Godzilla: King of the Monsters left fans with plenty to talk about but one thing a lot of moviegoers really zeroed in on was the decision to kill off Sally Hawkins' Dr. Graham. She played a small but key role in the first instalment and there was a lot of buzz surrounding what the sequel might do with the immensely talented actress.
Well, she died within the first ten minutes or so after King Ghidorah reawakened and proceeded to eat her! It's a creative decision which has received its fair share of backlash so when we recently had the chance to talk to director Michael Dougherty, we made sure to ask what the thinking behind that decision was and whether there were ever plans for her to have a larger role.
"[Laughs] There was never a version where she was in the film longer. She died that early going back to the initial treatment because I wanted to find a way to establish how cruel and vicious King Ghidorah was and to really seal the deal on this guy being the villain. I partially did it because I loved Sally character from the first film so much. Serizawa and Dr. Graham were my favourites because, to me, they had the ideal job that I would have wanted. They were the Godzilla experts!
"Because she was the sympathetic and endearing, heart-warming character, what better way to establish your villain than to have them kill that person? It's a throwback to Janet Leigh's character in Psycho. You spend all this time setting up a certain character as a heroine or major character and then in a shocking way, they kick the bucket. I was tapping into my horror movie roots with that one. I remember hearing some of the criticism saying, 'Why would King Ghidorah do that? She's such a tiny little thing?'
"I'm sorry but if you've been frozen in the ice for potentially tens of millions of years, you're hungry! [Laughs] If someone froze you in the ice for millions of years and you saw tiny little things currying across the floor, I guarantee you would want to go after it for a snack!"
Honestly, say what you will about the decision to take Hawkins' character in this direction but that argument makes a lot of sense and it definitely established that no one was safe from King Ghidorah. A counter-argument could still be made that she should have received more screentime but this does, in many ways, appear to be something people are criticising for the sake of it.
Plus,
Godzilla: King of the Monsters still brought back a fair few characters from the first instalment and found some clever ways to tie them together while also telling a very different story.
What are your thoughts on this explanation from the director? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section and stay tuned to CBM for more from the filmmaker over the coming days.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is on Digital Download now and on DVD, Blu-ray™, 3D Blu-ray™ and 4K Ultra HD October 14.