create

00:26:07.151 –> 00:26:08.732
our own little kind of pocket of

00:26:09.292 –> 00:26:11.656
time and space within the larger mythology,

00:26:11.836 –> 00:26:12.917
which it was a little bit

00:26:12.959 –> 00:26:14.961
of a last minute shuffle to figure out.

00:26:14.980 –> 00:26:16.063
But I think at the end of the day,

00:26:16.083 –> 00:26:17.945
it really worked well for story.

00:26:18.205 –> 00:26:19.827
Well, Chris, I mean,

00:26:19.867 –> 00:26:20.910
I texted you immediately.

00:26:20.950 –> 00:26:23.212
And then shortly after I texted you,

00:26:24.588 –> 00:26:26.309
it was on like TV line or something,

00:26:26.710 –> 00:26:28.049
the recognition for that

00:26:28.210 –> 00:26:29.430
scene with the reunion

00:26:29.470 –> 00:26:31.691
scene between Shaw and Kiko.

00:26:31.911 –> 00:26:34.131
And for what you said earlier about this,

00:26:34.811 –> 00:26:36.031
yes, it’s a Godzilla show,

00:26:36.051 –> 00:26:37.112
but it’s about the humans.

00:26:37.551 –> 00:26:40.252
That must have been a great

00:26:40.292 –> 00:26:42.534
reward to have the

00:26:42.574 –> 00:26:43.953
recognition for that scene

00:26:44.013 –> 00:26:46.375
specifically being two human scenes.

00:26:47.355 –> 00:26:48.615
And it was awesome.

00:26:48.875 –> 00:26:49.894
Can you just talk about

00:26:49.974 –> 00:26:51.836
where that idea came from and how do you,

00:26:53.018 –> 00:26:53.357
I don’t know.

00:26:53.397 –> 00:26:54.499
You didn’t have a whole lot of, I mean,

00:26:54.519 –> 00:26:55.299
you still got to fit this

00:26:55.500 –> 00:26:56.820
within an action show.

00:26:57.300 –> 00:26:58.761
So the economy of that scene,

00:26:58.781 –> 00:27:00.883
how do you keep the dialogue down?

00:27:00.942 –> 00:27:02.124
How do you, does that make sense?

00:27:02.163 –> 00:27:03.984
Like the block.

00:27:04.605 –> 00:27:05.465
Sometimes you just can’t

00:27:05.506 –> 00:27:06.846
worry about being economical.

00:27:07.007 –> 00:27:07.867
Sometimes you just have to

00:27:07.948 –> 00:27:09.128
let the scene be what it is.

00:27:09.229 –> 00:27:10.950
And then you find in the editing room,

00:27:10.970 –> 00:27:12.371
you get in the editing room and, and,

00:27:12.931 –> 00:27:13.131
You know,

00:27:13.151 –> 00:27:14.271
you can kind of play with it and

00:27:14.311 –> 00:27:15.313
craft it and shape it.

00:27:15.373 –> 00:27:17.054
And if it feels like it’s dragging,

00:27:17.094 –> 00:27:18.075
you could tighten it up or

00:27:18.095 –> 00:27:19.394
you lose a line here or there.

00:27:19.474 –> 00:27:20.355
But, you know, I mean,

00:27:20.375 –> 00:27:21.217
I think that was a scene

00:27:21.257 –> 00:27:21.957
that you just knew was

00:27:21.997 –> 00:27:24.419
playing and it really is, you know,

00:27:24.519 –> 00:27:26.720
a testament to those two actors.

00:27:26.759 –> 00:27:26.980
You know,

00:27:27.000 –> 00:27:28.201
there was there was a scene that

00:27:28.221 –> 00:27:29.162
was on the page.

00:27:31.068 –> 00:27:32.690
But Kurt was very passionate

00:27:32.730 –> 00:27:33.390
about that scene.

00:27:33.430 –> 00:27:35.631
He had a very specific idea

00:27:35.750 –> 00:27:37.911
of how he wanted to play that scene.

00:27:38.211 –> 00:27:38.770
The hiding,

00:27:38.810 –> 00:27:40.291
the blocking of hiding was his idea?

00:27:40.551 –> 00:27:41.432
That was his idea.

00:27:41.511 –> 00:27:42.451
He really wanted.

00:27:42.852 –> 00:27:45.113
Yeah, he really wanted to do it.

00:27:45.153 –> 00:27:46.032
It wasn’t original.

00:27:46.053 –> 00:27:46.753
It’s been a while.

00:27:46.794 –> 00:27:47.614
I don’t really remember.

00:27:48.614 –> 00:27:49.673
But I don’t think it was it

00:27:49.894 –> 00:27:51.734
was not originally written that way.

00:27:51.974 –> 00:27:53.855
And it was it was his idea

00:27:53.914 –> 00:27:55.496
that he couldn’t just appear to her,

00:27:55.556 –> 00:27:56.776
that he had to somehow kind

00:27:56.796 –> 00:27:58.156
of prepare her for what she

00:27:58.217 –> 00:27:59.297
was about to see.

00:28:00.125 –> 00:28:01.968
But he had aged and she had not, yeah.

00:28:02.008 –> 00:28:03.269
That he had aged and she had not,

00:28:03.328 –> 00:28:05.089
and that he needed to sort

00:28:05.109 –> 00:28:06.951
of speak to her before she saw him.

00:28:06.971 –> 00:28:07.592
And it was brilliant.

00:28:07.612 –> 00:28:08.031
It was like,

00:28:08.092 –> 00:28:09.012
I have to give all credit

00:28:09.512 –> 00:28:10.994
really to Kurt for that.

00:28:11.015 –> 00:28:13.656
I would ensure that you keep

00:28:13.676 –> 00:28:14.576
some credit by the end of

00:28:14.616 –> 00:28:15.278
this conversation.

00:28:15.298 –> 00:28:16.519
No, well, no, I mean, that was really,

00:28:16.939 –> 00:28:18.619
he really asserted some

00:28:18.701 –> 00:28:22.784
ownership over that, which, you know, he,

00:28:22.824 –> 00:28:23.384
those, it’s,

00:28:25.375 –> 00:28:26.698
You know, it is a collaboration.

00:28:26.738 –> 00:28:27.799
We have a creative team.

00:28:27.839 –> 00:28:30.364
We have a team of artists, you know,

00:28:30.644 –> 00:28:31.345
between the production

00:28:31.365 –> 00:28:31.986
people and the writing

00:28:32.006 –> 00:28:34.410
staff and the actors, you know, the cast.

00:28:34.450 –> 00:28:36.292
And with that cast, that entire cast,

00:28:36.353 –> 00:28:37.935
not just Curt and Wyatt, but all of them,

00:28:37.996 –> 00:28:40.138
that cast is a gift for a writer.

00:28:40.834 –> 00:28:43.695
you know, um, uh, you know,

00:28:43.816 –> 00:28:46.759
Kiersey and Anna and Ren, uh,

00:28:47.298 –> 00:28:49.340
Takahiro who plays Hiroshi

00:28:49.421 –> 00:28:52.083
is just one of the finest actors I’ve,

00:28:52.323 –> 00:28:54.724
I’ve ever worked with in my career.

00:28:54.765 –> 00:28:56.246
And even in some of the smaller roles,

00:28:56.286 –> 00:28:57.227
I mean, Joe Tippett,

00:28:57.287 –> 00:28:59.468
who plays the character of Tim is just a,

00:28:59.548 –> 00:29:00.568
that guy’s the best.

00:29:01.049 –> 00:29:02.530
I mean, just he’s gold.

00:29:02.590 –> 00:29:04.471
You can give him anything and he will,

00:29:04.511 –> 00:29:05.893
he will make something great out of it.

00:29:06.053 –> 00:29:06.354
You know?

00:29:06.413 –> 00:29:07.855
So a bit of the voice of the audience,

00:29:07.894 –> 00:29:09.296
like, what are you guys doing here?

00:29:09.556 –> 00:29:10.096
What is that?

00:29:10.217 –> 00:29:10.317
Yeah.

00:29:11.257 –> 00:29:13.398
And his partner, Elisa,

00:29:13.479 –> 00:29:15.701
who plays the character Duvall,

00:29:15.760 –> 00:29:18.363
those two just worked great together.

00:29:18.383 –> 00:29:19.703
I mean, everything just clicked.

00:29:19.804 –> 00:29:20.804
I mean, all those pieces.

00:29:22.105 –> 00:29:25.468
And the actresses who played the moms,

00:29:26.488 –> 00:29:26.929
everybody.

00:29:27.009 –> 00:29:29.690
I was like, I was incredibly, you know,

00:29:29.890 –> 00:29:31.711
we were just blessed to have those actors,

00:29:31.791 –> 00:29:34.472
but that scene between Mari

00:29:34.833 –> 00:29:38.214
and Kurt was so much a product of, yes,

00:29:38.256 –> 00:29:39.016
there were words on the page.

00:29:39.056 –> 00:29:40.696
We wrote a scene, but that,

00:29:41.376 –> 00:29:42.557
what that scene became

00:29:43.538 –> 00:29:45.099
really was ultimately a

00:29:45.160 –> 00:29:46.079
function of those two

00:29:46.279 –> 00:29:50.103
actors kind of making, making that moment,

00:29:50.182 –> 00:29:51.923
making that moment happen.

