【Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire】

【Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire】
The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of ”Godzilla vs. Kong” with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond.

Once again at the helm is director Adam Wingard. The film stars Rebecca Hall (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “The Night House”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Bullet Train”), Dan Stevens (“Gaslit,” “Legion,” “Beauty and the Beast”), Kaylee Hottle (“Godzilla vs. Kong”), Alex Ferns (“The Batman,” “Wrath of Man,” “Chernobyl”) and Fala Chen (“Irma Vep,” “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”).

The screenplay is by Terry Rossio (“Godzilla vs. Kong” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series) and Simon Barrett (“You’re Next”) and Jeremy Slater (“Moon Knight”), from a story by Rossio & Wingard & Barrett, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by TOHO Co., Ltd. The film is produced by Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric Mcleod, Thomas Tull and Brian Rogers. The executive producers are Wingard, Jen Conroy, Jay Ashenfelter, Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira.

Once again, Wingard is collaborating with director of photography Ben Seresin (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “World War Z”), production designer Tom Hammock (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “X,” “The Guest”), editor Josh Schaeffer (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Molly’s Game”), costume designer Emily Seresin (“The Invisible Man,” “Top of the Lake”). The composers are Tom Holkenborg (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) and Antonio Di Iorio (additional music on “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the “Sonic the Hedgehog” films).

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures Present a Legendary Pictures Production, A Film By Adam Wingard, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” It is slated for release nationwide only in theaters and IMAX on March 29, 2024 and beginning 27 March 2024 internationally, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures except in Japan, where the film will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd and in mainland China, where it will be distributed by Legendary East.

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is an explosive, action-packed adventure that follows Kong’s journey to find his family through an undiscovered layer of Hollow Earth—and what he uncovers inadvertently brings forth the most dangerous threat to mankind yet… one that can only be countered (and possibly conquered) by the combined forces of Kong and Godzilla, now evolved like never before.

Featuring all-new characters, epic battle sequences and the ultimate Titan team-up, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is the latest supersized chapter of the Monsterverse—a high-octane, BIG scale, thrill ride of action, humor and a million reasons to go to the movies.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
IN CONVERSATION WITH ADAM WINGARD (Director / Story Writer / Executive Producer):

The Godzilla and Kong team-up…
ADAM WINGARD: “Once you’ve seen Godzilla and Kong have the most ultimate battle in ‘Godzilla vs. Kong,’ what’s next? And the obvious answer is: the team-up. I remember even as we were completing the last movie, that was the thing in the back of my mind. ‘Where do you go from here?’ But the idea, though, of Godzilla and Kong teaming-up, you can’t make that too easy. These are two monsters, and they’re very territorial, and so I took a lot of influence from my favorite filmmaker, John Carpenter, and he did a movie called ‘They Live,’ and in that movie, two of the main protagonists fight over putting on these sunglasses, which is a major plot moment. I like the idea of two people who are actually on the same team fighting because of a misunderstanding. The characters—now that they’ve fought together, they’ve been in movies together—it’s pretty hard to imagine doing another movie without them. Once you put Godzilla and Kong together you can’t take them apart, but they’re never gonna get along really all that well. They both have too big of egos, and so what’s fun about them is that even when they do team-up, there’s always gonna be this sort of uneasy truce to it all. They’re a buddy-cop duo—they’re two different characters. They don’t see eye-to-eye all the time, and for me, that’s what we’re playing with… it’s that team-up that’s always going to be temporary, no matter what.”

The Titans are evolving…
ADAM WINGARD: “Just like all the actors, if you’ve worked with them before, you develop a rapport, and it’s really no different with Godzilla and Kong. To understand how to shoot them, what their angles are, is something that you can only learn from doing an entire movie with them, because shooting creatures 300-feet tall can be a mental challenge sometimes. But also what’s cool about it is that Kong and Godzilla are both evolving, too, just like the rest of the characters in the movie.

“In ‘Godzilla vs. Kong,’ it was really important to me to make sure that there was continuity between the other movies—that Godzilla felt like the Godzilla that we had established in the Monsterverse, and Kong also felt like the same character. But for me, I was looking forward to having my opportunity to update the character, to give him a new look, and I didn’t want it to just be something that was just a random thing. In a lot of these type of movies, they tend to update characters and in the next movie the character looks different… but nobody really talks about it. I wanted it to be driven by the story, and so I knew even at the early development phases, that I wanted to give Godzilla a new look, but I wanted to make sure that it was also motivated by something going on in the movie and that we would actually see the evolution happen within the film.

“And it’s just one of those things where my favorite color’s pink. Pink and blue are my favorite colors, actually, so it was only natural that I push Godzilla in that direction. Originally, I thought about Godzilla shedding his skin, but the story went a different direction, but in this, Godzilla does change his skin. He becomes a new thing in this movie and this new design allowed us to push Godzilla a little bit into that Showa era absurdity. I always loved in those movies how he’s flying around and doing dropkicks—he even dances, too. We’d get a little backlash, I think, if Godzilla started dancing, but that Showa kind of madness was something that was an influence. So the question became, ‘Can you make that Showa absurdity feel grounded, and can you make an ‘80s cartoon vibe feel grounded?’ And that’s basically what I was trying to do. I always wanted to be on the edge of absurd and real, and the movie’s constantly playing with that—Godzilla’s new design does that.”

What Godzilla and Kong are up against…
ADAM WINGARD: “When you have a movie called ‘Godzilla x Kong,’ you can’t just have another run-of-the-mill kind of situation for them to be in. You have to come up with something that is going to require a team to take it down. We wanted to go with a villain story that was more multifaceted than just ‘here’s a monster, and it wants to do these things, and it’s bad for the planet.’ It’s like normally when you’re doing a Godzilla or Kong movie, humanity is usually the biggest threat, the biggest problem, and they’re the one causing the problems. That’s important to the lore of Godzilla and Kong, because both of them are, in a lot of ways, characters about humanity destroying the planet and being a threat to nature. Because of the humanity within Kong’s character, we were able to come up with a villain like the Skar King—it opened the door where we could tell that same ‘evil side of humanity’ story, but from the monster perspective, and that means creating an even bigger threat that the Skar King is in control of. In the way that humans have armies and weapons of mass destruction, the Skar King’s got his version of that, and it’s gonna take all the hero monsters in the world to band together to be able to stop him.”

Two quests in Hollow Earth…
ADAM WINGARD: “The advantage that we had on this movie is that we have two concurrent main stories. One is Jia’s [played by Kaylee Hottle] journey to discover that there are others of her kind, the Iwi, that still exist in an amazing civilization in Hollow Earth. And on the flipside of that is Kong’s story. He’s also about to discover that there are others of his kind, but in his case, they’re toiling away in this subterranean kind of hellscape. We wanted to contrast the two different worlds, and show that Jia and Kong are going through a very similar struggle on their journeys. They’re both experiencing this somewhat existential crisis of being the last of their kind, and this movie’s really about them exploring the two different realities within Hollow Earth—it’s both of their stories together.

“I drew a lot of influence from the Showa films, in the underground realm that is experienced in those movies, with this trippy Technicolor vibe. I wanted to bring that same sort of heightened absurdity into this movie, but make you feel like it’s real. That’s one of the main things that was always my goal—taking a stroll down a toy aisle of the ‘80s, asking, ‘Can we bring that color palette and that level of stylization and make it feel grounded and real? Can we make a Monarch base with yellow-and-red-painted walls and things that are a little bit more heightened, and make it feel dirty, lived-in and realistic? Can we make 400-foot-tall crystal pyramids believable?’ And in Hollow Earth, anything’s possible. I think we always envisioned Hollow Earth as being history turned inside-out. It’s almost like everything started within the Earth and then worked its way outwards, which is why the Iwi civilization has direct access through these hidden portals that are underneath the Egyptian pyramids. This is our version of an Atlantean civilization. We’re saying Atlantis wasn’t on the surface—it was underground the entire time.”

