Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Director Sheds Light On “Very Human-Like” New Villain & More

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire picks up after the events of Godzilla vs. Kong with Kong building a new life in the Hollow Earth while Godzilla continues protecting the surface world from Titans. Kong discovers a tribe of giant apes in the Hollow Earth, but soon learns that their leader is a threat not just to him and the Hollow Earth, but the world above as well. Kong must find a way to convince Godzilla, who seems to have been preparing for something big, to help him eliminate this threat with an unexpected Titan jumping in to help them find common ground.

Since Godzilla kicked off the MonsterVerse in 2014 it has grown to include not only Godzilla and Kong’s story, but the story of humans impacted by their actions. The MonsterVerse has incorporated an element of heroism as well as animal instincts into these Titan tales. Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire shows how the Titans are learning and evolving moving past their differences to protect the world from larger threats and new Titans coming into play that help round out this world of Toho monsters even more.

Screen Rant interviewed director Adam Wingard about his new MonsterVerse movie, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. He explained how Godzilla’s look evolved, how Skar King stands out as a MonsterVerse villain, and contemplates the future of the MonsterVerse. Wingard also shared his desire to make a ThunderCats movie, including incorporating elements from the screenplay he wrote in high school.

Godzilla’s Look Is “Evolving And Changing” In Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Screen Rant: I love Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. I’m a huge fan of the MonsterVerse, and I think you killed it with this last movie. I feel like the last film that we had was “the fight,” and this one was all about coming together. Now, can you talk to me about updating Godzilla’s look in this film?

Adam Wingard: When I did Godzilla vs. Kong, it was really important to keep Godzilla consistent with how he looked in the prior MonsterVerse entry. And the reason is kind of almost because of the original King Kong versus Godzilla. Because it was a new King Kong that was introduced in that movie, and he’s kind of never really looked, aside from King Kong escapes, the same. He wasn’t stop motion.

And so I always felt like the versus battle wasn’t as satisfying because it was also introducing a new version of the character, which I love the original, the Toho Kong, but that was my issue with it. So I didn’t want to repeat that in the last Godzilla vs. Kong. But that meant that because I was trying to keep Godzilla looking consistent, that meant that I didn’t get to put my own stamp on him. And as a fan, I always enjoy all the different eras of Godzilla as he changes, and we’re five movies into the MonsterVerse. It felt like it was time to do an updated version.

And so my approach ended up being one where it started on the script phase because it was important that it wasn’t just, Okay, here’s a new version of Godzilla. He’s updated for no reason other than it looks cool and whatever. I wanted the drive, the story to be around why Godzilla’s look is evolving and changing. And so his half of the story ended up sort of becoming almost about that.

Now in Hollow Earth, we really get to experience their ecosystem and their world feels so lived in. What did you use for reference for the Hollow Earth, and what inspired the look and feel of the location? Did you collaborate at all with the Monarch production team to flesh out Hollow Earth at all?

Adam Wingard: Well, the Monarch TV show was kind of starting a little bit after our movie. These things take so long, and we did give them a walk through our war room, which had all the different images. Obviously there’s a lot of real world locations that go into Hollow Earth. A lot of our plates are in Iceland, Australia, and Hawaii as well. So there’s a groundedness to Hollow Earth, but ultimately, as you know, there’s a massive, very almost kind of fantasy element to it with these giant crystals and the vibrant colors that we’re mixing into these real environments.

A big inspiration for me, weirdly enough, was growing up in the ’80s and seeing all the box art on the toy shelf for things like Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, and all those things. And there were just these vibrant fantasy scapes with neon pink glows, green hues, and colors that don’t usually go together. That made a big impression on me.

We actually took a lot of that, especially Masters of the Universe artwork, and sort of always kept that nearby on the wall as a reference point because that was a fun challenge for me. It was like, Can we take these very stylized painted environments and bring them to life?

As a kid of the ’80s as well, I love, They Live. That was one of the inspirations for the story progression of this film. Can you talk about other films that kind of influenced the story progression in this film?