00:29:52.144 –> 00:29:54.684
And her reaction is so heartbreaking,

00:29:54.806 –> 00:29:55.385
you know, as she,

00:29:56.227 –> 00:29:58.248
as she puts together she

00:29:58.288 –> 00:29:59.667
does the math in her head

00:29:59.847 –> 00:30:02.169
before shaw even reveals

00:30:02.209 –> 00:30:03.849
himself you know and and

00:30:04.369 –> 00:30:05.650
her realizing what this

00:30:05.730 –> 00:30:07.411
means for her for her

00:30:07.510 –> 00:30:08.631
husband and her son that

00:30:08.671 –> 00:30:10.791
she left behind uh is

00:30:10.852 –> 00:30:12.531
heartbreaking I saw we had

00:30:12.592 –> 00:30:13.792
gone with the writers were

00:30:13.833 –> 00:30:15.292
on strike during a lot of

00:30:15.333 –> 00:30:17.314
the post-production and so

00:30:17.413 –> 00:30:18.913
I missed I wasn’t able to

00:30:18.953 –> 00:30:20.315
go to a lot of the sound mixes

00:30:21.242 –> 00:30:22.663
but that the strike ended

00:30:22.682 –> 00:30:26.364
and episode one 10 was the

00:30:26.443 –> 00:30:27.183
only one I was able to

00:30:27.243 –> 00:30:28.124
actually go to the mix

00:30:28.163 –> 00:30:29.683
stage and be there when they mixed it.

00:30:29.763 –> 00:30:30.565
And which is great fun.

00:30:30.585 –> 00:30:31.365
There’s not really a lot for

00:30:31.404 –> 00:30:32.424
you to do at that point.

00:30:32.484 –> 00:30:33.785
Everything’s kind of been all the,

00:30:34.105 –> 00:30:35.085
everything’s already been done,

00:30:35.625 –> 00:30:36.965
but to go and sit on the

00:30:37.026 –> 00:30:38.826
mix stage and watch it with the,

00:30:38.945 –> 00:30:40.226
with the post team and the

00:30:40.266 –> 00:30:41.445
mixers on the big screen,

00:30:41.566 –> 00:30:43.326
booming through those big speakers.

00:30:44.987 –> 00:30:47.086
And I was glad I was joking.

00:30:47.126 –> 00:30:48.087
They dim the lights and I

00:30:48.127 –> 00:30:48.968
was glad because I was

00:30:49.008 –> 00:30:50.607
crying like a baby at the end of that.

00:30:51.869 –> 00:30:53.050
It must have felt great to

00:30:53.090 –> 00:30:53.951
have that scene.

00:30:53.990 –> 00:30:55.230
It’s very satisfying.

00:30:55.250 –> 00:30:57.291
I mean, the episode you wrote, again,

00:30:57.332 –> 00:30:58.393
I love the Severance

00:30:58.432 –> 00:30:59.472
episode you wrote as well

00:30:59.512 –> 00:31:00.333
as a highlight for me.

00:31:00.353 –> 00:31:02.334
I’m not just saying that

00:31:02.354 –> 00:31:03.414
because you’re my guest.

00:31:03.454 –> 00:31:04.494
Those are solid episodes.

00:31:04.855 –> 00:31:05.295
Well, thanks.

00:31:05.435 –> 00:31:06.655
I mean, look, I’m a decent writer.

00:31:06.796 –> 00:31:07.256
There it is.

00:31:07.296 –> 00:31:08.936
We’re going to get you to

00:31:09.096 –> 00:31:09.997
pat yourself on the back.

00:31:11.837 –> 00:31:12.077
I mean,

00:31:12.097 –> 00:31:13.298
I think I’ve been doing it long enough.

00:31:13.358 –> 00:31:15.259
I wouldn’t have survived in

00:31:15.279 –> 00:31:17.260
the business as long as I have.

00:31:17.580 –> 00:31:18.401
My hair wouldn’t be this

00:31:18.461 –> 00:31:20.582
white if I wasn’t able to

00:31:21.423 –> 00:31:23.022
put it on the page when it mattered.

00:31:23.604 –> 00:31:28.165
But it’s not for me anyway.

00:31:28.645 –> 00:31:30.527
It’s not about the lone

00:31:30.967 –> 00:31:33.327
artist sitting in his writer’s shack,

00:31:33.647 –> 00:31:34.008
tortured.

00:31:34.028 –> 00:31:35.088
At the end of the day,

00:31:35.189 –> 00:31:36.509
your mission is not to…

00:31:39.951 –> 00:31:41.233
put words on a page,

00:31:41.394 –> 00:31:42.234
your mission is to make a

00:31:42.295 –> 00:31:43.696
movie or TV show.

00:31:43.896 –> 00:31:46.140
And the only thing the audience has,

00:31:46.160 –> 00:31:48.242
we’re not mailing our

00:31:48.303 –> 00:31:49.503
scripts out to the audience

00:31:49.523 –> 00:31:50.905
to sit in their living rooms and read.

00:31:50.965 –> 00:31:51.926
The only thing they have is

00:31:51.967 –> 00:31:53.910
what they see on their TV

00:31:53.950 –> 00:31:55.050
screens or their iPhones or

00:31:55.070 –> 00:31:56.333
their iPads or however

00:31:56.353 –> 00:31:56.953
they’re watching it.

00:31:58.431 –> 00:32:00.032
um it is a truly

00:32:00.093 –> 00:32:01.493
collaborative effort

00:32:01.614 –> 00:32:02.835
between everybody and

00:32:02.875 –> 00:32:04.476
severance it’s like you

00:32:04.516 –> 00:32:05.876
know that that episode that

00:32:05.916 –> 00:32:07.218
has my name on it I’m very

00:32:07.278 –> 00:32:08.459
proud of and we won some

00:32:08.519 –> 00:32:09.599
awards for the show which

00:32:09.640 –> 00:32:12.082
I’m really grateful for but

00:32:12.403 –> 00:32:14.364
so much of that was you

00:32:14.403 –> 00:32:17.086
know what was dan’s genius

00:32:17.185 –> 00:32:19.788
and ben’s vision and those

00:32:19.989 –> 00:32:21.750
actors and you know it’s

00:32:22.371 –> 00:32:24.471
it’s it doesn’t work unless

00:32:25.032 –> 00:32:26.074
all the you know all the

00:32:26.134 –> 00:32:27.634
members of the team are working together

00:32:28.717 –> 00:32:31.298
Does that create a safe

00:32:31.638 –> 00:32:32.598
space environment for

00:32:32.638 –> 00:32:34.580
pitching in the room where it’s like, hey,

00:32:34.601 –> 00:32:36.481
you know what?

00:32:37.803 –> 00:32:38.722
Something’s coming to me.

00:32:39.243 –> 00:32:40.144
I’m going to throw it out there.

00:32:40.243 –> 00:32:40.884
Somebody run with it.

00:32:40.964 –> 00:32:41.164
I mean,

00:32:41.204 –> 00:32:43.905
it feels like if you build the room right,

00:32:43.945 –> 00:32:45.547
we can talk about that as showrunner,

00:32:45.627 –> 00:32:46.988
but if you build the room right,

00:32:47.548 –> 00:32:49.769
people should feel that fearless that,

00:32:50.210 –> 00:32:51.790
yes, my name’s going to go on the episode,

00:32:52.291 –> 00:32:52.511
but

00:32:53.852 –> 00:32:54.712
i know that some of these

00:32:54.732 –> 00:32:55.532
talented people in the room

00:32:55.553 –> 00:32:56.493
are going to help catch me

00:32:56.614 –> 00:32:57.834
and maybe finish my the

00:32:57.894 –> 00:32:59.194
sentence that’s forming in

00:32:59.214 –> 00:33:00.796
my head well that’s I mean

00:33:01.076 –> 00:33:02.457
you hit it I mean it’s 100

00:33:02.457 –> 00:33:03.596
to me building the room is

00:33:03.616 –> 00:33:04.718
the single most important

00:33:05.137 –> 00:33:06.939
thing in in job the job of

00:33:06.979 –> 00:33:08.160
being a showrunner I mean

00:33:08.519 –> 00:33:11.162
it’s it’s you know the team

00:33:11.201 –> 00:33:12.001
that you get together

00:33:12.162 –> 00:33:13.303
everybody has to be pulling

00:33:13.343 –> 00:33:14.163
in the same direction and

00:33:14.202 –> 00:33:15.644
it has to be a safe space

00:33:15.683 –> 00:33:17.785
you have to be willing and

00:33:17.825 –> 00:33:18.945
feel safe to pitch your

00:33:19.006 –> 00:33:20.666
craziest dumbest ideas

00:33:21.688 –> 00:33:21.748
uh,

00:33:21.867 –> 00:33:23.728
and throw shit out there and not be

00:33:23.848 –> 00:33:27.409
worried that people will make fun of you.

00:33:27.709 –> 00:33:30.109
And, and I’ve always encouraged that,

00:33:30.309 –> 00:33:31.289
you know, it’s like,

00:33:31.349 –> 00:33:33.009
and some of them look, some of the worst,

00:33:33.111 –> 00:33:33.931
dumbest ideas that get

00:33:33.971 –> 00:33:35.111
pitched in the room come from me.

00:33:35.351 –> 00:33:39.491
So it’s like, I’m, you know, in, you know,

00:33:39.612 –> 00:33:42.011
if it, and everybody laughs and goes,

00:33:42.031 –> 00:33:43.913
yeah, that’s a dumb idea, but what if,

00:33:44.472 –> 00:33:45.772
you know, then you, it, it,

00:33:45.992 –> 00:33:46.833
it generates the

00:33:46.873 –> 00:33:49.294
conversation and moves things forward.