Suko, the new “Mini-Kong”…
ADAM WINGARD: “Originally, there was a concept that involved a ‘son of Kong’ character, and that was always in the back of my mind. ‘Okay, there’s gonna be a son character, but how do you get there with Kong, and what would this character be like?’ I didn’t want it to feel like when ‘Star Wars’ brought in the Ewoks, and they became a cute, cuddly toy. I wanted this character to almost subvert your expectation of what a cute character could be. Suko is a tough little guy—he’s not just a cute, cuddly bear, even though he is adorable. Actually, in a weird way, this film is also about parents. You have Dr. Ilene Andrews [played by Rebecca Hall] with Jia on one side, and you have Kong discovering Suko on the other, and both of them are dealing with it in their own ways. And I have to say that Suko is one of the things I was most excited to see, because the only thing that I knew going into the development of him is that he needed to have really big, endearing eyes. I wanted to figure out, ‘Can we do something that’s both cute and tough at the same time?’ And so it became a thing that Suko actually knows he’s cute, and he uses that a little bit to disarm others around him. But, at the end of the day, he’s a tough little scrapper. When you look around, there are not a lot of apes his age. A lot of them don’t make it to that stage or beyond… so yeah, he’s a survivor.”

Enter the Skar King…
ADAM WINGARD: “The Skar King, he’s the quintessential evil dictator, [LAUGHS], and civilizations around the world and throughout history have their version of an evil dictator. I think the Skar King’s an ancient evil; he’s the representation of humanity’s darkest side. He’s basically taken over this tribe of apes in Hollow Earth, running the show down there, and he’s doing it in the most self-serving way possible. There’s even a moment in the movie in a shot of his throne room where you can see a little harem in the corner, along with little apes that are clearly mini Skar Kings. He’s been running the show for a long time, making all these apes toil under him. Basically, these apes live in hell—they are all lost souls—and he is the devil.”

What audiences can expect…
ADAM WINGARD: “For me, when I was a kid and I would watch the Godzilla movies, and, say, when Godzilla and Mothra would team up, along with Anguirus and all of them, I sort of understood what the monsters were communicating to each other. I didn’t need anybody to explain it to me, and frankly, I probably didn’t even pay that much attention to what the humans were saying in those old movies. What interested me were the monsters in their nonverbal reality and communication. That’s really what I wanted to dive into—that’s what was exciting. Making ‘GvK’ gave me the confidence that you can let these monsters tell their own story, let them just be characters. It was such an interesting experience, making a monster movie. There are skills that you just can’t prepare for. I came out of it with like, ‘Okay, [LAUGHS], now I know how to make a monster movie, and now I’m ready to do it again and take everything I’ve learned, apply it, and take it to the next level.’ Because ultimately, I wanted to make not just another Monsterverse film, but a thrill ride like you’ve never seen before. I wanted it to be a mic drop moment for monster movies. Whatever kind of movies I make in the future, as far as monsters go, I want this to say everything, and I want to be able to walk away knowing that we did everything… and the kitchen sink!”

IN CONVERSATION WITH CAST—Rebecca Hall (Dr. Ilene Andrews); Brian Tyree Henry (Bernie Hayes); Dan Stevens (Trapper); Kaylee Hottle (Jia); Alex Ferns (Mikael); Fala Chen (Iwi Queen):

Filming on location:
REBECCA HALL: “We shot a lot of this movie in real locations, including parts of Australia and the Gold Coast that we didn’t shoot in on the last one. We’ve been to Moreton Island, which is the third-largest sand island in the world, and there’s not a lot of habitation on it. The wildlife on it is really astonishing. I didn’t think we could get much better than that, and then we went to the Daintree Rainforest, which is one of the oldest rainforests on the planet. I’m a bit of a plant nerd. I really like plants and I do a lot of gardening in my spare time. [LAUGHS] That makes me sound a little bit tragic, but it’s in keeping with Dr. Ilene Andrews, and it’s the truth. So, when I saw some of these plants in the Daintree Rainforest, I really nerded out. There are leaf fronds on a palm tree that look like nothing you’ve ever seen before—they are prehistoric in the sense that they’ve been around since before the dinosaurs. To actually see that in person… I didn’t touch, because I was respectful, but to be that close to it was really spectacular. Then you got to drive home from the Daintree, and if you were lucky, you could get stuck in a traffic jam, because there was a cassowary crossing the road. It happened to me on one occasion. They have these blue heads and feet with three pronged toes that can really get you, almost like a velociraptor—talk about prehistoric. There are dinosaurs. I’ve never in my life seen anything like it.”

BRIAN TYREE HENRY: “I love filming in Australia. I really do. I love it there. The crews are amazing. The people are amazing. It is truly like a little slice of heaven. However, it’s real. You’re in the rainforest. You’re in it, man, and so you step out, and you see these trees, where you’ve got to crane your neck all the way up, and you see these amazing leaves. And most of the things there have been around for thousands of years, including some of the animals. I just remember there was an email to say that we were going to Daintree, and then it said, ‘Croc alert.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, what does “croc alert” mean? What is that?’ It was basically just telling us that every season is croc season, and so basically, watch your back [LAUGHS]. You know, when it comes to Australia, I know about the spiders, I know about the snakes, but the cassowary is something I didn’t know about. [LAUGHS] So, the cassowary, if you don’t know, is a bird, very much of the emu/ostrich variety, but also is connected to the velociraptor. And you’re driving through Daintree, and you see all these signs. ‘Cassowaries.’ And then there was one sign. ‘Beware of cassowary.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, hmmmm…’ [LAUGHS] But other than that, I mean, it was great. It was truly beautiful. The landscapes of Australia are just some of the best I’ve ever seen. Beautiful water, beautiful trees, beautiful flowers, except everything can kill you—you just have to have that duality of knowing that the landscape is beautiful, but underneath may be a croc that could kill you. There are two sides, so you just have to be prepared [LAUGHS]. But yeah, it really was a beautiful experience.”

DAN STEVENS: “We were up and down the coast of Australia and we were lucky enough to go up to the Daintree Rainforest and film among these incredible ancient palm leaves. Weird and wonderful trees and vines and wildlife up there. And yeah, a couple of snakes invading set on a couple of occasions, and cassowaries—weird sort of dinosaur birds they have—they popped along a couple of times. There was one set where we had to cross a river every day on a ferry to get there and we would see crocodiles hanging out on the shore as we went to work and again as we came home at night. But really magical. And around the Gold Coast, you didn’t have to go far there to be in what really feels like jungle. There were some magnificent and wild spaces that we took advantage of—and then we brought some of that into the studio, hopefully making a seamless transition between the magical rainforest and amazing studio sets.”

KAYLEE HOTTLE: “For me to be back in the Monsterverse, it’s really, really nice to be back. It’s really exciting. Audiences will see even more action and more adventures. On this film, we went to the Daintree Rainforest. There were leeches, crocodiles, snakes, cassowaries. But it was beautiful.”

ALEX FERNS: “The locations were just amazing. Tamborine Mountain… but without a doubt the best was the Daintree up in northeastern Australia. It was amazing, the wildlife and everything. Everything wants to kill you. But it’s just so beautiful. It was amazing. The warnings on the call sheets were incredible. ‘Watch out for crocs, watch out for snakes, watch out for cassowaries.’ A page full of warnings about things that could potentially kill you. Welcome to Australia, I guess [LAUGHS].”

Challenges…
REBECCA HALL: “There were a lot of challenges on a sort of day-to-day basis, just because it’s a very high-octane story and there’s often a lot of plot that you’ve got to somehow incorporate into those scenes. My job was often to do a lot of the exposition of history and the sociological understanding of the Monsterverse [LAUGHS]. So, I’d have a lot of dialogue suddenly, explaining things, which was definitely challenging. Then, there were also the type of physical challenges of being on the HEAV [Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle], definitely fun for five minutes, and then you feel a little nauseous, then you’re fine again. Then you remember that you’re not flying through space and time, and everything’s fine. [LAUGHS] Mostly the challenges are fun, I would say. I think more fun challenges than not.”

FALA CHEN: “The challenges of this role—especially in the way that I communicate—is that the Queen and all the Iwi people communicate through telepathy, so we don’t really speak. So, for me to really rely on my eyes and my facial expressions to ‘say my lines,’ which I don’t have, it actually became really apparent that I had to be super clear about each moment in the scene and what I was trying to communicate. I also found it very interesting that I had to use a lot more of my entire body than just my face. It depended on the frame of the camera. I had to use a lot of my body, my shoulders, and the angles of my head—everything became very precise and I really enjoyed creating those moments with the other actors. Besides that, I also really enjoyed practicing communicating telepathically with Rebecca Hall. She and I would just stare into each other’s eyes when we had a moment and then she would try to guess the words I had in my head. We did not achieve much through that practice, but in a way, it helped me think I was improving my telepathy.”

DAN STEVENS: “The most challenging scene to shoot… I mean, in terms of stunts, there was not a huge amount on this one for me. But, they did drop me off this giant piece of machinery about 65 feet from the top of the studio down into Kong’s mouth, where I was hanging from two bits of string. That had its challenges, but it was great fun. I love doing that stuff.”

