Kamiki-san, especially for American audiences where, of course, the character they know is Godzilla, for you as the protagonist, as the one person who speaks, how do you make that character feel as important or as essential as Godzilla?
Kamiki: For me, it was actually more about delving into the role of Shikishima and everything that he is carrying. For myself, Shikishima is in the deepest, darkest place at the beginning, and really just cutting away any of extraneous thoughts and just really delving and focusing on who he is and where he is in his journey. I really just hoped that I would go on a journey of discovery with the character. This is obviously shot on green screen and there’s all these technical things that I really didn’t need to have to think about it too much and just focus on who I was and what it’s like to put your life on the line for something. What is that like? And, of course, believing the director when he shot and he said, “It’s a good take.” I believe in the director. We move on.
Yamazaki-san, you’ve done movies based on a lot of big manga and properties like “Godzilla.” I’m curious, is there one dream project that you haven’t done, one property or franchise that you want to play with?
Yamazaki: I watched “Star Wars,” and that’s how I ended up being a filmmaker, and I’m really hoping I will get a call and they will me bring me on “Star Wars.” I think a more Japanese or even just Eastern take on “Star Wars,” I think, would be really, really interesting, so I hope they call me up.
“Godzilla Minus One” is in theaters now.