00:33:50.109 –> 00:33:52.234
And the team, building the team,

00:33:52.255 –> 00:33:54.119
I stole after the first

00:33:54.160 –> 00:33:56.185
season of Severance, I took as many,

00:33:56.205 –> 00:33:57.409
I just pulled as many of

00:33:57.469 –> 00:33:58.392
those writers over

00:33:59.384 –> 00:34:01.286
to Monarch as I could Andy

00:34:01.326 –> 00:34:03.147
Colville Amanda Overton

00:34:03.268 –> 00:34:05.150
Carrie Drake our writer’s

00:34:05.190 –> 00:34:06.431
assistant uh Tanner

00:34:06.451 –> 00:34:08.634
Hansinger you know I I just

00:34:08.793 –> 00:34:09.994
plundered that room you

00:34:10.675 –> 00:34:12.617
know and and dragged them

00:34:12.797 –> 00:34:16.422
over to um to Monarch and

00:34:16.742 –> 00:34:18.543
and you there is a trust

00:34:18.623 –> 00:34:20.105
and I’m always excited

00:34:21.090 –> 00:34:22.670
to to meet new people and

00:34:22.911 –> 00:34:23.891
and you know there were a

00:34:23.931 –> 00:34:24.612
couple of writers from

00:34:24.652 –> 00:34:26.612
mariko tamaki and al letson

00:34:26.693 –> 00:34:27.833
and people who come into

00:34:27.853 –> 00:34:28.715
the room who I hadn’t

00:34:28.755 –> 00:34:29.954
worked with before that

00:34:29.974 –> 00:34:30.936
were just a joy and a

00:34:30.996 –> 00:34:32.757
revelation but like andy

00:34:32.797 –> 00:34:33.717
colville I’ve worked on

00:34:33.777 –> 00:34:34.898
three shows with amanda

00:34:35.018 –> 00:34:35.918
overton I’ve worked on

00:34:35.938 –> 00:34:37.239
three shows with carrie

00:34:37.260 –> 00:34:38.159
drake I’ve worked with on

00:34:38.199 –> 00:34:39.501
two shows it’s like you know

00:34:41.101 –> 00:34:42.661
There’s a trust and a

00:34:42.702 –> 00:34:44.143
familiarity and you know

00:34:44.202 –> 00:34:46.045
what they’re going to bring to the table.

00:34:46.204 –> 00:34:48.007
And it’s like you say,

00:34:48.726 –> 00:34:49.987
creating a safe space,

00:34:50.128 –> 00:34:51.068
if it’s a bunch of

00:34:51.168 –> 00:34:52.690
colleagues and friends who

00:34:52.990 –> 00:34:56.634
have that collective experience,

00:34:57.315 –> 00:34:58.916
you know you’re safe.

00:34:58.976 –> 00:34:59.936
You know you can come in and

00:34:59.976 –> 00:35:01.617
pitch your craziest,

00:35:01.717 –> 00:35:03.179
dumbest stuff and it’s

00:35:03.239 –> 00:35:04.820
going to in some good, ultimately,

00:35:04.860 –> 00:35:05.661
hopefully will come out of it.

00:35:07.204 –> 00:35:08.485
I got just a little bit more.

00:35:09.065 –> 00:35:09.286
Sure.

00:35:09.786 –> 00:35:11.527
Did they give you… I mean,

00:35:11.547 –> 00:35:12.907
you guys had the starting point,

00:35:13.047 –> 00:35:14.789
the Golden Gate Bridge.

00:35:14.809 –> 00:35:14.989
Well,

00:35:15.489 –> 00:35:17.269
the starting point technically was

00:35:17.309 –> 00:35:17.990
Skull Island.

00:35:18.150 –> 00:35:18.771
Skull Island, yes.

00:35:18.791 –> 00:35:20.192
We mentioned that before.

00:35:20.211 –> 00:35:21.833
It was like…

00:35:22.891 –> 00:35:23.771
I can’t remember if that

00:35:23.791 –> 00:35:24.552
was… Did you guys pitch that,

00:35:24.632 –> 00:35:25.291
or was that something that

00:35:25.311 –> 00:35:26.072
Legendary was like,

00:35:26.251 –> 00:35:27.291
this is your parameters,

00:35:27.311 –> 00:35:28.472
you guys can exist within

00:35:28.512 –> 00:35:30.634
these goalposts?

00:35:31.233 –> 00:35:33.233
I don’t want to take credit that isn’t due,

00:35:33.253 –> 00:35:35.034
but I think that was my pitch.

00:35:35.175 –> 00:35:36.255
I think it was something I

00:35:36.295 –> 00:35:39.076
came up with in the pilot script.

00:35:39.175 –> 00:35:40.516
Because Monarch’s a huge

00:35:40.577 –> 00:35:41.277
part of that movie,

00:35:41.297 –> 00:35:42.476
and so it makes a lot of

00:35:42.516 –> 00:35:44.137
sense that you start, quote-unquote,

00:35:44.277 –> 00:35:44.918
at the beginning,

00:35:45.057 –> 00:35:45.918
and then you move to the

00:35:45.938 –> 00:35:47.458
beginning even further.

00:35:47.938 –> 00:35:48.958
That came from Matt.

00:35:49.239 –> 00:35:50.840
Matt, the Bill Randa…

00:35:52.594 –> 00:35:53.635
if it’s about Monarch,

00:35:53.655 –> 00:35:55.255
if it’s about the history of Monarch,

00:35:55.695 –> 00:35:57.677
to go back to World War II

00:35:57.697 –> 00:35:58.898
and post-World War II and

00:35:59.039 –> 00:36:01.681
start with Billy Randa, young Billy Randa,

00:36:01.721 –> 00:36:03.121
that was Matt’s idea.

00:36:03.402 –> 00:36:06.623
And I like this idea of

00:36:06.764 –> 00:36:08.686
linking it to the feature franchise.

00:36:09.726 –> 00:36:11.367
Obviously, we wanted a big cold open.

00:36:11.407 –> 00:36:12.309
We wanted to start with a

00:36:12.349 –> 00:36:13.389
big monster fight just to

00:36:13.489 –> 00:36:14.750
let the audience know, okay,

00:36:14.769 –> 00:36:16.492
this is the Godzilla show.

00:36:16.532 –> 00:36:17.532
You’re going to get, you know,

00:36:17.572 –> 00:36:18.612
you start in Skull Island

00:36:18.652 –> 00:36:19.333
and then there’s the

00:36:19.911 –> 00:36:21.652
the giant spider fighting the giant crab.

00:36:21.693 –> 00:36:23.454
And it’s like, okay, strap in,

00:36:23.494 –> 00:36:24.614
this is what you’re gonna get.

00:36:26.476 –> 00:36:28.117
And linking it to the feature franchise.

00:36:28.157 –> 00:36:30.498
And we loved, of the feature films,

00:36:31.719 –> 00:36:33.119
Matt and I are big fans of

00:36:33.239 –> 00:36:34.199
Kong Skull Island.

00:36:34.480 –> 00:36:38.762
And we felt tonally that

00:36:38.902 –> 00:36:40.742
that was the kind of show we wanted to do,

00:36:40.884 –> 00:36:42.344
a big adventure show.

00:36:42.684 –> 00:36:44.465
And some of the other shows

00:36:44.485 –> 00:36:45.465
like King of the Monsters

00:36:45.545 –> 00:36:47.007
and the 2014 Godzilla,

00:36:49.418 –> 00:36:49.804
they are,

00:36:51.047 –> 00:36:52.268
we liked the fact that they

00:36:52.289 –> 00:36:53.429
were more character focused,

00:36:53.489 –> 00:36:54.391
kind of that they focused

00:36:54.451 –> 00:36:55.251
on these families,

00:36:55.550 –> 00:36:56.572
but they were also very dark.

00:36:56.592 –> 00:36:58.253
They’re not an ensemble in

00:36:58.273 –> 00:36:59.893
the way that Skull Island is an ensemble.

00:36:59.914 –> 00:37:02.215
They also were very sort of, you know,

00:37:02.235 –> 00:37:03.516
as we would joke,

00:37:03.536 –> 00:37:04.938
you end up with a lot of, you know,

00:37:05.038 –> 00:37:06.239
dead kids and dead parents

00:37:06.539 –> 00:37:07.739
in those movies.

00:37:08.039 –> 00:37:11.021
And we wanted something that

00:37:11.101 –> 00:37:13.884
was a little more up, you know,

00:37:13.943 –> 00:37:15.344
that was a little more fun.

00:37:15.746 –> 00:37:16.766
So you kill a bunch of kids

00:37:16.826 –> 00:37:17.987
on a school bus immediately?

00:37:18.286 –> 00:37:18.987
Wait a minute.

00:37:19.027 –> 00:37:19.909
You’re betraying yourself.

00:37:21.809 –> 00:37:22.909
But they weren’t characters you knew.

00:37:22.929 –> 00:37:26.030
But we wanted Kate trauma.

00:37:26.050 –> 00:37:26.730
We wanted Kate.

00:37:26.849 –> 00:37:28.431
Kate needed to be traumatized.

00:37:28.990 –> 00:37:30.971
That was really key.

00:37:31.530 –> 00:37:32.411
And so that was her.

00:37:32.431 –> 00:37:33.672
And you only see Godzilla in

00:37:33.692 –> 00:37:34.731
the pilot episode through

00:37:34.771 –> 00:37:37.913
her post-traumatic flashback.

