Christopher Nolan Shares His Admiration for ‘Godzilla Minus One’: Christopher Nolan is undeniably one of the finest filmmakers in cinematic history, and his recent Oscar win proves this. As a veteran of the cinematic world, his opinions and compliments carry significant weight for any artist. An inspiration to millions, Nolan has often offered his feedback on the works of his fellow filmmakers. Recently, celebrated Japanese filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki was complimented by Nolan for his recent film “Godzilla Minus One.”
Christopher Nolan praised Takashi Yamazaki’s latest film
Recently, two of the most incredible filmmakers in the film industry, Christopher Nolan and Takashi Yamazaki, sat together and talked about their cinematic journey. During their conversation, Nolan shared his insight on the human elements within Oppenheimer’s story, which fascinated him a lot. He called a scene from the film where J. Robert Oppenheimer (portrayed by Cillian Murphy) and his team recognized the “very dark implications” of building an atomic bomb, but due to the “circumstances of the time, they had to do what they needed to do.”
Moving further, Nolan mentioned Yamazaki’s 2023 film Godzilla Minus One and claimed it as “a tremendous film.” Nolan described it as:
“beautifully made, and the mechanics of it are so involving. It’s so exciting, but it also… I felt like it had a lot of the spirit of your earlier film, The Eternal Zero. It had a depth around the issues surrounding the main story, even though the main story is Godzilla, and is an entertaining and exciting one. There was also wonderful depths of the characters, and a wonderful sense of history that I really appreciated.”
Godzilla Minus One, one of the best works by Takashi Yamazaki
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, “Godzilla Minus One” was a commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Japanese-language film released in the United States. The kaiju film follows the tale of Kōichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who attempts to re-start his life in post-war Japan, only for Godzilla — whom Kōichi had a personal history in World War II — to return and threaten his country, friends, and surrogate family. Since it got a limited theatrical run during its initial release, the makers of the film decided to re-release it in black and white, and it was titled “Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color.” Yamazaki described this black-and-white version of the film as the “way scarier.”
The film also earned the appreciation of filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Kevin Smith and “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” showrunners Chris Black and Matt Fraction. Fraction called it “an incredible story of survivor’s guilt, courage, common cause, duty, dignity, and redemption.”
Ryunosuke Kamiki’s starring film recently won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony. By receiving the grand honor, the film marked the Godzilla franchise’s first Oscar win in its 70-year history. Meanwhile, Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” dominated the Oscars 2024, bagging seven Oscar Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Nolan. This also marked Nolan’s first Oscar win for Best Director.