KAYLEE HOTTLE: “So Jia, she was an orphan really in the last film and now, she becomes a warrior and she grows so much as a person in this film. Kong has taught Jia friendship and again they developed trust. They have each other’s back.”

ALEX FERNS: “Dan Stevens sent me a text with a picture of this croc tour, jet ski thing, and I thought he was going to go as well. So, I signed up and paid for it. Then I turned up, and by the time I got my life jacket on, I realized he wasn’t turning up! So, he sent me out on this jet ski—it was horrific… It was terrific. Traveling at speed down these lanes next to cargo containers and up these tributaries right next to crocodiles. So, it was terrifying and amazing. I’ll never forgive him for that. So, our group in the cast is the ‘Croc Tour Recovery Group.’”

Collaborating with Adam Wingard…
REBECCA HALL: “I really love working with Adam. The thing is, I completely trust him as a filmmaker, because he has a very singular vision, even down to how he always likes to do pink and blue lighting, kind of warring with each other. It’s very specific, and that always makes me feel calm, because I think that when a director has that sort of vision and understanding of their aesthetic, they know what they want, and then you know that whatever you might offer them up, they’re going to make it right in the edit. But, the other reason I love working with Adam is you get all that for free. You get this belief that he has a sense of what the film’s going to be, but you also get to have a really good time on set, because he has this exuberance that is just intoxicating. He does have an inner 10-year-old, and he’s there all the time watching everything. He directs with that enthusiasm, and you know you’ve done well, because you can hear him chuckling. [LAUGHS] That’s really the best indicator. I mean, forget the notes. It’s like, ‘Is he chuckling or is he not chuckling?’ Then, I know I’m fine. I just love working with him. I think he’s great.”

BRIAN TYREE HENRY: “I wouldn’t say the 10-year-old inside Adam is below the surface. I’d say that he’s holding his hand and walking along with him, but that’s the joy, right? That’s the fun part, when you have somebody who truly is a fan, who truly, really cares, and you have no choice but to bring your level of fandom and excitement and joy to meet his. So, our favorite thing was just, if we were doing a take, and we could literally hear him guffaw laughing, which would ruin the take, but at the same time, it was like, if he was happy, then we were clearly on the right path. So, it was incredibly joyful. I was really glad to come back and do this one with him. I think he’s the only one I would ever do any of these with, because his brain is just so vibrant, and it’s so colorful, and it’s mischievous. [LAUGHS] There’s mischief in there. And that allowed us a place to play, and I think that everyone will be able to feel that, see that, when they watch the film. I saw brand new stuff every day. It makes a huge difference when your leader is a fan of this kind of universe, and is excited by the discoveries of what could possibly be, what could unfold. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think the fans are going to be very excited. And what they should be even more excited about is that there are a lot of explosions. What you’re going to get the most of is explosions… and sweat, screaming, bright lights! Take ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ and just inject it with the most adrenaline you possibly can, and that’s what this film is going to be.”

DAN STEVENS: “Anytime you watch an Adam Wingard film, you get to see something you’ve never seen before. I think with this one especially, he’s really gotten to put his psychedelic stamp on it—just the color scheme alone is absolutely mind-blowing. One of the things I enjoyed about the last film was the almost silent film that you got when you spent time with Kong. The creature that he was able to create with CGI and the inner character of Kong really starting to come across—you see a lot more of that in this. It’s really wonderful to watch.

“I got a bit of hazing and gentle teasing from Brian and Rebecca about joining the gang. But what is nice for me is I have known Adam Wingard for a long, long time. We did a film called ‘The Guest’ together about nine years ago and we’ve been friends ever since—we’ve also been looking for things to do together since then and this just happened to be the first one. But it was a very nice feeling to be on set with him again.”

KAYLEE HOTTLE: “Adam is really nice. His feedback really helped me get through the scenes. I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m thrilled to be back for a second movie.”

ALEX FERNS: “Working with Adam is like working with a big kid. But then, I relate to that, because I’m like that as well. He just makes you laugh. He finds things incredibly funny, particularly physical comedy. You know, the traditional walking and slipping on a banana skin, I think he would find absolutely hilarious. We’ve got the same sense of humor. He’s just a big kid. He’s gorgeous. Love him.”

FALA CHEN: “Working with Adam is like working with a child in the best sense, because he’s just so open, honest and vulnerable. At the same time, he’s so intuitive. I just really trust him and I truly enjoyed creating this new character with him. I’m really thankful he brought me onboard. On set, he just does crazy things and that always gives us a great laugh. I love working with Adam.”

The parallel between Kong and Jia…
REBECCA HALL: “I think within the human story, as well as the monster story, at the center of the movie is this notion of family and belonging, and where and what you call home, which was also a theme in the first one. Again, it’s paralleled with Jia and Ilene Andrew’s relationship. This time, they’re unpacking the fact that Jia is adopted and what her heritage is, what her ancestry is, and where that fits in in their relationship—where the family sits. It’s the same with Kong as well. I think that’s a really potent theme, the way it becomes about the type of families that you create around you. And in a funny way, the human characters, who are from all over the place—Bernie, Trapper—become their own family as well on their adventure within Hollow Earth.”

KAYLEE HOTTLE: “So Kong, at first he’s alone; he doesn’t have a family or a place where he belongs, which is the same as my character. And so they really understand each other and they start to trust each other. And now he knows that he’s not alone; there’s more of his kind in Hollow Earth.”

IN CONVERSATION WITH FILMMAKERS—producers Alex Garcia and Eric McLeod; director of photography Ben Seresin; production designer Tom Hammock; costume designer Emily Seresin; VFX supervisor Alessandro Ongaro:

The tenth anniversary of the Monsterverse…
ALEX GARCIA (Producer) : “It’s exciting to have ‘Godzilla x Kong’ coming out on the 10th anniversary of the Monsterverse. It’s been ten years since the 2014 ‘Godzilla’ film, and in this film we really get to spend more time in the POVs of the Creatures, particularly with Kong, as he goes into Hollow Earth and finds that he actually isn’t the last of his kind. It’s been really fun and gratifying to make these Monsterverse films. Anytime you’re working with characters like Godzilla and Kong, which are such classic cinema characters, we challenge ourselves to not only do things that feel like they really respect the foundations, the origins and fan bases of those characters, but that can propel them into something cinematically new, fresh and different every time. So that’s been a bit of a challenge, just making sure we’re delivering something fresh and different for audiences every time. I’m happy to say that Adam Wingard has done just that—brought some really fresh, big, fun visual energy into ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.’ Tonally, the movie is a lot of fun, but yet there are these big, massive worlds we get to explore with these two characters of Godzilla and Kong, and we really see more of the movie through their perspectives than we have before.”

ERIC McLEOD (Producer): “What I love about this franchise is the escapism. One of the biggest reasons people go to these films is to escape to another world. It’s not real; they know it’s not real, but they can just be immersed in these amazing worlds, especially inside a theater. We are always challenging ourselves to come up with new ideas, different creatures, different environments that really pull the audience in. I always want to make a film that not only I want to see, but I want people to go, ‘Oh, I just loved watching that, going to those places and seeing what can be done.’ I always love when people can say to me, ‘I let my life go for two hours and I really just enjoyed watching the film.’”

TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “This film is very different from previous Monsterverse movies, in that before, Kong, Godzilla and the Titans would have an extremely simple goal: just defeat this other Titan. In this Monsterverse film, the Titans are actually going to have a character arc. Kong is different at the beginning of this film than he is at the end, so the Titans themselves are making choices, making alliances, coming together to change their world. I think the monster mythology really endures, honestly—from talking to my little niece and nephew—because they’re big. Kids, adults, everybody’s fascinated by something so big, just so monstrous, an experience so far outside of ourselves. There are a bit of dreams and fascinations and all these things that come together with these giant Titans.”

ALESSANDRO ONGARO (VFX Supervisor): “So in this movie, I would say that the Titans are actually the stars. ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ was a huge success and everybody wanted to see more of the Titans, and Adam really wanted to do something for the fans. Everything is interconnected, but it’s almost like watching two movies—there are two paths—one with Kong and his journey, and one with Andrews and Jia, the human journey. I think fusing the two is a great idea.”