00:37:38.273 –> 00:37:38.992
But we wanted,

00:37:39.213 –> 00:37:41.213
and partly what Apple wanted, was a big,

00:37:41.313 –> 00:37:43.893
on the macro, a big globe-trotting,

00:37:44.134 –> 00:37:45.414
fun adventure show.

00:37:45.853 –> 00:37:47.054
You know, where they go.

00:37:47.414 –> 00:37:48.835
And we felt tonally…

00:37:49.739 –> 00:37:50.880
in terms of kind of being

00:37:51.519 –> 00:37:52.280
you know a big

00:37:52.521 –> 00:37:54.161
action-packed kind of

00:37:54.402 –> 00:37:55.463
monster adventure that

00:37:55.543 –> 00:37:56.963
skull island was a better

00:37:57.043 –> 00:37:58.105
template that was more of a

00:37:58.144 –> 00:37:59.224
template that we wanted to

00:37:59.264 –> 00:38:00.565
follow than say godzilla

00:38:00.585 –> 00:38:01.527
king of the monsters was

00:38:02.086 –> 00:38:03.447
was there a landing zone

00:38:03.487 –> 00:38:05.289
that they gave you or the

00:38:05.329 –> 00:38:06.630
final episode because the

00:38:06.650 –> 00:38:07.431
final episode the big

00:38:07.471 –> 00:38:09.552
spoiler is that we get kong

00:38:09.612 –> 00:38:11.233
in the last I think there

00:38:11.293 –> 00:38:12.914
was because kong has become

00:38:12.954 –> 00:38:14.295
such a popular character in

00:38:14.315 –> 00:38:16.056
the features um and really

00:38:16.097 –> 00:38:17.317
kind of drives and owns the

00:38:17.358 –> 00:38:19.358
feature franchise now I think there was

00:38:20.123 –> 00:38:22.063
They never dictated anything to us.

00:38:22.164 –> 00:38:23.204
They never said you have to

00:38:23.244 –> 00:38:24.264
do this or make sure you

00:38:24.284 –> 00:38:25.224
put Kong in the show.

00:38:25.625 –> 00:38:26.445
But I think there was a

00:38:26.565 –> 00:38:29.086
sense that if as the show evolved,

00:38:29.146 –> 00:38:31.268
that Kong could become a character in it,

00:38:31.347 –> 00:38:32.108
there was there was

00:38:32.168 –> 00:38:33.048
excitement about that.

00:38:33.208 –> 00:38:35.210
So and we were and we love Kong, too.

00:38:35.269 –> 00:38:37.190
So we were happy to, you know,

00:38:37.371 –> 00:38:38.030
happy to do it.

00:38:38.110 –> 00:38:40.072
But the that opening

00:38:40.371 –> 00:38:42.313
prologue in the pilot with John Goodman,

00:38:42.612 –> 00:38:45.554
I wrote it never expecting

00:38:45.574 –> 00:38:46.494
that we would get John Goodman.

00:38:46.835 –> 00:38:48.014
I thought I thought this is

00:38:48.235 –> 00:38:49.335
this is for the page.

00:38:50.534 –> 00:38:52.096
we’ll get everybody excited about it.

00:38:52.275 –> 00:38:53.556
And then ultimately it’ll be

00:38:53.577 –> 00:38:54.056
something else.

00:38:54.277 –> 00:38:55.038
We’ll do something else.

00:38:55.097 –> 00:38:56.898
Cause John Goodman won’t be available or,

00:38:57.219 –> 00:38:57.438
you know,

00:38:57.458 –> 00:38:58.639
he won’t be interested or we

00:38:58.659 –> 00:38:59.661
won’t be able to afford him.

00:39:00.940 –> 00:39:01.722
And it turned out all those

00:39:01.742 –> 00:39:02.322
things were wrong.

00:39:02.742 –> 00:39:05.784
He was delightful and happy to do it.

00:39:05.923 –> 00:39:08.525
And a trooper and flew to Hawaii.

00:39:10.047 –> 00:39:10.447
That helps.

00:39:11.788 –> 00:39:12.929
And shot for two days.

00:39:14.268 –> 00:39:16.951
And the, the one thing he said when,

00:39:17.070 –> 00:39:18.092
when they approached him,

00:39:18.112 –> 00:39:19.112
when casting approached him

00:39:19.152 –> 00:39:19.853
about doing this was,

00:39:21.086 –> 00:39:22.608
he was actually worried that

00:39:22.668 –> 00:39:23.628
we weren’t going to be

00:39:23.748 –> 00:39:24.668
happy because he’s

00:39:24.748 –> 00:39:26.949
physically you know changed

00:39:26.989 –> 00:39:27.728
quite a bit since that

00:39:27.748 –> 00:39:28.829
movie was made he as he

00:39:28.869 –> 00:39:29.630
pointed out he’d gotten

00:39:29.670 –> 00:39:30.791
much healthier he had you

00:39:30.811 –> 00:39:32.411
know you know he had lost a

00:39:32.451 –> 00:39:33.311
lot of weight and was in

00:39:33.572 –> 00:39:35.211
you know a much healthier

00:39:35.251 –> 00:39:36.172
place than he was when that

00:39:36.193 –> 00:39:37.293
movie was made and he was

00:39:37.353 –> 00:39:39.393
concerned that we were not

00:39:39.414 –> 00:39:41.755
going to be satisfied with

00:39:42.135 –> 00:39:43.114
his performance or how we

00:39:43.155 –> 00:39:44.496
looked and you know but

00:39:44.576 –> 00:39:45.456
once we got him out there

00:39:45.476 –> 00:39:46.476
and clearly he’s older that

00:39:46.496 –> 00:39:47.976
movie was made a few years ago but

00:39:48.655 –> 00:39:49.396
Once you got him in the

00:39:49.436 –> 00:39:50.458
makeup and the beard and

00:39:50.478 –> 00:39:52.099
the hat and the costume and everything,

00:39:52.139 –> 00:39:52.581
it was great.

00:39:52.601 –> 00:39:53.201
It was like, oh my God,

00:39:53.221 –> 00:39:53.961
there’s Bill Randa.

00:39:54.842 –> 00:39:55.143
Again,

00:39:55.164 –> 00:39:56.945
it goes into the question I had for

00:39:56.985 –> 00:39:59.248
the Golden Gate sequence where it’s like,

00:40:00.168 –> 00:40:01.972
was that footage from the… I mean,

00:40:01.992 –> 00:40:03.994
was that… What was that sequence?

00:40:04.293 –> 00:40:05.275
I thought it was awesome.

00:40:05.416 –> 00:40:07.036
I don’t think… I could be wrong.

00:40:07.398 –> 00:40:07.978
I don’t…

00:40:08.639 –> 00:40:09.960
think and someone will

00:40:10.000 –> 00:40:10.860
correct me when they hear

00:40:10.920 –> 00:40:12.041
this I don’t think we used

00:40:12.061 –> 00:40:14.362
any footage from sure uh

00:40:14.581 –> 00:40:15.681
from the movie there there

00:40:15.722 –> 00:40:16.563
might have been a shot or

00:40:16.603 –> 00:40:17.862
two through the bus windows

00:40:18.463 –> 00:40:19.664
I could be wrong about that

00:40:20.083 –> 00:40:21.684
but the whole sequence of

00:40:22.365 –> 00:40:23.826
you know the bus falling

00:40:24.065 –> 00:40:26.166
and and kate tumbling out

00:40:26.206 –> 00:40:27.148
and looking up and seeing

00:40:27.188 –> 00:40:28.208
godzilla and godzilla

00:40:28.228 –> 00:40:29.728
tearing through the through

00:40:29.748 –> 00:40:31.050
the suspension cables and

00:40:31.250 –> 00:40:32.769
and that was all that was

00:40:32.809 –> 00:40:34.291
all matt shackman and and

00:40:34.731 –> 00:40:35.751
uh the visual effects team

00:40:36.032 –> 00:40:47.141
it had to be a very specific pov or it it had to be a very specific pov or it it had to be a very specific pov or it wouldn’t have worked wouldn’t have worked wouldn’t have worked well pov is interesting was one of the well pov is interesting was one of the well pov is interesting was one of the things we talked about in the show things we talked about in the show things we talked about in the show was that we wanted was that we wanted was that we wanted because we were telling a character because we were telling a character because we were telling a character driven story we wanted driven story we wanted

00:40:48.054 –> 00:40:50.315
we wanted the POV to be ground level.

00:40:50.416 –> 00:40:52.815
We wanted the POV to be as

00:40:52.896 –> 00:40:55.396
these characters experience their world.

00:40:55.617 –> 00:40:57.197
Matt Fraction would say,

00:40:57.898 –> 00:40:59.358
we’re not doing a 9-11 show,

00:40:59.378 –> 00:41:00.898
we’re doing a 9-12 show.

00:41:01.137 –> 00:41:02.858
It’s sort of the day after.

00:41:03.119 –> 00:41:04.619
It’s like, how do you pick yourself up?

00:41:04.898 –> 00:41:06.960
And everything had to be

00:41:07.000 –> 00:41:08.380
from that ground level looking up.

