"It was such a shot in the arm to see your star," director Gareth Edwards tells USA Today of first setting eyes on his fully realized iconic monster. "It was like knowing you were pregnant vs. seeing the ultrasound. I suddenly remembered I was making this iconic movie." The British director further notes that he imagines the titular creature to be as close as possible to the original incarnation, along with its nuclear themed story. He also says he didn't want Godzilla to have a personality. "To me, he's like a force of nature, like the wrath of God or vengeance for the way we've behaved," Edwards says. "If this really happened, it would be like Sept. 11. I want it to be epic. I want to get the hairs on the back of your neck up. [Gozilla] is the closest thing to being a god as I think there is in terms of a job you could have," he says. "You picture something one day and draw it, and the next day, it's physical and there in front of you no matter how insane." Edwards then teased there will indeed be creatures other than Godzilla in the anticipated film. "I've just got a secret fantasy — well, it's not very secret anymore — about living in a world where there's fantastical things like giant creatures and what it would really be like and trying to take it seriously. And there's no bigger or better icon than Godzilla."
The first official
Godzilla trailer will land online tomorrow, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, and will be attached to
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in theaters this weekend. Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston,
Godzilla is set for release on May 16, 2014.