Adam Wingard: One that jumps out right away is Emperor of the North. That’s kind of an obscure ’70s film with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Specifically that’s where I came up with the idea of Skar King in a way, the visual aesthetics of him and the way that combat would look with Kong. There’s a great fight in that film where Lee Marvin is battling on the back of a train with Ernest Borgnine and Ernest Borgnine has got this kind of chain weapon that he’s got sort of a railroad spike on the end of.

It’s a really wild movie. I took a lot of influence from the early Godzilla films, the Showa era movies. Those are my favorite ones. That’s what I grew up on, being a child of the ’80s. Those ’70s era Showa films are the ones that were always playing on daytime television. So those are the ones that made an impression, and I referenced those quite a bit too. I just love the kind of wacky tone that those movies have and just the psychedelic technicolor thing.

Now, Godzilla and Kong franchises each have their own distinct tones and mythologies. How do you blend these elements while ensuring the film respects both legacies?

Adam Wingard: The thing is, Godzilla has had so many kind of legacies over the years. He’s been a good guy, bad guy. He’s been a very potent metaphor. Sometimes he’s more of a character. I think as a filmmaker, you just have to draw off of what your honest inspiration is from Godzilla, and that’s what I tried to do. I didn’t try to go, Well, this is what people kind of expect of this thing.

It was like, Well, if I’m going to make a Godzilla movie, this is the best way I know how, because this is how I experienced Godzilla. This is how I took inspiration from him and the version of films that I love. And so that’s sort of where I started and how I landed on that take of the movie.

Skar King Is Different From Any Other MonsterVerse Villain Because “He’s Got Bad Intentions”

Now, the Skar King is like the anti-Kong. He isn’t just going on instinct like some of the other monsters. Can you tell us a little more about him?

Adam Wingard: Skar King’s a bad guy. He’s got bad intentions, and the fact that he has intentions is what’s interesting about him as a monster villain. He’s not just going purely on animal instincts, and that makes him unique because in some ways, you could look at a character Ghidorah, who’s like a major, major threat against Godzilla and kind of just be like, Well, but at the end of the day, Ghidorah’s just kind of reacting to his reality.

He’s from somewhere else, his instinct is to do what he does, and Godzilla’s instinct is to stop him. There’s a lot of just these animals doing what their jobs are, but the Skar King, he wants power. He’s very human-like in a lot of ways, and he likes to control other creatures of his kind. So his power relies on more of a dictatorship. He’s able to manipulate other beings at their level, and if you’re under his level, he’ll probably step on you and crush you, but it makes him very unique in that sense.

Absolutely. Now, the heart of this film is Suko. What can you tell us about Suko, and can you talk about what inspired his design?

Adam Wingard: Yeah, I used to joke when we were pitching the movie around to everyone. We have obviously a little war room set up with all the artwork and a lot of the images of Suko tended to be skewing towards cute. That was sort of the look we were always trying to get. But I knew that Suko wasn’t just a cute character. I’ve always loved Return of the Jedi, and I actually really love the Ewoks.

Especially when you’re a kid. You think Ewoks are cool, but I get why some people don’t like them. They feel like, Okay, this is a cash grab. This is people trying to sell toys. So I was very sensitive to that with Suko. I was like, Yes, he has to be as cute as an Ewok, but at the end of the day he’s a little bit more of an Ewok or Baby Yoda that will bite your face off and eat your skin. So he’s a little scrapper and there’s a lot going on with him. So I think that was always the key. He’s not a one-dimensional creature. He’s had a rough time growing up in Hollow Earth, and so him and Kong’s relationship that develops is one that’s more earned throughout the course of the movie.

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Proves The MonsterVerse Is Different From Other Franchises

Looking towards the future, do you see The New Empire as a stepping stone to further expand the stories of Godzilla in Kong’s Universe

Adam Wingard: Potentially, if people show up this weekend, it is. We’re five films into the MonsterVerse, and there’s not a lot of series that have developed in the way that this one has. I really can’t think of almost any, I mean, maybe Fast and Furious. They went through a lot of different approaches and styles before they landed on their Fast Five moment and moved forward.