Differentiating “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”…
TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “From the beginning, we wanted to make this film different, and we really tried to approach that with color. And Adam was fascinated with the original art from a lot of ‘80s toy boxes… kind of the last era where original paintings were done for, say, He-Man or ThunderCats. So, we really looked at how color was used—greens mixed with purples, the heavy use of primaries—and tried to bring that colorful language to this Monsterverse. A lot of the previous films had been on the surface of the earth. There are storms going on, so, immediately, that brings you into a darker color palette. But the ability to enter Hollow Earth and start from scratch, to a certain extent, in the world, allowed us to just jump into a really colorful palette.”

BEN SERESIN (Director of Photography): “Adam and I talked a lot about a few different aspects of the film. There was a discussion that we had really early on about a sort of heightened reality, in particular a very vibrant color palette that Adam wanted to use for this, and it was great. I saw the conceptuals he did and he said to me initially, ‘How do we keep this colorful visualization of the film without it descending into a sort of animation? What’s the key to retaining a real authenticity and integrity to the photography and the CG, but with these heightened colors and this heightened sort of reality and vibrancy?’

“The challenge with trying to find a heightened reality, a colorful spectrum and a very vibrant photographic base is to make the audience feel like this is a real place, these are real characters, both the monsters and the people. How do you maintain that integrity? In my experience, and often my preferred approach photographically, is to have a mix of dark and light, of shadow and brightness, and a real cross-section of photographic approaches. Sometimes, when one brings in a very lively, heightened color element, one can have a real challenge bedding that into a photographic base. We decided that the best approach would be to find a sort of grittiness to the imagery that also had this vibrancy… and that can be a real challenge. When you’re looking to establish a deep photographic base, you want to use shadow, you want to use a type of subtlety that is sometimes harder to find when you’re going for imagery that is highly chromatic with high vibrancy.

The other thing Adam and I discussed was really one of the biggest issues with photographing these sort of films—integrating the CG and the real-world photography—and I suggested to Adam that maybe something that would be a really interesting approach was a slight degeneration of the image through the lensing in our real-world photography that then we can bring into the CG world. What we would achieve by doing that is really adding another layer to marrying the visual effects imagery with the real-world imagery. We started very early on doing that and brought Alessandro Ongaro, the visual effects supervisor, in on that, and he jumped onboard straight away and got very excited about that concept. It was this marriage of the two worlds where they become ideally indiscernible—the idea was to establish a sort of integration that really served the look of the movie.”

Learning to work together…
ALEX GARCIA (Producer): “One of the really fun things in ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ was getting to bring both characters into the same Monsterverse film for the first time, and we really got to see them go mano-a-mano against each other and witness the strengths and weaknesses of each as they fought. In this film, ‘Godzilla x Kong,’ they come together again, but have to unite against a greater threat. And that, of course, brings its own challenges. It doesn’t go well at first. There ends up being, of course, some big fight sequences between them. But as they go forward and confront an even greater threat, they work together in a way that’s really satisfying. We get to see them work together against a common foe, along with some other surprises that come into the film as well. Adam Wingard had some really exciting ideas as we talked about what we would do after ‘Godzilla vs. Kong,’ and those really centered around being able to level up the characters. He came up with ways to evolve these characters a bit while still keeping them true to the foundations of the Kong and Godzilla we know. Godzilla has a new look that is representative of some new powers he has and Kong has, after being damaged in a battle, has an upgrade that our human characters give him that allows him to really take it to another level in the third act.”

Titan storytelling…
ALESSANDRO ONGARO (VFX Supervisor): “One of the biggest challenges working on this movie with all this computer animation is that there’s so much storytelling without words… it almost was like working on a silent movie. And there’s so much told through these sequences with the Titans that carry over and bring the story from the beginning to the end that we really felt the need to get it right. So for me, it was very important that the performances of the creatures Kong, Godzilla, Scar King and Suko were something unique with the ability to convey emotion and tell the story. It’s a challenge working without words—subtitles were never an option. I remember when I first read the script, I would read a paragraph where maybe in three lines they would describe a five-minute scene. And then it was given to us and go and figure that out. It was a big challenge. Luckily, I was surrounded by an amazing team, and it turned out for the best.”

Godzilla’s Transformation…
ALEX GARCIA (Producer): “Godzilla goes through a journey in this film which, at first, is very mysterious to our human characters at Monarch. They can’t tell why he is on the move. Typically, he’s on the move when there is a threat. After a brief battle at the beginning of the film in Rome, he ends up recharging inside of the Colosseum, which is a very fun visual in the film, and then arises and starts to go on a hunt for fuel. He goes to a nuclear power plant in France and starts inhaling the nuclear power to build himself up. And we learn that he’s charging up because he knows that he has to get ready for a coming battle—he senses it. The scientists and the audience don’t know this, but Godzilla does…”

TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “One of the unique aspects of Godzilla is that he has a sixth sense about a battle that he’ll be facing in the future. And so, part of Godzilla’s journey, as we meet him in the film, is he’s preparing for this battle. So, he goes to sleep in the Colosseum. We originally didn’t know where to have him take his rest, his catnap, but we wanted to have him somewhere iconic. Adam and I were brainstorming this over at his house, and Adam has this black cat named Mischief, and Mischief would constantly sit there while we were working. And at one point, Mischief curled up in her cat bed, and we’re like, ‘Oh, my God, it looks like Godzilla in the Colosseum!’ [LAUGHS] And that’s where the idea came to us. And after the Colosseum, Godzilla heads to the nearest storage area for nuclear waste. We have this great sequence where Godzilla’s just gone and pillaged this French nuclear waste dump. And from there, there are other events that lead to him emerging transformed, for this massive battle yet to come.”

ALESSANDRO ONGARO (VFX Supervisor): “The design of Godzilla was evolved—we worked with an artist at Legacy Effect, Jared Krichevsky. We started with a concept that was already strong—the peculiarity of Godzilla evolving into the pink color and the slender body were there. Then, we just made minor changes to make sure that anatomically he was working. We also worked up his atomic breath.

“Specifically, after he evolves, his proportions chage—Godzilla is a little bit taller and definitely leaner. The legs are more muscular, the arms longer, the head a little bit smaller and the upper body is more defined, which allows him to move a bit quicker. His skin is also slightly different. We kept the same basic color and basic texture, but we added some extra spikes on the elbows, the head and the back, and also changed them. They are now charged with pink energy.”

An older, wiser Kong…
ALESSANDRO ONGARO (VFX Supervisor): “Kong is pretty consistent, pretty close to where we left him in ‘Godzilla vs. Kong.’ He’s aged a little bit, so there is some salt and pepper in his hair. We grew a little bit of the hair on his shoulders, and definitely the beard is a little bit longer and grayer. And what we also did for the fans—during the Hong Kong fight in ‘GvK,’ his back was hurt by Godzilla, so we carried over that scar. We just healed it a little bit and grew some extra hair around it.”

Globetrotting destruction…
ALEX GARCIA (Producer): “I think one of the things that audiences have really come to expect and enjoy in these films is a big brawl in a global city, and we knew we wanted to have a major brawl at the end of this film, and we ended up choosing Rio de Janeiro, which has this incredibly beautiful backdrop. It has sort of a tropical and urban vibe. We’re seeing these characters come together, which was a challenging thing to figure out from a choreography perspective, but it allowed for us to really spotlight the agility of the Scar King and Kong. Kong’s new power is in his mechanical glove, together with this newly evolved version of Godzilla, and during this insane battle, people run to save themselves. We were fortunate enough to be able to shoot this film all over the world. We shot primarily in the Gold Coast in Australia, and there’s a little bit of that for the beach sequence at the beginning of the Rio sequence. But, we had a unit in Rio shooting a lot of the plates and action pieces that you see within the film. We also shot in Rome, Morocco, Iceland, Hawaii and Gibraltar. It was really important to us to be able to bring a real tactile feeling of these places to the screen.”

ERIC McLEOD (Producer): “Queensland has always been one of our favorites on the Monsterverse films, with varied locations, great studio facilities, really first-class crew and craftsmen. We came here first on ‘Kong: Skull Island,’ came back for ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ and now on the sequel. It offers great diversity in locations, set building and environments, everything from beaches to jungles to mountains to cityscapes.

The reason we decided on the Gold Coast specifically for this film is the same as the other two films—diversity of locations and a solid crew base. Also, the studios are world-class and they give us the size and scope of stage space and working environment to achieve what we’re looking for. The Gold Coast locations filmed on this movie include Surfers Paradise, Tallebudgera and Village Roadshow—all are encompassed in the Gold Coast. Village Roadshow Studios is truly one of my favorite studios to film in.”

