China backs box-office beast

Actress, location and investment make up Chinese contribution to latest Godzilla film, Xu Fan reports.

Before Zhang Ziyi started filming for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the top Chinese actress had expected to see the titular character, or at least, a life-size puppet.

But even until the last day of shooting, she hadn't "seen" the 108-meter-tall fantasy creature brought to life by Hollywood's advanced computer technology. Nevertheless, human actors and actresses have to use their imagination while performing scenes when they share screen space with the creatures.

Zhang first saw international fame with Ang Lee's Oscar-winning martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000 and became better known globally after Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), which was produced by Steven Spielberg. Now she says the latest special effects-driven Godzilla film has provided her with a fresh perspective of Hollywood.

"As a Chinese actress, it was quite an eye-opening experience to participate in such a film," said Zhang during an interview in Beijing on May 14.

A day earlier, director Michael Dougherty, actresses Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown along with Zhang attended the premiere in Beijing, the launchpad for the film's global promotional campaign.

Picking up a few years after the 2014 film Godzilla ends, the new feature has a more powerful cast of monsters.

With the help of the colossal caterpillar-like creature Mothra, Godzilla, the enormous creature feeding on nuclear radiation, re-emerges from the ocean depths to restore the natural balance and fight against the three-headed dragon King Ghidorah and accomplice Rodan, a pterosaurs-like beast.

These monsters first appeared in Japanese film studio Toho's productions from 1954 to 1964, and have become a part of pop culture across the world. Hollywood rebooted the Godzilla franchise in 2014, and has since launched a new monster-themed series with Kong: Skull Island (2017) as the second installment, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters as the third.

The latest film will be released in North America and China on May 31.

China's expanding film industry has seemingly earned it a presence in the franchise. And unlike Chinese actress Jing Tian's brief appearance in Kong: Skull Island, Zhang's scenes in the latest film make up an important part of the tale, which begins in a secret base, shot in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Zhang stars as a scientist working for the secret organization Monarch, and also plays the scientist's twin sister. The two inherit their family's psychic ability to connect with the monsters. In the film, the scientist's research on Chinese myths about dragons has been inspirational to humankind's efforts to assist Godzilla to face off its enemies and protect Earth.

"My character is a bit complex to perform," says Zhang, adding that the director allowed her the freedom to enrich the role.

But shooting without seeing the "monsters" on set was a challenge for her, she adds.

By using wind machines, artificial rain, smoke as well as music to simulate scenes that feature the monsters in the film, Dougherty created the right ambience to allow the actors and actresses to perform, says Farmiga, the leading actress who portrays a Monarch scientist, who misuses her invention to wake up the monsters.

"So automatically, your adrenaline lifts, your blood pressure rises and your pulse quickens," Farmiga, the American actress, says. "At the same time, we had a narration for what we were seeing. There was a laser light that we would follow for the (monster's) head.

She continues: "During the quiet moments of a scene, we had someone narrating the very details of what we were watching, to the point of even describing an animal's emotional state of being."

Dougherty echoes her, saying that the shooting "was almost like doing a stage play by creating all these tools to help the actor's imagination and reactions".

An interesting fact about the Godzilla franchise is that most of the films convey in-depth messages about humankind's anxieties. For instance, the original 1954 Japanese Godzilla film was made in the aftermath of the atomic bombings by the United States of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

"I've always liked the messages in Godzilla that have evolved over time. And his message has now evolved to reflect the current era of climate change," says Dougherty, 44.

"He (Godzilla) steps into correcting any species that might threaten our planet, whether this threat is from a monster or human beings," he adds.

Brown, the 15-year-old British actress who plays the daughter of Farmiga's character, says the film will raise public awareness about protecting nature.

The film has been produced with joint investment from Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros Pictures and the Chinese company Shanghai Huahua Media.

Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/23/2019 page15)