Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its a film about how its characters see the world, more so than their situational peril.
So Im feeling some pressure not to talk about Toho.
Rather than concern ourselves with studio feedback, Anno and I really focused on audience feedback.
The challenge for us was how do you turn a half-hour TV show into a feature film?
Those shows stunned me and kind of messed up my life, until I became an adult.
To the kids of today, Ultraman is from the distant past 50 years ago!
But to my generation, Ultraman represents the future.
The original series was an aspirational fantasy:society will be likethiswhen I grow up.
We tried to compensate by coming up with a uniquely appealing screenplay and really interesting characters.
Shin Godzillabrought to mind then-recent national disasters: the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
As withShin Godzilla, we tried to use monsters to reflect the social problems of the time.
In a way, those disasters are thekaijuof our day.
Would you say thatShin Ultramanreflects or extendsShin Godzillas politics?We didnt baseShin Godzillas characters on real people.
Actually, it was more like wish fulfillment: Iwishthere were people like Yaguchi.
Narita never really wanted to use that light in Ultramans design.
He wanted a more streamlined look, like in his painting.
So Anno and I wanted to reflect Naritas original desires.
The fast-paced editing in bothShin UltramanandShin Godzillagive these movies a very modern feel.
We shot tons and tons of footage.
So we made sure that the tone and structure of our film was established among the cast and crew.
We didnt have so much confidence that we thought we were going to make something better than those shows.
And as the story progresses, the original series music also sounds more modern and updated.
You used what looks like motion-capture technology forShin Ultraman.
Anno was also one of the models for Ultramans physical movements.
Why didnt you try on the Ultraman suit, too?[Laughs.]
As it’s possible for you to see, Im far from Ultramans physical jot down.
There was some talk about me playing a monster, but no one wanted me to.
Bin Furuya, the original actor who played Ultraman, has this amazing physique.
Not very Japanese … maybe not very human.
So, really, perfect for playing Ultraman.
And he did, since hes still around.
We first took his physique and turned it into 3D data.
Then we had him move like Ultraman, which we recorded using motion-capture technology.
We also recorded Annos movements since he played Ultramanback in the day in an amateur film.
I wanna play him, too, he said.
But Anno did it.
I love that theres a Larugeus cameo in an earlyShin Ultramanscene.
All three are great.
As for my favorite kaiju: I really likeKanegon,a little boy who transforms into a kaiju.
I want to use him in a film.