Practical versus CG…
ERIC McLEOD (Producer): “Early on in the process we try to break down the film as we know it at the time, and one of the biggest challenges is how we decide what’s full CG, what’s partial CG, what’s on stage and what is on location. I’m a filmmaker that likes to have as much practical as possible. I feel it’s better for the actors—I can build a jungle on a stage, but getting the actors on location I always feel makes for a better film. It’s better for the actors in their performances, in my belief, and it’s better for the film as a whole. So, in early project development, the question that [producer] Tom Hammock and I often discuss is how much could be done on location, how much could be done in a practical way. A lot of times, that can happen, but then other times with a lot of visual effects, ‘Why don’t we just do this on stage?’ We’ll get as much as we can in camera, but there’s going to be a lot of blue screen.’ Even on full CG shots, our preference is always a desire to shoot something practical. For example, if there is a shot where Kong is running through a jungle and he knocks over a tree—if we could get a shot from the ground in a jungle and then we add Kong into it, we know that will look better than just a full CG jungle environment. We’re always trying to add practical elements with CG elements, with stage and location. It’s that combination all together that allows the audience to believe more in the project. I’ve always believed that the audience can detect real from fake, and even though they know Kong and Godzilla are not real, the more we can put Kong and Godzilla into someplace real, it’ll actually make them feel more real. The audience will be more connected to them.”

TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “When the screenplay is finished, the art department starts to come onto the movie at that point, and we build up our team. And this could be as much as a year in advance of principal photography. What happens, generally, is Adam and I have a lot of creative conversations with the studio executives, the writers, building up that idea of where we’re going to go with colors, where we’re going to go with textures, what’s the visual arc of the movie. And then, once we have a rough idea of where we’d like to begin, we do a lot of research. We bring on illustrators, and they start doing illustrations of the film. And as they’re progressing, we’re working with storyboard artists, and those various sets transform into the point where we have to draw them to build them. They end up in models, anything that’s sculptural. There’s a lot of sculptural work, actually, in this film, which is really exciting to do. You end up in small sculptures for the films, these really lovely little models, and from there you end up in the building process, and that can start months and months before cameras even roll for the first time.

“When it comes to figuring out where to shoot each scene, whether it’s location or stage, or if it will be CGI, Adam and I really sit down, and it all comes back around to the scripts and the characters and, in this case, the Titans. And, uniquely in this film, I think when people think of these giant monster movies, they really think about them being largely visual effects. But Adam, going back to his earliest days in film, has always wanted to get as much as possible in camera. So, we try to come up with a strategic way to shoot the films so that we can maximize what’s in camera. And then we’ll start the hunt for locations—anything that’s unique—and try to build our principal photography, often around going to the actual places, as much as possible. On this film, we spent a lot of time out in the real jungle, whether it was this part of Australia or up in far Northern Australia, towards Papua New Guinea, to try to get really unique looks. Ultimately, you have a finite amount of time and money, and you have to figure out what’s important. And what’s important to Adam is getting everything possible in camera.”

Placing actors in the world…
ERIC McLEOD (Producer): “When we first began looking at locations, we knew we wanted to do a deeper dive in the diversity of Hollow Earth. As we were doing our research early on, it came to our attention that the Daintree is the oldest tropical lowland rainforest in the world. Immediately when I heard that I said, ‘We have to shoot there. We can’t come to Australia and to Queensland and not shoot in the oldest rainforest in the world.’ So, we sent scouts up there, and when the pictures first started coming back, they were just incredible—different plants and vegetation that we hadn’t seen in any of the films. It’s a long ways away from the studio—1,900 kilometers away. It took the trucks two-and-a-half days to travel up there. We chartered planes to fly all the crew and the equipment up there. Also, it’s slightly dangerous. There are crocodiles, spiders, pythons… but I think that’s also part of the excitement of filming in a place like that. It was also great, because the cast knew that they were shooting in a place so old, with a sense of danger to it. While we were filming there, I feel that came out a little bit in those scenes.”

“Moreton Island is another perfect example of going to a place that’s hard to get to. We had to ferry all the crew and equipment over there—but this coved beach played perfectly for a scene that takes place in Barbados. We built a set out there, and even though it would have been much easier to shoot this in a back-lot controlled environment ,when you see the film you’ll know the actors were standing on a beach and it’ll feel like the actors were in Barbados.

“Ultimately, the benefit of filming in Queensland is the ability to get around to so many varied locations in about an hour’s drive. Even though we did some distant locations with Moreton Island and Daintree, in and around Brisbane and within an hour of Gold Coast there are so many options for us to choose from. The hard part sometimes was deciding on the best option, because we had such good choices to pick from. Outside of Australia, our other locations included Iceland, which gave us one of the strongest looks for Hollow Earth. We also filmed in Morocco, Gibraltar, Rome, Hawaii and Rio. Those units brought a level of world-building that really benefited the film.”

Location challenges…
TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “The process of shooting in Daintree, it was incredible, but it was a big logistical challenge. Daintree’s about 24 hours’ drive from where we were based, and the climate’s quite extreme, in terms of rain, heat, leeches, ticks, snakes, cassowaries, saltwater crocodiles. The art department, we were working several weeks in advance of the crew. It took an enormous effort and will from everybody involved to get the cranes in, so that we could move set pieces without affecting the ground plane in this really delicate environment. And we had watchers for saltwater crocodiles, specialist biologists keeping the cassowaries away, and just everybody having to suffer through the leeches. But you do what you do for your art, and we ended up being thrilled to be there, and got something that’s really rare to capture on film. Shooting in remote, wild places really contributes something unique to this film, and Adam [Wingard] and Ben [Seresin], the cinematographer, they just loved being out there. In the real world, you get an authenticity that you can’t get in any other way. The jungle in Hollow Earth really plays an important role in this film, and we were trying to show the audience a kind of jungle that they hadn’t seen before, and really getting out into the distant jungle is how we were able to build the basis for our Hollow Earth.

“We actually came in and did a LiDAR [high-res 3D] scan of every single tree; then we designed our set to fit in-between these individual trees, so we didn’t have to harm a single one. We created sets that could be broken down and carried in, piece by piece, then assembled to fit within the living trees… so we could get the incredible production value of this rainforest while being respectful to the forest itself.”

BEN SERESIN (Director of Photography): The benefit of shooting real-world locations, particularly in this film, has lent itself to helping create that integrity with the imagery. I love working on location, and part of the reason I love it is one is forced into an approach to the photography that might not always be ideal. You’re dealing with elements that aren’t within your control totally and you have to adapt, and through that adaptation into the natural environment, you’re finding faults, little things that aren’t quite right, but also, as I said, a real integrity to the imagery. Now, the basis of having that, in terms of creating your look, then serves to bring that visualization into the studio work. Again, it’s marrying the two. When a movie is based very much in the bush, in the forest, there is a challenge of trying to reproduce that on any sort of scale in the studio. So, we try to integrate location work. We then reverse engineer the studio work to match location work as much as possible and jump between the two. Often the studio work is informed by scenes that you want to have a degree more of control, ones that might have a certain heightened reality to them, a slightly more stylized approach. The Daintree location we used was a forest with plants that are thousands of years old. Now, that’s unique. You can’t really recreate that in any way, but it served to inform a look that we put into the studio work, which was just fantastic. It was great seeing that integration.”

Top-notch cast…
ALEX GARCIA (Producer): “Rebecca Hall, who plays Dr. Andrews in this film and was first in ‘Godzilla vs. Kong,’ is first of all such a fantastic actress. We’ve been very fortunate in this franchise to work with extraordinary actors across the board, which is so important in films that have these grandiose ideas and with the creatures at the center of them—they keep things emotionally grounded. And Rebecca is such a great partner in that. She’s also been really great in working with Kaylee Hottle, who is an incredible actress herself, the young deaf actress who played Jia in ‘GvK’ and is back in this film. That mother/daughter relationship between them is such a central part of the film, and having an actress who can deliver that with such emotion and intimacy–and who can also deliver the more science-fiction and fantasy aspects of the franchise with such grounded authority—is incredibly impressive.

“Brian Tyree Henry plays a character named Bernie who was first introduced in ‘GvK,’ and he’s a monster fanboy, almost a monster conspiracy theorist blogger. He’s the eyes and ears of the audience almost within the world. And he is a phenomenal actor—a ton of fun, incredibly funny. But Brian also figures out a way to ground everything. The humor, it all comes from a grounded place. It comes from character. And Brian himself is a fan of these movies, of genre in general, so he brings a real authenticity to that. He knows how far he can push it, how far he can play with it, but it always stays as an organic part of the film.