But this series is completely different from Fast and Furious and all those things. So it is interesting to say where is it going to go? You also have other outlets for the different vibes of Godzilla, so you obviously have the more serious Toho take right now that really leads into the history of Godzilla and what he means as a metaphorical character, which is exciting. You have the Monarch TV show, which is a very character based television show.

Is this the direction of the MonsterVerse? To a certain degree I think what makes the MonsterVerse interesting is that I don’t think you want to just be like, Okay, we figured it out after Fast Five. We’re just going to do the same thing for the next 11 movies or whatever. I don’t think it’s quite like that.

You’ve teased a third Godzilla movie, but how does it get bigger than this?

Adam Wingard: Man, there’s a lot of ways it could get bigger than this. That’s what’s exciting about it is there’s still some unexplored areas, and what’s interesting is I’ve talked with a lot of kids who are massive MonsterVerse fans recently, and we had a great experience with Make-A-Wish. There was a nine-year-old kid who came to the office. He was at the premiere too, and he knew everything about Godzilla and the MonsterVerse and everything involved in it.

He knew more about it than we did almost. And so we were kind of taking around the office and we were showing him artwork and everything. It was so much fun, and he was so sweet. But it was interesting because I think one of us asked him, “Where do you think that the next MonsterVerse is going to go? What do you think they’re going to do?”

And I don’t want to say anything because it would almost be a spoiler, because he kind of nailed where I think you could go to answer your question about how do you get bigger. It’s like there’s some pretty fun directions in terms of that. But I feel like that when it comes to at least my vision of the MonsterVerse, if it syncs up with a nine-year-old fan’s vision of what he hopes to see in the future, I think we’re kind of going in the right direction.

I couldn’t agree with you more now. Is there a plan for the movies to connect with Monarch moving forward?

Adam Wingard: That’s a good question. I think that everybody’s kind of waiting around to see how the movie does and this weekend, and then I think that’s when the next discussion of what the future of the franchise is probably going to look like. And so I think things like that will fall into place based on what the appetite is and what the plan’s going to be going forward.

“My Version [Of ThunderCats] Would Be 100% The ’80s Version”

Now, switching gears just for one second. Much like you, I’m a huge ThunderCats fan. I grew up with it my whole life. Now, there was the version that I grew up with in the ’80s, and there was also the 2011 version on the Cartoon Network that was phenomenal. The version that you want to do, does it lean more towards the ’80s version or the 2011 version, that was the reboot on the Cartoon Network?

Adam Wingard: My version would be 100% the ’80s version. I’ve seen the rebooted anime one, but if I’m honest, it’s like the ’80s one is just like that’s what ThunderCats is to me, and that’s what I’d be creating. When I was in high school, I was so into ThunderCats that I wrote this 270 something page screenplay, handwritten screenplay on it, and that was my biggest dream growing up, was to make a ThunderCats movie.

And so here I am with the ability to actually do that. So I’m kind of still fulfilling that dream. When that dream started, that was well before the anime version, so that’s what I know, that’s the vibe, and I’m trying to do it. If ThunderCats ends up happening, which I hope it does, my version, I would want to bring to life the exact designs from the ’80s version.

I want the looks of them. I don’t want change. I don’t want it to be like, Okay, it’s a movie, so you got to make them look more realistic somehow. It’s like, No, no, no. I want to bring the cartoon, the toys to life. That’s what I want to see. I want to see the exact costumes and everything.

Any elements from that script that you wrote in high school that could appear in this film?

Adam Wingard: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, there’s a couple. It’s funny because when I wrote it in high school, I wrote it more as it was an Uber fan kind of a script because it was a continuation of ThunderCats at the end of the series. So the difference with that one is… and this one’s sort of starting back. It’s almost like retailing the cartoon origin story, but there are some characters that I created specifically for that high school version that I was excited to actually bring over in this. Yeah, so there’s quite a few elements.

About Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

After nearly destroying each other in 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong, the giant Titans are back to face a new dangerous threat, but this time, they are on the same side. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the fifth film in Warner Bros.’ growing Monsterverse franchise.