00:41:08.460 –> 00:41:10.181
I think there’s only one

00:41:10.621 –> 00:41:13.961
shot in the season that is

00:41:14.081 –> 00:41:15.001
one of those kind of,

00:41:16.402 –> 00:41:18.487
god’s eye hero shots and

00:41:18.527 –> 00:41:20.954
it’s in six when Godzilla

00:41:21.034 –> 00:41:22.737
rises up out of the desert

00:41:22.777 –> 00:41:23.639
and then the camera kind of

00:41:23.760 –> 00:41:25.483
sweeps around him and you you know

00:41:26.128 –> 00:41:27.909
from like a helicopter POV,

00:41:28.170 –> 00:41:29.269
and you sort of see him

00:41:29.309 –> 00:41:31.570
rise up in his full majesty.

00:41:31.590 –> 00:41:33.411
And I think, I think, and again,

00:41:33.452 –> 00:41:33.911
I could be wrong.

00:41:33.931 –> 00:41:34.952
I think that’s the only shot

00:41:34.992 –> 00:41:36.672
that’s not done from a

00:41:37.652 –> 00:41:38.552
human on the ground

00:41:38.592 –> 00:41:40.414
perspective looking up at the monsters.

00:41:40.653 –> 00:41:41.193
I’m trying to think if

00:41:41.213 –> 00:41:42.855
there’s one at the Bikini Atoll.

00:41:42.894 –> 00:41:44.175
There might be one at Bikini

00:41:44.215 –> 00:41:46.016
Atoll where the camera swoops back up.

00:41:46.155 –> 00:41:46.496
Sure.

00:41:46.516 –> 00:41:47.657
For the most part,

00:41:47.717 –> 00:41:49.257
y’all shot Godzilla like

00:41:49.297 –> 00:41:50.458
Jaws on that one.

00:41:50.478 –> 00:41:51.737
And you were kind of keeping

00:41:51.797 –> 00:41:52.938
things at water or human.

00:41:52.958 –> 00:41:53.978
From a distance, but you’re looking.

00:41:54.039 –> 00:41:55.059
through binoculars and

00:41:55.099 –> 00:41:55.679
you’re looking through

00:41:55.719 –> 00:41:57.001
lenses and it’s the guys,

00:41:57.081 –> 00:41:57.862
it’s the people on the

00:41:57.922 –> 00:41:59.543
beach and what are they seeing?

00:41:59.623 –> 00:42:00.923
And there is, you’re right,

00:42:00.963 –> 00:42:02.125
there is a shot where it

00:42:02.184 –> 00:42:03.646
cuts out to where Godzilla

00:42:03.786 –> 00:42:05.106
is out with the H-bomb.

00:42:05.206 –> 00:42:07.768
But I don’t know what we

00:42:07.829 –> 00:42:09.471
tried to do is really tell

00:42:09.530 –> 00:42:10.291
it from the point of view

00:42:10.311 –> 00:42:11.012
of these characters.

00:42:11.965 –> 00:42:15.208
okay um eric in our facebook

00:42:15.248 –> 00:42:16.389
forever or geekscape

00:42:16.409 –> 00:42:17.530
forever group says how much

00:42:17.550 –> 00:42:18.510
did kurt and wyatt develop

00:42:18.530 –> 00:42:19.431
the character together

00:42:19.652 –> 00:42:20.251
because they’re never in

00:42:20.293 –> 00:42:21.032
any scenes together

00:42:21.233 –> 00:42:22.173
obviously but was it

00:42:22.213 –> 00:42:23.094
planned beforehand or did

00:42:23.114 –> 00:42:23.835
it just fall into place

00:42:23.855 –> 00:42:24.516
you’ve talked about how

00:42:24.576 –> 00:42:25.396
kurt developed some of the

00:42:25.416 –> 00:42:26.077
blocking and some of the

00:42:26.137 –> 00:42:28.378
scenes and beats but did

00:42:28.398 –> 00:42:30.219
they ever throw football to

00:42:30.260 –> 00:42:31.400
each other and say well if

00:42:31.420 –> 00:42:33.342
you set that up I can pay

00:42:33.362 –> 00:42:36.204
it off in the modern day storyline

00:42:36.710 –> 00:42:38.130
yeah they absolutely did and

00:42:38.331 –> 00:42:39.931
and and I think they were

00:42:39.951 –> 00:42:41.112
and they if you have a

00:42:41.152 –> 00:42:41.871
chance to talk with them

00:42:41.911 –> 00:42:42.773
they could speak to it more

00:42:42.853 –> 00:42:44.293
directly but I think they

00:42:44.333 –> 00:42:47.695
were very mindful of and

00:42:47.755 –> 00:42:49.255
excited about this idea

00:42:49.315 –> 00:42:50.195
that they were playing the

00:42:50.235 –> 00:42:51.755
same character that that it

00:42:51.956 –> 00:42:53.936
wasn’t a father and a son

00:42:54.177 –> 00:42:55.137
that it wasn’t you know

00:42:55.197 –> 00:42:57.039
that it was that that the

00:42:57.079 –> 00:42:58.239
character that they were

00:42:58.318 –> 00:42:59.699
creating was the same

00:42:59.780 –> 00:43:02.041
character and and the

00:43:02.061 –> 00:43:03.181
history and the mannerisms

00:43:03.221 –> 00:43:05.001
and all that stuff needed obviously

00:43:05.847 –> 00:43:07.148
he’s a more mature character

00:43:07.188 –> 00:43:08.228
later who’s been through a

00:43:08.289 –> 00:43:09.909
lot and learned a lot and

00:43:10.630 –> 00:43:12.989
views life differently.

00:43:13.590 –> 00:43:16.811
But they very much, I wasn’t on,

00:43:17.152 –> 00:43:18.431
I remember Matt Fraction

00:43:18.612 –> 00:43:19.672
telling me sometimes that

00:43:19.773 –> 00:43:22.213
like Kurt would show up when, you know,

00:43:22.253 –> 00:43:23.313
Wyatt was shooting and he

00:43:23.333 –> 00:43:24.293
would look at the monitors

00:43:24.333 –> 00:43:25.155
and he would watch,

00:43:25.215 –> 00:43:26.034
they would watch each

00:43:26.094 –> 00:43:27.195
other’s performance.

00:43:28.496 –> 00:43:29.695
And there are times when they do it,

00:43:29.735 –> 00:43:30.175
honestly,

00:43:30.235 –> 00:43:31.657
that I don’t think it’s planned.

00:43:32.157 –> 00:43:33.936
I think there’s stuff that’s just genetic.

00:43:34.117 –> 00:43:35.257
I think there are times when,

00:43:36.188 –> 00:43:37.590
Wyatt will do a little look

00:43:37.650 –> 00:43:39.670
or a head turn or something,

00:43:39.731 –> 00:43:40.711
and you just go, oh, that’s Kurt.

00:43:42.333 –> 00:43:43.253
Your dad does that.

00:43:43.693 –> 00:43:45.173
Yeah, and I don’t think,

00:43:45.333 –> 00:43:46.434
and I could be wrong.

00:43:46.474 –> 00:43:47.695
I don’t think they planned it that way.

00:43:47.715 –> 00:43:49.115
I think that’s just the fact

00:43:49.135 –> 00:43:50.217
that they are father and son.

00:43:50.237 –> 00:43:50.978
But they did, yeah.

00:43:51.657 –> 00:43:52.677
To my understanding was they

00:43:52.838 –> 00:43:54.599
absolutely coordinated that

00:43:55.500 –> 00:43:56.661
crafting and creating that

00:43:56.701 –> 00:43:57.481
character together.

00:43:58.141 –> 00:43:59.722
And I’d never read the

00:43:59.742 –> 00:44:00.603
Godzilla Awakening book.

00:44:01.965 –> 00:44:02.965
story that Max did.

00:44:02.985 –> 00:44:04.987
Honestly, I know Max,

00:44:06.329 –> 00:44:08.490
but I’ve never… Max, apologies.

00:44:08.570 –> 00:44:09.891
Last time I saw Max was at

00:44:09.952 –> 00:44:11.152
an event for winning time

00:44:11.753 –> 00:44:14.376
over at the Academy, and I love you, Max,

00:44:14.536 –> 00:44:15.878
but I haven’t read his

00:44:16.277 –> 00:44:17.099
Godzilla Awakening.

00:44:17.199 –> 00:44:18.219
I’m guessing that that was

00:44:18.340 –> 00:44:21.161
given to Matt Fraction to be like…

00:44:21.862 –> 00:44:24.925
here’s some of the toys we have,

00:44:25.264 –> 00:44:26.304
and he took that character

00:44:26.324 –> 00:44:27.146
that originated in the

00:44:27.186 –> 00:44:29.146
graphic novel and put it into… Well,

00:44:29.286 –> 00:44:30.306
I did that, actually.

00:44:30.487 –> 00:44:30.967
You did that?

00:44:31.288 –> 00:44:33.108
Okay, so even though Matt was on first,

00:44:33.789 –> 00:44:34.889
dealing with the legendary people…

00:44:35.568 –> 00:44:37.070
the Shaw character came later,

00:44:38.650 –> 00:44:40.931
was not originally conceived, as I recall,

00:44:41.132 –> 00:44:43.954
and apologies, Matt Fraction,

00:44:44.235 –> 00:44:46.335
if I’m remembering this wrong.

00:44:46.775 –> 00:44:49.157
But I don’t think in Matt’s original pitch,

00:44:49.197 –> 00:44:49.858
I don’t think the Shaw

00:44:49.898 –> 00:44:50.958
character was a character.