“There is a new character in this film named Trapper, who’s played by Dan Stevens. He’s a Monarch creature veterinarian, like a crypto-zoologist, who studies the creatures, works with the creatures and looks after the creatures. There’s some fun stuff where Kong needs some help in this film and Trapper is able to step up and help him. Trapper brings a new expertise that we haven’t yet seen from Monarch. And Dan Stevens is such a wonderful actor and seeing him play this character in this big adventure piece is incredible. Trapper has got a very loose, funny vibe to him, but yet feels again like a grounded part of this team. It’s been a lot of fun.

And we have just some wonderful actors in some key roles in Alex Ferns and Fala Chen. No matter their time onscreen, their characters are lively and additive to the overall story. Alex literally grabs his role as this tough-as-nails, seen-it-all guy with both hands; Fala brings this calm authority and beautiful arc to her character, and she shines in her work.”

Top-notch team…
ERIC McLEOD (Producer): “The team Adam and the filmmakers put together are first-class. They all were incredibly passionate about the project. Our director of photography Ben Seresin has shot two of the films; Tom Hammock was the production designer on two of the films; Emily Seresin, this is her first film as the costume designer and she did an incredible job; and Alessandro Ongaro, the visual effects supervisor, has an animation background, which plays in well with this film that has not only a lot of live-action visual effects, but a lot of sheer CG effects in it as well. This team, through their tireless work over more than a year, really were able to bring to life Adam Wingard’s vision.”

Adam Wingard at the helm…
TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “Adam’s a joy. You really do have this grown-up kid, whose dream, from high school on, was to make Godzilla and Kong movies, and here he is, doing it. And he brings that infectious energy to set, and I think that it really helps, not only with all the crew, but all the cast. Adam’s just continually upbeat and keeping everyone excited and moving, and that keeps things lose—there’s a lot of spontaneity within what the actors are saying, and how they’re approaching their lines, and it really allows him to bring a naturalism to this kind of film, something that you don’t necessarily always have. And, look, when it all comes back to it, at the end of the day, we’re making a movie about giant monsters, and who wouldn’t want to do that?”

On Hollow Earth…
ERIC McLEOD (Producer): “So Hollow Earth was brought up a little bit in ‘Kong: Skull Island,’ which was then explored more on ‘GvK,’ but mainly as almost a flyover and a few set pieces. Adam really wanted to do a deeper dive and get the cast on the ground in Hollow Earth, but he didn’t want Hollow Earth to feel like a cave; he wanted it to be its own world, its own environment. The ceiling and the floor both have terraforma on them, they both have topography, and he also wanted brighter colors. He wanted Hollow Earth to have bright and dark—dark in the way of volcanoes, bright in the way of the jungle—and I think his thought process was good-versus-evil, where our Iwi are and the bright in the jungle and the Scar King is in the dark in the volcano. I think he just really wanted to push in on a look for Hollow Earth where people could say, ‘I want to go there. Even though it’s dangerous I want to go there. I would love to go do a tour of Hollow Earth.’ So, I think he really kind of pushed Tom Hammock, locations, the entire crew base and creative departments: ‘Let’s make Hollow Earth feel a place you’d want to visit… but part of that excitement is that there’s a danger to it as well.’”

BEN SERESIN (Director of Photography): “The challenges in the Daintree, there were a few. I mean, we were creating a world which is Hollow Earth, which is really in the center of the planet. The first obvious issue is there’s no sunlight. Now, when we were on location, we had to deal with the fact there was sunlight, so then we decided to approach the natural elements and make them our friends. By using a combination of smoke, shooting at specific times of day, shooting in the forest where the sunlight would only come through in very minimal amounts, we were able to bring in some degree of control over the natural elements. And sometimes we can find ourselves shooting in not ideal circumstances and it forces us to pivot a little and adapt, and I find that it often takes you to a place which is really interesting. You think on your feet. You see that things haven’t quite laid out as you had hoped or planned, but then something magical happens and that’s really the benefit of location shooting. Grabbing that magical moment and saying, ‘Hey, this isn’t quite what we thought, but that looks incredible,’ and then backing in to a justification for that look.

“In this film in particular we were faced with the challenge of if there’s no sun in Hollow Earth, which clearly there isn’t, where does the light come from? Adam had developed this idea that there were energized crystals in Hollow Earth that allowed us to have a source of light that was variable, could change color, was sometimes bright, sometimes dark, sometimes very strong and dominant, sometimes very subtle in the background—so then we introduced those elements into both our location and studio shooting. It was really exciting. We were able to create a look that was unique, but wasn’t too far from a reality or a world that we knew and had a certain edge to it that you wouldn’t normally see in a forest, so it was great.”

On Suko…
TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “From the beginning with Suko, Adam wanted a Titan that, while cute, really had his own attitude and was kind of sneaky, fun, and curious about things, really just embodying everything that you could find in a young ape. And Adam actually watched a bunch of Jane Goodall documentaries and footage, looking at young chimps, young apes, young gorillas—what are they like?—and really tried to imbue him with a character that would allow him to both stand up to Kong and be endearing for the audience.”

On the Skar King…
TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “For the Skar King, Adam and I started looking—and it’s a little creepy—within the great ape community, where you have certain apes, particularly with the chimpanzees, that live off of hunting other monkeys, live off of hunting other apes. They have this look to them that’s unlike other primates. There’s something very primal, something really evil about them. They have this incredible strength. And so we really started looking at this one group of apes—that’s how they live, and that’s what they do—and drawing facial features, how they use their hands, things that they do, and these became the basis for our character. The Scar King has this great weapon, a bone whip, essentially. And the idea had always been that he had taken the spine of some long-dead Titan that he had defeated and strung it together to form this fearsome weapon—something that’s unique to him, but also equal to Kong’s ax.”

ALESSANDRO ONGARO (VFX Supervisor): “We wanted to give the Skar King this attitude—he thinks he’s the best in the world. He doesn’t care about anybody, doesn’t respect anybody. He doesn’t care about Kong. We wanted to make sure that this personality came through his body language. His walk was a little bit inspired by the orangutan, but with a lot of attitude. He’s the real bad guy in the movie. He has slaves that work for him. He feels invincible. When he fights Kong, there is no hesitation, because he knows he’s the strongest.”

The Iwis of Hollow Earth…
TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer): “For the look of the various Iwi sets in the film, we tried to divide their history up into two major aspects—in many ways similar to human history—first from a Stone Age perspective, and that’s what the ruins are: a very primitive, stone-based culture. And then the culture takes a big step forward with technology. And that’s where we join them in their big village, temple square and around their crystal pyramid… they’ve discovered metal. They’ve started to create more futuristic technologies that allow them to control their gravity in the world and manipulate things so they can achieve, basically, the building of enormous structures with a completely different engineering system than we have in our world.”

BEN SERESIN (Director of Photography): “The Iwi village set was fantastic, and by shooting that on a stage, it enabled us to really go to town with this concept of the crystals lighting the village. In the story, there’s a very large pyramid that is comprised of many tens of thousands of glowing crystals within it. That’s really what it’s made of, so we got really excited early on as this gave us a great source of light. Obviously, this was something we couldn’t do on location. In contrast to the surrounding parts of Hollow Earth, which are really full of very green, very dense vegetation, we were able to create an environment which was vastly different, very colorful and alive. We built a fading color palette that was moving all the time, so we felt that it gave the village a real sense of being a dynamic, living environment. There were a lot of interesting elements, in terms of big color shifts and a very otherworldly feel.”

Storytelling through costume…
EMILY SERESIN (Costume Designer): “It was wonderful to work on something that has such an amount of fantasy and fun, and obviously, larger-than-life characters, all in ‘real life.’ It seemed very important to be able to give the characters a real grounding within that landscape—I think that really does support them and give the feeling that they could really occupy the character and feel that they could have fun with it. I think that a lot happens in the fitting room when working with the actors, finding together something that feels right for them… and sometimes, that’s hard to define exactly what that is, because it’s a language all of its own, especially contemporary clothes and working across borders. Someone from Wisconsin will have a very different idea to someone from Sydney, Australia, about a certain pair of sneakers, it’s just a fact. So working really closely with the cast is always really important to me, and it’s wonderful when you get something that just keys them into their character. Something like a pair of boots—mission boots for Kaylee’s character, Jia. She was very excited trying them on, because she was going to be one of the crew suiting up in this film. In putting them on, they gave her a certain amount of height, along with a certain amount of power. It was wonderful to watch her transformation.”

