Godzilla/Trivia/Trivia/Gojira

It's amazing for a Kaiju 1954 film to have a lot of background check. Especially when this movie is based on real-life tragedy.


 * People in Rubber Suits: Godzilla was actually an interesting case where the film wasn't intended to use suits. Originally, it was going to be in stop-motion, but Tomoyuki Tanaka told Eiji Tsuburaya that it would take 7 years to complete the film. So they had 2 suits done. The original superheavy 200 pound suit that couldn't be used (due to the latex increasing the weight), and a slightly lighter suit. Both Haruo Nakajima and Katzumi Tezuka had their own problems when wearing even the second suit. Despite how Haruo Nakajima having blisters, he would relish the role until Godzilla vs. Gigan.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: The whole point of this film.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Godzilla's Japanese name is a result of the combination of the words "Gorilla" and "kujira" (the latter being a Japanese for whale). When Godzilla was one of the cataloged films to be sent to America, his name wasn't rendered as Gojira, but as Godzilla (as explained in the Classic Media commentary). However, GODZILLA was stuck as his official English name while Gojira is his Japanese name, and his English name would be used on other sequels that involved English-speaking characters. Withe exception of King Kong vs. Godzilla.
 * Urban Legend: Godzilla's name has been a long debate on where his name came from. There's several explanations:
 * 1. There's a stagehand working at the studio whose name is "Gojira". However, it actually sounds ridiculous for a guy named "Gojira" to remain anonomyous for 50 years.
 * 2. Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla's suit actor) stated there was a contest among the staff to think up the name.
 * 3. Ishiro Honda's wife believes it was randomly made up by him and Eiji Tsuburaya, and the staff working on the film often make jokes. Honestly, even we don't know. So take what you will.
 * What Could Have Been: Quite a few. While Tomoyuki Tanaka describes Godzilla (not named at the time) as a story of a monster awaken by an atomic bomb testing. As the story evolved, it was named Project G (G means Giant by the way), then later to Godzilla. During production, the movie's title monster was supposed to be a cross between a gorilla and a whale, but they decided to make the monster dinosaurian. However, one of the artwork was a ape-looking thing with a head of a mushroom cloud, until the final design became the creature we know and love.
 * Not to mention, Akihiko Hirata was to play Ogata and Akira Takarada as Serizawa. Takarada confirmed it, and thus, the roles were tastefully switched.