00:44:52.739 –> 00:44:57.563
And I, we had been given the whole,

00:44:58.623 –> 00:44:59.965
and apologies to Max Bornstein,

00:45:00.005 –> 00:45:01.826
that we had been given the whole canon,

00:45:02.365 –> 00:45:05.047
but we had also been told that the,

00:45:05.509 –> 00:45:06.929
the comic storylines we did

00:45:06.969 –> 00:45:08.210
not have to adhere to.

00:45:08.391 –> 00:45:11.072
That they were, you know, that yes,

00:45:11.153 –> 00:45:12.014
they were available to us.

00:45:12.034 –> 00:45:13.454
We could use them if they worked for us.

00:45:13.835 –> 00:45:16.657
They were part of the larger mythology,

00:45:17.277 –> 00:45:18.239
but they were not

00:45:18.398 –> 00:45:19.920
necessarily considered

00:45:20.161 –> 00:45:21.782
strict canon for the features.

00:45:21.922 –> 00:45:23.422
And so the thing that we had

00:45:23.463 –> 00:45:25.023
to adhere to was the feature canon.

00:45:25.744 –> 00:45:27.146
And if there was stuff in

00:45:27.186 –> 00:45:28.706
the comic series that we could use, great,

00:45:28.827 –> 00:45:30.849
but we weren’t beholden to it.

00:45:31.128 –> 00:45:32.990
But then I went back and read them all

00:45:33.621 –> 00:45:35.563
And we knew we wanted this

00:45:35.664 –> 00:45:37.206
military character.

00:45:37.306 –> 00:45:40.630
We had made up this guy who

00:45:40.690 –> 00:45:41.871
existed in both timelines.

00:45:41.911 –> 00:45:42.873
And this was before Kurt and

00:45:42.893 –> 00:45:43.574
Wyatt were cast.

00:45:43.614 –> 00:45:45.036
He was just this character in the show,

00:45:45.097 –> 00:45:45.516
Lee Shaw.

00:45:48.356 –> 00:45:49.838
And as I was reading through

00:45:49.958 –> 00:45:50.958
all of the comics,

00:45:51.458 –> 00:45:52.599
there was this character

00:45:52.699 –> 00:45:55.980
who was an army person that Serizawa,

00:45:56.059 –> 00:45:58.119
I believe, encounters in the past.

00:45:58.661 –> 00:45:59.960
And I think he’s just referred to as Shaw.

00:45:59.981 –> 00:46:01.722
I don’t know if he even has a first name.

00:46:03.061 –> 00:46:03.822
And I thought, oh,

00:46:03.842 –> 00:46:05.262
let’s make him that guy.

00:46:05.722 –> 00:46:06.722
He’s in the mythology.

00:46:06.742 –> 00:46:08.324
He exists in the world.

00:46:09.090 –> 00:46:10.413
you know I don’t believe

00:46:10.472 –> 00:46:12.114
he’s a big character in the

00:46:12.295 –> 00:46:13.056
I think he just kind of

00:46:13.096 –> 00:46:14.697
comes and goes as a a

00:46:14.737 –> 00:46:15.898
military guy I’m one of

00:46:15.938 –> 00:46:18.541
serozawa’s missions um but

00:46:18.581 –> 00:46:19.882
I was like okay well let’s

00:46:19.902 –> 00:46:21.525
since we’re we’re living in

00:46:21.565 –> 00:46:23.768
this larger world why not

00:46:24.554 –> 00:46:26.315
make this a character who’s already there,

00:46:26.335 –> 00:46:28.217
who’s already a part of it.

00:46:28.317 –> 00:46:33.481
And so appreciation to Max

00:46:33.621 –> 00:46:34.661
for giving us that guy.

00:46:35.222 –> 00:46:36.121
And it’s great because it

00:46:36.161 –> 00:46:38.103
tightens the net.

00:46:38.623 –> 00:46:39.603
This whole tapestry that you

00:46:39.623 –> 00:46:40.324
guys are playing with,

00:46:40.385 –> 00:46:42.505
it really fills in a lot of blanks.

00:46:42.585 –> 00:46:43.047
It’s fun.

00:46:43.067 –> 00:46:44.708
I think the audience appreciates it.

00:46:45.887 –> 00:46:48.210
And so we’ve talked about Monarch.

00:46:48.309 –> 00:46:50.391
I have to ask you what your

00:46:50.411 –> 00:46:51.512
favorite kaiju is from

00:46:52.509 –> 00:46:53.710
your childhood and maybe

00:46:53.769 –> 00:46:55.652
from the show well look

00:46:55.731 –> 00:46:56.532
it’s Godzilla it sounds

00:46:56.552 –> 00:46:58.295
like it sounds like it it

00:46:58.335 –> 00:46:59.775
sounds like a cheap like

00:46:59.835 –> 00:47:01.418
I’m sure no Godzilla I mean

00:47:01.458 –> 00:47:03.440
Godzilla is the one that

00:47:03.840 –> 00:47:07.023
you know I grew up with

00:47:07.463 –> 00:47:09.085
again I’m old enough to

00:47:09.105 –> 00:47:10.867
have watched these old you

00:47:10.907 –> 00:47:12.268
know movies on my parents

00:47:12.307 –> 00:47:13.309
black and white television

00:47:13.530 –> 00:47:14.570
you know when I was a kid

00:47:14.610 –> 00:47:16.833
and they would run you know whatever the

00:47:17.670 –> 00:47:19.052
the independent TV station was,

00:47:19.072 –> 00:47:20.735
I assume would buy them in like packages.

00:47:20.775 –> 00:47:21.715
And so there’s a marathon.

00:47:21.755 –> 00:47:21.996
Yeah.

00:47:22.356 –> 00:47:22.597
Yeah.

00:47:22.637 –> 00:47:23.737
So they would just run them

00:47:23.818 –> 00:47:25.840
on the million dollar movie or whatever,

00:47:26.001 –> 00:47:28.003
you know, and, and it was,

00:47:28.342 –> 00:47:31.067
it was this giant lizard,

00:47:31.467 –> 00:47:32.628
which was clearly a guy in

00:47:32.668 –> 00:47:34.329
a rubber suit stomping around,

00:47:34.510 –> 00:47:35.731
kicking over buildings and

00:47:35.751 –> 00:47:36.313
stuff like that.

00:47:36.373 –> 00:47:37.373
And that when you’re,

00:47:38.896 –> 00:47:40.117
five or six or eight years

00:47:40.297 –> 00:47:42.460
old is what just sucked you

00:47:42.519 –> 00:47:44.320
into that it seems so real

00:47:44.862 –> 00:47:47.583
and so he still to me is the

00:47:48.469 –> 00:47:49.490
He’s the king of the monsters.

00:47:49.510 –> 00:47:50.552
And they’re all fun.

00:47:50.931 –> 00:47:54.094
I mean, I’ve soft spot for Hedera,

00:47:54.114 –> 00:47:55.054
the smog monsters.

00:47:55.275 –> 00:47:55.375
Yes.

00:47:55.414 –> 00:47:57.817
We’re not going to see

00:47:57.856 –> 00:47:59.777
Godzuki anytime soon.

00:47:59.878 –> 00:48:01.958
I don’t think so.

00:48:02.199 –> 00:48:02.960
I love Rodan.

00:48:02.980 –> 00:48:05.782
I mean, you know, I’m always,

00:48:05.842 –> 00:48:07.663
I’m a sucker for a fire-breathing drag.

00:48:07.764 –> 00:48:08.403
Love Rodan.

00:48:09.023 –> 00:48:09.885
In the Rodan film,

00:48:10.125 –> 00:48:10.945
when they’re opening with him,

00:48:11.045 –> 00:48:12.266
the Rodan script in the

00:48:12.286 –> 00:48:13.327
Rodan film is actually,

00:48:13.688 –> 00:48:15.268
it’s such an incredibly sound movie.

00:48:16.161 –> 00:48:18.862
one of the moments in the

00:48:18.902 –> 00:48:20.182
room and I keep pitching

00:48:20.202 –> 00:48:21.262
this and we have not yet

00:48:21.322 –> 00:48:22.123
figured out a way to put it

00:48:22.143 –> 00:48:23.664
in the show is is there’s a

00:48:23.764 –> 00:48:25.585
great mislead in the rodan

00:48:25.605 –> 00:48:26.644
movie where these guys if

00:48:26.704 –> 00:48:27.385
I’m remembering it

00:48:27.405 –> 00:48:28.706
correctly these guys are

00:48:28.746 –> 00:48:29.987
going down into this mine

00:48:30.007 –> 00:48:31.786
and they’re mining yes mine

00:48:32.307 –> 00:48:33.188
that’s killing them and

00:48:33.268 –> 00:48:35.409
what they initially

00:48:35.449 –> 00:48:36.809
discover are these big kind

00:48:36.849 –> 00:48:39.351
of like gross kind of grubs

00:48:39.411 –> 00:48:40.610
the size of school buses or

00:48:40.650 –> 00:48:41.731
something and you think

00:48:41.911 –> 00:48:42.952
that’s the monster

00:48:43.846 –> 00:48:44.806
and then what you realize

00:48:44.847 –> 00:48:45.927
later is no those are the

00:48:46.007 –> 00:48:47.407
little mealworms that that

00:48:47.467 –> 00:48:49.168
rodan eats and it’s like

00:48:49.228 –> 00:48:50.009
it’s like the monster

00:48:50.048 –> 00:48:52.271
itself is like like a

00:48:52.311 –> 00:48:53.190
hundred times bigger and

00:48:53.210 –> 00:48:54.431
you guys have mealworms

00:48:54.512 –> 00:48:56.172
kind of creatures in this

00:48:56.753 –> 00:48:57.673
you know they they pull

00:48:57.693 –> 00:48:59.153
kiko into the yeah yeah the

00:48:59.193 –> 00:49:01.795
little uh uh the endoswarm

00:49:01.835 –> 00:49:02.556
I think they call them

00:49:02.735 –> 00:49:04.117
right uh but they were

00:49:04.577 –> 00:49:05.938
flying almost and it was

00:49:06.018 –> 00:49:08.739
funny insectoid kind of

00:49:09.059 –> 00:49:10.280
things but they were uh

00:49:10.480 –> 00:49:11.201
it’s funny because

00:49:11.920 –> 00:49:13.001
We just in the script they

00:49:13.041 –> 00:49:14.061
would just be I can’t

00:49:14.081 –> 00:49:15.483
remember they call them Yeah,

00:49:15.842 –> 00:49:17.523
they had a very generic, you know,

00:49:17.583 –> 00:49:19.003
the the creatures or the

00:49:19.083 –> 00:49:20.304
insects or the insectoids

00:49:20.364 –> 00:49:21.164
or whatever we call them

00:49:21.184 –> 00:49:23.545
and then but Legendary

00:49:23.565 –> 00:49:24.585
mythology was very you have

00:49:24.606 –> 00:49:25.646
to make up names for everything.