What’s in store for audiences…
ALEX GARCIA (Producer): “‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is a big, fun, cinematic adventure. We’ve got big set pieces with great monster action. But, we’ve also got an incredibly emotional journey about a little girl who’s connecting with her lost people, and also with Kong, who discovers that he’s not the last of his kind, that there are others like him, including a young ape named Suko. And of course, there’s Godzilla, who is maintaining a balance and protecting us. We’ve also got a great ensemble of human characters going through this world. It’s grounded, but it’s also fun. It’s a great ride that takes you to places you haven’t seen before. It’s really got something for everybody.”

ABOUT THE TITANS…
GODZILLA (Height 393ft.) is a towering apex predator who was long-ago awakened by mankind’s arrogance and the thoughtless use of elemental weapons of war. A living mountain, Godzilla is a ferocious protector of the natural world driven by instinct to guard the Earth from invasive species using his supercharged Heat Ray and city-destroying tail swipe.
When last we saw Godzilla in “Godzilla vs. Kong,” he had begun behaving differently, uncharacteristically attacking cities, seemingly at random. It fell to the scientists at Monarch—the government’s crypto-zoological agency dedicated to studying the Titans—to figure out why he’d seemingly turned his back on humankind. Not surprisingly, the minds at APEX were behind the manipulation of the Titan, setting both Godzilla and Kong on a collision course with the shadowy organization’s latest creation, Mechagodzilla.

A gargantuan beast of savage muscle, power and majesty, KONG (Height 337ft.) is no longer the adolescent we met in “Kong: Skull Island,” nor the adult Kong outgrowing his home in “Godzilla vs. Kong.” Now, time has passed since Kong and Godzilla battled each other—and Mechagodzilla—and Kong is older and wiser, fully inhabiting his new home in Hollow Earth… though perhaps a little lonely. Kong is still the largest incarnation that has ever appeared onscreen and a worthy adversary for the mighty Godzilla, but can he face the new, even greater threat in Hollow Earth on his own and, in the process, take back his ancestral throne?
Kong is now armed (literally) with a new Monarch-supplied marvel—the B.E.A.S.T. Glove (Bio-Enhanced Anatomech Seismic Thunder Glove).

Though his “calling card” has been revealed and debated for some time—since the red print seen on Skull Island years ago—the SKAR KING (Height, 318ft.) is finally confirmed as its owner and a new menacing threat to Hollow Earth, to Kong, and possibly to the world. He is a villain that has been waiting in the shadows for a long time, a villain so formidable that Godzilla and Kong must team up if they—and we—are to survive.
“Rise together or fall alone”—this is driven by the threat of the Skar King, armed with malicious cunning, an army of enslaved subjects and his Whiplash, a razor-sharp whip made from the sharpened spinal column of a conquered Titan.

For years Kong has been thought to be the last of his kind, but after some time on his own in Hollow Earth, he encounters a most unexpected new friend… SUKO (Height 149ft.) is a “mini-Kong” and clearly a much younger version of our hero; he’s skittish and shy, but definitely curious and eager to lead Kong to his own home within Hollow Earth. Suko is also a scrappy and mischievous fighter with raw strength, a bad attitude and a Kong-sized bite.

But has Kong truly found a new “friend,” or is there more behind Suko’s interest in the senior Titan?

ABOUT THE CAST…
REBECCA HALL (Dr. Ilene Andrews) is an acclaimed British-American actress and filmmaker whose career encompasses the multiplex, the art house cinema, and the world’s most respected theaters. She has worked with many of the industry’s greatest artists, establishing herself as a leading talent as she challenges herself with each new role.

Upcoming, Hall will be seen in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire directed by Adam Wingard, in which she revives her role as Dr. Ilene Andrews and is the newest installment in the Monsterverse. The film puts the mighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal deadly threat hidden within our world that threatens the existence of their species and our very own. Delving straight into the origins of Hollow Earth, this film will explore the ancient Titan battle that bought man and monster together forever.

Hall’s directorial debut, Passing, which she also wrote and produced, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Festival to critical acclaim. Adapted from the celebrated 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, the film tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the color line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York. After a chance encounter reunites the former childhood friends one summer afternoon, Irene reluctantly allows Clare into her home, where she ingratiates herself to Irene’s husband (André Holland) and family, and soon her larger social circle as well. As their lives become more deeply intertwined, Irene finds her once-steady existence upended by Clare, and Passing becomes a riveting examination of obsession, repression and the lies people tell themselves and others to protect their carefully constructed realities. Among its many accolades, Hall and the film received BAFTA nominations for Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer, as well as Gotham Independent Film Award nominations for Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director.

Notably, Hall’s work includes Antonio Campos’ Christine, with Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, and Maria Dizzia, in a portrayal that garnered critical acclaim. Based on true events, the film captures the young and troubled newscaster, Christine Chubbuck, during her time at a small-town television station in the 1970s. Additionally, her work in Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona alongside Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, and Javier Bardem garnered her Golden Globe, BAFTA Orange Rising Star, London Critics Circle and Gotham Award nominations in the performance and breakthrough categories. 

Her other film credits include Andrew Seman’s Resurrection; David Bruckner’s The Night House; Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong; Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit; Etan Cohen’s Holmes & Watson; Mamoru Hosoda’s animated drama mirai; Angela Robinson’s Professor Marston & The Wonder Women  opposite Luke Evans and Bella Heathcote; Brian Crano’s Permission alongside Dan Stevens; Oren Moverman’s The Dinner, co-starring alongside Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Steve Coogan; Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, with Mark Rylance and Ruby Barnhill; Joel Edgerton’s The Gift opposite himself and Jason Bateman; Sean Mewshaw’s Tumbledown opposite Jason Sudeikis; Wally Pfister’s Transcendence, opposite Johnny Depp and Paul Bettany; Patrice Leconte’s A Promise starring alongside Alan Rickman; John Crowley’s Closed Circuit; Shane Black’s Iron Man 3; Stephen Frears’ Lay the Favorite; Nick Murphy’s The Awakening, for which she earned a British Independent Film Award Nomination and Gotham Independent Film Award nomination for Best Actress; Ben Affleck’s The Town, which received the 2010 National Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble; Dan Rush’s Everything Must Go; Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give, for which the cast and filmmakers were honored with the Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award and a Gotham Independent Film Award nomination for Best Ensemble Performance; Oliver Parker’s Dorian Gray; Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon, for which she shared in a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Cast Performance; Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, for which she received UK Empire Award and London Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Newcomer; and Tom Vaughan’s Starter For 10, her feature film debut. 

In television, Hall was recently seen in Mark Romanek’s Tales from the Loop, an hour-long genre Amazon series based on the acclaimed sci-fi art of Simon Stålenhag. Prior to that, starred in Susanna White’s acclaimed miniseries Parade’s End for HBO and BBC, which was adapted by Tom Stoppard from Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy of novels. For her role, Hall received a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA TV Award nomination for Leading Actress, and a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries. Her other television credits include Julian Jarrold’s Red Riding: 1974, for which she won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress; Philip Martin’s Einstein and Eddington; Stephen Poliakoff’s Joe’s Palace; Brendan Maher’s Wide Sargasso Sea; Stuart Orme’s Don’t Leave Me This Way; and Peter Hall’s The Camomile Lawn. 

On stage, Hall received an Ian Charleson Award for her West End portrayal of Vivie in Mrs. Warren’s Profession. The following year, she was recognized with an Ian Charleson Award for her portrayal of Rosalind in As You Like It, which opened at the Theatre Royal Bath and later toured in both the UK and the US. Building on this success, Hall received the same commendation for her portrayal of Hermione in The Bridge Project’s production of a Winter’s Tale. The actress made her Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Machinal, written by Sophie Treadwell and directed by Olivier-winner Lyndsey Turner. She was also seen in The Atlantic Theater Company’s production of Animal, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.

Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony Award nominee BRIAN TYREE HENRY (Bernie Hayes) is a versatile actor whose career spans film, television and theater. In 2023, Henry starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in A24’s “Causeway,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is streaming globally on Apple TV+. For his role, Henry earned an Academy Award nomination and was included in Time magazine’s list of 10 Best Movie Performances of the Year. He also received the AAFCA Award and Black Reel Award for best supporting actor, a Critics’ Choice Award nomination, Film Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Gotham Award nomination.
Henry is currently in production on the Apple TV+ series “Sinking Spring,” which will be directed by Ridley Scott. This March, he will star in Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” Later this year, Henry will star in MGM’s “Flint Strong,” written by Barry Jenkins, as well as Paramount’s animated film “Transformers One,” alongside Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson.

