OFF: Zilla facts

[Nick English]

If anyone is still wondering what the new Godzilla looks like, rush
to your local Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target or toy store now. Retailers
were finally allowed to display the new action figures on the shelves
yesterday.
To be quite honest, he's really pretty damn cool, although as
expected, he's probably more reminiscent of something out of
'Jurassic Park' than the Japanese Godzilla. And actually, his facial
features reminded me more of Pumpkinhead than a dinosaur.
This week's Time magazine has a nice article on Zilla, talking about
his past AND present. No mention of BOC though.
The article talks about how producer Dean Devlin and director Roland
Emmerich hd to get approval to use the trademark from Toho studios.
Toho apparently gave them a 75-page-plus list of directives...such as: Godzilla
has four fingers on each hand, three toes on each foot; Godzilla eats
fish, not people; Godzilla cannot die; Godzilla cannot be made to
look silly; Godzilla does not endorse products; etc. Some of the
directives (I don't know which) were broken, but Toho obviously gave
them the go-ahead anyway, saying the new Godzilla retained the spirit of
their monster.

Fun fact:  The makers of the new movie had an audio team try to
duplicate Godzilla's roar, but they couldn't do it, so the beast's
original yell was borrowed from Toho's sound library.

Sad fact:  Godzilla does not have radioactive breath. The filmmakers
felt they were creating an animal, not a monster.

Interesting fact:  When Steven Spielberg heard that Devlin and
Emmerich were remaking Godzilla, he tried to talk them out of it. He
called them to say he thought it was a 'silly idea'.

If anyone has seen Godzilla already, I'd love to hear what they
thought of it. I'll probably be going this weekend if I can get
tickets. I'll let you know my impressions.

--  Nick