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.