00:49:25.686 –> 00:49:27.286
They all have sure I mean,

00:49:27.347 –> 00:49:28.688
I mean would you I

00:49:29.657 –> 00:49:31.617
love it if they suddenly were like, hey,

00:49:31.858 –> 00:49:32.958
that shrew creature you

00:49:32.978 –> 00:49:33.818
guys have in the ice thing,

00:49:33.838 –> 00:49:35.398
can we pull that into one of the films?

00:49:35.498 –> 00:49:37.039
Oh my god, of course.

00:49:37.099 –> 00:49:38.260
How awesome would that be?

00:49:39.581 –> 00:49:41.822
So, we’re talking kaiju to wrap up.

00:49:42.181 –> 00:49:42.302
Chris,

00:49:42.322 –> 00:49:43.282
we’ve got to talk about the kaiju in

00:49:43.302 –> 00:49:43.641
the room,

00:49:43.782 –> 00:49:45.543
and that would be Godzilla Minus One.

00:49:45.563 –> 00:49:52.445
Well, look, I mean, here’s the thing.

00:49:53.266 –> 00:49:55.567
Godzilla’s having a moment, you know,

00:49:56.206 –> 00:49:58.427
and we kind of look at it as…

00:50:01.677 –> 00:50:02.559
Anything that’s good for

00:50:02.619 –> 00:50:03.980
Godzilla is good for all of them.

00:50:04.619 –> 00:50:06.001
The rising tide raises all

00:50:06.021 –> 00:50:06.842
the Godzilla boats.

00:50:07.181 –> 00:50:09.923
Even if they’re exploding

00:50:10.003 –> 00:50:13.047
ordinance up the coast of Tokyo.

00:50:13.347 –> 00:50:14.246
You look at that movie and

00:50:14.286 –> 00:50:15.849
you’re kind of humbled.

00:50:15.889 –> 00:50:16.648
You’re like, oh my God,

00:50:16.688 –> 00:50:18.349
here’s something that’s a

00:50:18.409 –> 00:50:20.092
dramatic… I don’t think

00:50:20.112 –> 00:50:20.871
it’s in competition.

00:50:21.072 –> 00:50:22.012
It’s awesome though.

00:50:22.072 –> 00:50:23.014
Yes, exactly.

00:50:23.094 –> 00:50:24.574
We don’t feel that we’re in

00:50:24.655 –> 00:50:26.215
competition with that.

00:50:26.797 –> 00:50:30.679
Anything that we feel fills out the…

00:50:31.519 –> 00:50:32.420
It’s not a competition,

00:50:32.481 –> 00:50:34.081
but there is some pressure

00:50:34.141 –> 00:50:35.902
to feel that we need to

00:50:37.483 –> 00:50:39.505
raise our level of writing

00:50:39.545 –> 00:50:41.867
and our level of dramatic storytelling.

00:50:44.389 –> 00:50:45.769
It’s not a competition,

00:50:46.090 –> 00:50:49.291
but we don’t want to do

00:50:50.313 –> 00:50:53.054
something that seems silly

00:50:53.114 –> 00:50:55.016
or dumb or inconsequential.

00:50:55.717 –> 00:50:57.378
Were you worried that it got

00:50:57.518 –> 00:50:58.659
too Scooby-Doo?

00:50:59.628 –> 00:51:01.809
Like too Scooby-Doo with the… Our show?

00:51:01.929 –> 00:51:03.849
No, I wasn’t.

00:51:04.170 –> 00:51:05.811
The drama, you guys had, like you said,

00:51:05.871 –> 00:51:06.831
four minutes of Godzilla in

00:51:06.851 –> 00:51:08.472
your show for the most part

00:51:09.152 –> 00:51:10.413
and lots of human drama.

00:51:10.452 –> 00:51:11.492
You look at Godzilla minus

00:51:11.672 –> 00:51:12.994
one and it’s lots of human

00:51:13.014 –> 00:51:15.014
drama and a small amount of

00:51:15.054 –> 00:51:15.934
Godzilla as well.

00:51:16.474 –> 00:51:16.974
I would say they’re

00:51:16.994 –> 00:51:17.996
comparable more than they’re…

00:51:19.177 –> 00:51:19.797
competitive.

00:51:20.117 –> 00:51:20.318
I mean,

00:51:20.358 –> 00:51:21.719
I’m sure some of it would inform

00:51:22.378 –> 00:51:23.960
the next season of Monarch

00:51:23.980 –> 00:51:25.780
in a stylistic or a narrative way,

00:51:25.820 –> 00:51:29.143
but it’s two different universes, too.

00:51:29.563 –> 00:51:30.603
I think what it does is,

00:51:30.862 –> 00:51:31.583
and I’m trying to… I

00:51:31.623 –> 00:51:33.684
don’t want to say anything…

00:51:34.864 –> 00:51:35.704
I’m trying to be careful

00:51:35.724 –> 00:51:36.626
with my words here I think

00:51:36.726 –> 00:51:37.405
there’s we’re not in

00:51:37.445 –> 00:51:38.585
competition with them and

00:51:38.626 –> 00:51:39.467
we don’t feel we should be

00:51:39.507 –> 00:51:40.887
competition with them and

00:51:41.027 –> 00:51:43.088
and our colleagues and

00:51:43.128 –> 00:51:44.789
partners at toho do not

00:51:44.829 –> 00:51:45.889
feel we’re in competition

00:51:45.909 –> 00:51:47.208
with them but we look at

00:51:47.268 –> 00:51:49.750
something that good that

00:51:49.909 –> 00:51:52.391
well executed and and that

00:51:52.510 –> 00:51:54.192
dramatic and powerful and

00:51:54.211 –> 00:51:55.172
you feel well it raises the

00:51:55.192 –> 00:51:56.733
bar for all of us it’s it’s

00:51:56.773 –> 00:51:57.932
like okay now season two’s

00:51:57.972 –> 00:51:58.652
got to be even greater

00:51:58.713 –> 00:52:00.253
season two’s got to be even more

00:52:00.974 –> 00:52:01.193
you know,

00:52:01.295 –> 00:52:03.056
potent and dramatically relevant

00:52:03.175 –> 00:52:04.476
because they are telling

00:52:04.577 –> 00:52:07.139
such great story in that world.

00:52:07.179 –> 00:52:08.960
And we have to, we have to do that too.

00:52:09.221 –> 00:52:10.322
Not that we want to make our

00:52:10.362 –> 00:52:12.063
show into Godzilla minus one,

00:52:12.083 –> 00:52:14.244
cause it’s not, but it’s like, it’s like,

00:52:14.324 –> 00:52:15.545
okay, the bar gets raised.

00:52:15.726 –> 00:52:18.668
I mean, you know, and, and, you know, the,

00:52:18.748 –> 00:52:19.510
the movies,

00:52:19.550 –> 00:52:21.431
the feature films and our TV

00:52:21.471 –> 00:52:23.552
show and the Toho projects are all,

00:52:24.172 –> 00:52:25.635
they’re all separate and very different,

00:52:25.795 –> 00:52:25.934
but,

00:52:26.923 –> 00:52:28.284
um you know they all

00:52:28.565 –> 00:52:29.985
hopefully are exploring

00:52:30.126 –> 00:52:32.726
different facets different

00:52:32.746 –> 00:52:34.108
kind of tonal avenues of

00:52:34.168 –> 00:52:35.588
what you can do I mean I

00:52:35.608 –> 00:52:36.889
think it’s a testament to

00:52:37.009 –> 00:52:38.230
the power and the longevity

00:52:38.289 –> 00:52:39.010
and the breadth and the

00:52:39.050 –> 00:52:40.391
scope of godzilla there’s

00:52:40.411 –> 00:52:41.550
so many different so many

00:52:41.570 –> 00:52:42.532
different ways into that

00:52:42.612 –> 00:52:45.713
story it must be really

00:52:45.733 –> 00:52:47.293
reaffirming that something

00:52:47.333 –> 00:52:48.894
comes out that is a majority of a drama

00:52:50.003 –> 00:52:53.106
And it still finds a place,

00:52:53.628 –> 00:52:54.789
a really passionate place

00:52:54.969 –> 00:52:57.130
with an audience in that

00:52:57.572 –> 00:52:58.873
that’s what you guys were designing.

00:52:59.853 –> 00:53:00.655
They did it as well.

00:53:01.356 –> 00:53:02.936
And the audience has an

00:53:03.097 –> 00:53:04.418
appetite for that kind of

00:53:04.599 –> 00:53:06.039
monster storytelling where

00:53:06.059 –> 00:53:07.262
it doesn’t just have to be

00:53:08.273 –> 00:53:09.835
WrestleMania with Kaiju.

00:53:10.315 –> 00:53:13.277
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

00:53:13.556 –> 00:53:14.376
There’s nothing wrong with that.

00:53:14.396 –> 00:53:15.737
We’re going to get it with

00:53:15.757 –> 00:53:19.059
this next Kong vs. Godzilla movie.

00:53:19.099 –> 00:53:20.619
The older Kong has a power

00:53:20.659 –> 00:53:22.021
glove from what I can tell.

00:53:22.300 –> 00:53:23.262
I’m in.

00:53:23.681 –> 00:53:26.302
You know I’m there opening day.

00:53:26.844 –> 00:53:28.443
I’m there opening day for

00:53:28.605 –> 00:53:32.786
older Cranky Kong with a power glove.

00:53:32.847 –> 00:53:33.226
I’m in.

00:53:33.626 –> 00:53:36.608
You had me a giant metal glove on a Kong.

00:53:37.128 –> 00:53:37.228
Yes.

00:53:38.007 –> 00:53:40.748
um but I think it it it does

00:53:41.047 –> 00:53:43.009
prove I mean the longevity

00:53:43.048 –> 00:53:43.789
I mean this has been a

00:53:43.829 –> 00:53:45.951
franchise for 70 years I

00:53:45.990 –> 00:53:48.771
mean 1954 was the you know

00:53:48.811 –> 00:53:50.092
was the first godzilla film

00:53:50.172 –> 00:53:52.172
and and that it has that

00:53:52.213 –> 00:53:53.693
longevity and staying power

00:53:54.134 –> 00:53:55.494
is extraordinary and and

00:53:55.574 –> 00:53:56.675
it’s it’s it’s a heavy

00:53:56.755 –> 00:53:58.536
responsibility too for us I

00:53:58.576 –> 00:54:00.456
mean that we gotta look and

00:54:00.496 –> 00:54:01.898
not everyone’s gonna love everything and

00:54:02.717 –> 00:54:04.099
I’m incredibly gratified

00:54:04.239 –> 00:54:05.940
that people have responded

00:54:06.001 –> 00:54:06.661
well to the show.

00:54:06.701 –> 00:54:08.302
The reviews have been really positive.

00:54:08.322 –> 00:54:09.103
People like the show.

00:54:09.143 –> 00:54:10.023
People watch the show.

00:54:10.103 –> 00:54:11.204
But, you know,

00:54:11.224 –> 00:54:12.085
there are always people who

00:54:12.144 –> 00:54:12.784
are going to think we’re

00:54:12.824 –> 00:54:13.746
doing it wrong or we’re

00:54:13.766 –> 00:54:15.286
doing a disservice or we’re

00:54:15.327 –> 00:54:16.527
telling the wrong story or

00:54:16.847 –> 00:54:19.128
there aren’t enough monsters or whatever.

00:54:19.188 –> 00:54:20.449
You can’t please everyone.

00:54:20.570 –> 00:54:23.072
But we take it very

00:54:23.152 –> 00:54:24.233
seriously and that the

00:54:24.293 –> 00:54:25.514
people who work on the show,

00:54:25.574 –> 00:54:26.994
Matt and myself and everybody else,

00:54:27.775 –> 00:54:29.737
I love this franchise, love,

00:54:30.639 –> 00:54:32.501
pardon the pun, the legacy of it,

00:54:32.780 –> 00:54:35.023
you know, and and, you know,

00:54:35.063 –> 00:54:36.344
we’re Godzilla super fans

00:54:36.385 –> 00:54:37.385
and we want to try and tell

00:54:37.445 –> 00:54:38.567
the best version of it that

00:54:38.606 –> 00:54:40.489
we can and make as many

00:54:40.590 –> 00:54:43.873
people excited about it as we as we can.

00:54:43.893 –> 00:54:46.335
Well, I loved it, Chris.

00:54:46.949 –> 00:54:47.369
I loved it,

00:54:47.528 –> 00:54:48.630
and you got my running

00:54:48.670 –> 00:54:49.831
commentary through the season,

00:54:49.891 –> 00:54:51.711
and I apologize for those early- No,

00:54:51.791 –> 00:54:52.532
I’m always happy.

00:54:52.612 –> 00:54:55.134
If I get texts that say, I love, oh, wow,

00:54:55.173 –> 00:54:56.375
that’s great, or holy shit,

00:54:56.434 –> 00:54:57.916
I’m always happy to get those texts.

00:54:57.936 –> 00:54:58.376
I loved it.

00:54:59.436 –> 00:55:02.239
And I can’t wait for season two.

00:55:02.398 –> 00:55:04.360
I am knocking on wood that I

00:55:04.400 –> 00:55:05.800
haven’t heard anything, yes or no,

00:55:05.860 –> 00:55:06.822
but I’m knocking on wood.

00:55:07.282 –> 00:55:08.483
we’re you know it’s not

00:55:08.543 –> 00:55:10.543
official obviously I I the

00:55:10.583 –> 00:55:11.824
show did very well for

00:55:11.903 –> 00:55:12.905
Apple they’re very happy

00:55:12.985 –> 00:55:13.885
everyone’s very excited

00:55:13.945 –> 00:55:15.545
about it I I it’s hard to

00:55:15.606 –> 00:55:16.527
imagine that they’re not

00:55:16.547 –> 00:55:19.027
going to want more um you

00:55:19.068 –> 00:55:20.929
know we’re the staff has

00:55:21.009 –> 00:55:22.170
been we have been working

00:55:22.230 –> 00:55:23.409
on stories we have stories

00:55:23.449 –> 00:55:24.811
to tell but we’re we’re

00:55:25.050 –> 00:55:25.771
waiting so we’re still

00:55:25.791 –> 00:55:26.731
waiting for an official

00:55:27.351 –> 00:55:28.632
production green light um

00:55:28.853 –> 00:55:30.193
but we’re all optimistic we

00:55:30.253 –> 00:55:31.914
all are are optimistic that

00:55:31.934 –> 00:55:32.715
it’s going to come and

00:55:32.735 –> 00:55:33.635
we’ll and we’ll be able to

00:55:33.655 –> 00:55:34.476
keep telling the story

00:55:35.208 –> 00:55:36.527
loved it absolutely loved it

00:55:36.768 –> 00:55:37.929
and crossing the fingers

00:55:38.188 –> 00:55:39.610
for the rest of it and

00:55:40.150 –> 00:55:41.750
obviously I’m there opening

00:55:41.789 –> 00:55:42.831
day for the next kong

00:55:42.871 –> 00:55:44.010
godzilla movie because what

00:55:44.110 –> 00:55:45.030
I mean that’s those these

00:55:45.050 –> 00:55:45.791
are the movies I wanted

00:55:45.831 –> 00:55:47.552
when I was 12. of course I

00:55:47.612 –> 00:55:49.393
still want as a 45 year old

00:55:49.452 –> 00:55:51.733
man yeah me too

00:55:53.389 –> 00:55:56.431
Chris, thanks for doing this.

00:55:56.452 –> 00:55:58.193
I hope I can see you soon.

00:55:58.934 –> 00:55:59.795
Comic-Con might get a little

00:55:59.815 –> 00:56:02.036
stickier for me.

00:56:02.416 –> 00:56:04.338
Our baby is due.

00:56:04.378 –> 00:56:05.619
Congratulations on that.

00:56:05.759 –> 00:56:07.920
It is about prioritizing.

00:56:10.041 –> 00:56:11.541
you know, the work is important.

00:56:11.561 –> 00:56:13.603
I always say, you know, we, we, we bring,

00:56:14.663 –> 00:56:15.063
you know, you,

00:56:15.523 –> 00:56:16.463
you pour a hundred percent

00:56:16.483 –> 00:56:17.764
of yourself into the job you take.

00:56:17.804 –> 00:56:18.505
If you take the job,

00:56:18.525 –> 00:56:19.405
you take it seriously.

00:56:19.465 –> 00:56:20.746
You know, you do, you know,

00:56:20.766 –> 00:56:23.286
you bring your A game every single day,

00:56:23.967 –> 00:56:26.527
but always family first, you know, that,

00:56:26.588 –> 00:56:27.869
that, that, you know, there,

00:56:28.628 –> 00:56:29.369
there’s more important

00:56:29.389 –> 00:56:30.570
things in life than television.

00:56:30.809 –> 00:56:31.690
And if, you know,

00:56:31.829 –> 00:56:32.670
I look at my daughters

00:56:32.731 –> 00:56:34.992
every day and I’m reminded of that.

00:56:35.092 –> 00:56:35.211
So.

00:56:36.034 –> 00:56:36.456
Incredible.

00:56:37.157 –> 00:56:37.639
Thank you, Chris.

00:56:38.420 –> 00:56:38.742
Thank you.

00:56:38.922 –> 00:56:39.885
Always a pleasure, Jonathan.

00:56:39.905 –> 00:56:40.425
We’ll talk again.

00:56:40.465 –> 00:56:40.706
Yes, sir.