In 2023, Henry received NAACP Image Award nominations for his roles in the Oscar-nominated animated feature “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and the FX original limited series “Class of ‘09.” Henry is most widely known for his starring role in the Emmy, Golden Globe, and Peabody Award winning FX series “Atlanta.” For four seasons, Henry portrayed Alfred Miles, Atlanta’s hot of the moment rapper who has been forced to navigate fame while remaining loyal to family, friends, and himself. He received Emmy, SAG, Critics’ Choice, and MTV Movie & TV Award nominations for his work.

In 2022, Henry starred as Lemon in Sony’s hit feature film “Bullet Train,” alongside Brad Pitt and directed by David Leitch. In 2021, Henry starred in four feature films, including Marvel’s “Eternals,”directed by Chloe Zhao. Henry starred as Phastos, the intelligent weapons and technology inventor. He also starred in Warner Bros.’ blockbuster “Godzilla vs. Kong,” in which he portrayed the character of Bernie, a truth seeking podcast host and conspiracy theorist; the indie drama “The Outside Story,” in which he received rave reviews for his leading role; and in Netflix’s “The Woman in the Window” opposite Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.

In 2018, Henry had a prolific year on the silver screen, starring in a diverse array offeature films. He co-starred in the action thriller “Hotel Artemis,” alongside Jodie Foster and Sterling K. Brown; Sony’s drama ”White Boy Rick,” with Matthew McConaughey; director Steve McQueen’s thriller “Widows,” opposite Viola Davis; Sony’s Oscar-winning animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”; and Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk,” for which he received critical acclaim (NAACP nomination) for his performance as the character Daniel Carty. In 2019, Henry starred in MGM’s “Child’s Play,” Blumhouse’s “Don’t Let Go,” which premiered at Sundance, and the indie comedy “Fam-i-ly.” Henry’s additional film credits include his NAACP-nominated role in Netflix’s “Vivo,” “Superintelligence” with Melissa McCarthy, and the indie films “Irreplaceable You,” “Puerto Ricans in Paris” and “Crown Heights.”

On television, he has appeared in numerous shows, including “House Broken,” “Room 104,” “Drunk History,” “BoJack Horseman,” “How To Get Away With Murder,” “Vice Principals,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “The Knick,” “The Good Wife” and “Law & Order.” In 2017, he guest-starred as Ricky on NBC’s “This Is Us,” for which he earned an Emmy nomination.

Henry originated the role of The General in the critically acclaimed Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon,” for which he received high praise. In spring 2018, Henry returned to Broadway in Kenneth Lonergan’s Tony-nominated play “Lobby Hero.” For his role, he received Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations.
Henry’s wide-range of theater credits include “The Fortress of Solitude” and “The Brother/Sister Plays/The Brothers Size” (Helen Hayes Best Actor Nomination) at The Public Theatre, as well as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Talk About Race” at New York Stage and Film and The Public. A graduate of Atlanta’s Morehouse College, Henry received his MFA from Yale’s School of Drama.

DAN STEVENS (Trapper) is an English actor regarded for his work across film, television, and stage.
Upcoming, Stevens will star in Adam Wingard’s GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE as Trapper, alongside Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry. Also upcoming in 2024, Stevens will star in the Neon film CUCKOO from director Tilman Singer, alongside Hunter Schafer and Jessica Henwick. CUCKOO will premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival and the 2024 South by Southwest Film Festival. Stevens will also star in the Universal Pictures film ABIGAIL from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, which is set to be released on April 19, 2024.

Most recently, Stevens lent his voice as one of the parakeets in the star-studded English dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s Golden Globe award-winning and Academy Award-nominated animated film, THE BOY AND THE HERON. Stevens also has a voice role in Hulu animated series SOLAR OPPOSITES, for which he received a 2024 Annie Award nomination on behalf of his work as Korvo.

In 2022, Stevens starred as Nixon White House Counsel John Dean in the Starz limited series, GASLIT, alongside Sean Penn and Julia Roberts, and as Paul Snider in the Hulu series, WELCOME TO CHIPPENDALES, also starring Kumail Nanjiani. Stevens received critical praise for his German-language performance as Tom in Maria Schrader’s film I’M YOUR MAN, Germany’s official Academy Award submission for Best International Feature, which made the 2022 shortlist. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and received multiple nominations at the German Film Awards including Best Actor for Stevens.

Stevens perhaps first drew international attention for his role as Matthew Crawley in the ITV acclaimed period drama series DOWNTOWN ABBEY, from 2010 to 2012. Created and written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes, the series became a global sensation; winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series during Stevens’ tenure with the show. Stevens’ performance also earned him a Monte-Carlo Television Festival Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series.
Stevens other television credits include Noah Hawley’s highly acclaimed Marvel series LEGION, HBO’s HIGH MAINTENANCE (Colin), BBC One’s film adaptation of the Jane Austen novel SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (Edward Ferrars), and GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES for Netflix.

In 2020, Stevens starred as Alexander Lemtov in Netflix’s hit musical comedy film EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA, opposite Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. In that same year, Stevens starred as Charlie in Dave Franco’s feature directorial debut, THE RENTAL, as Charles Condomine in the British comedy film BLITHE SPIRIT directed by Edward Hall (with Leslie Mann and Judi Dench), and as Hal in THE CALL OF THE WILD, directed by Chris Sanders, with Harrison Ford.

In 2018, Stevens starred in the Netflix thriller film APOSTLE, directed by Gareth Huw Evans. He also starred opposite Elisabeth Moss as Danny in HER SMELL, written, co-produced and directed by Alex Ross Perry, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2019, Stevens portrayed Drew Cola in Noah Hawley’s feature directorial debut LUCY IN THE SKY. It co-stars Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm.

In 2017, Stevens starred as Beast in Disney’s smash hit live-action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST opposite Emma Watson’s Belle. The film earned over $1.2 billion in worldwide box office revenue, making it the highest-grossing live-action musical film of all time. Also in 2017, Stevens appeared as Lorin Willis in biographical legal drama film MARSHALL, directed by Reginald Hudlin and written by Michael and Jacob Koskoff, with Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad and Kate Hudson. He also starred as Charles Dickens in THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS with Christopher Plummer and Jonathan Pryce, and as Will in the romantic comedy-drama PERMISSION, written and directed by Brian Crano, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Stevens appeared as David in the cult hit THE GUEST, directed by Adam Wingard and distributed by Picturehouse, for which he earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor. Stevens can be seen alongside Ben Stiller and Robin Williams as Lancelot in 20th Century Studios’ NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB (directed by Shawn Levy), and alongside Liam Neeson and David Harbour as Kenny Kristo in Universal Pictures’ A WALK AMONGST THE TOMBSTONES (directed by Scott Frank).

In 2004, Stevens began his professional acting career when Peter Hall cast him as Orlando in his touring production of Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT, which earned him a commendation at the 2004 Ian Charleson Awards. For the stage, Stevens has been seen on West End as Septimus Hodge in the acclaimed revival of Tom Stoppard’s ARCADIA at the Duke of York’s Theatre, and as Simon Bliss in HAY FEVER by Noël Coward at London’s Haymarket Theatre, alongside Peter Bowles and Dame Judi Dench. In 2012, Stevens made his Broadway debut as Morris Townsend opposite Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn in THE HEIRESS, with direction by Moisés Kaufman.
Stevens currently resides in Los Angeles.

Rising actress KAYLEE HOTTLE (Jia) is an impressive talent breaking boundaries in Hollywood for the Deaf community.

Hottle can next be seen reprising her role as Jia in the newest installment of the Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.’ franchise GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE. She made her onscreen debut starring alongside Alexander Skarsgård in GODZILLA VS KONG.

Her other credits include playing the role of Joon in MAGNUM P.I. and performing in commercials such as the Glide app public service announcement (directed by Jules Dameron, 2016) and “Mother’s Day” (for Convo Relay, 2017). She also appeared in “10 Deaf Children: One Powerful Message” (directed by Sheena McFeely and produced by ASL Nook, 2018).

She was born in Georgia and currently resides in Texas.

ALEX FERNS’ (Mikael) extensive C.V. testifies to his ability to fully inhabit roles in every genre across film, television and theatre.

Up next for Ferns is Adam Wingard’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” Previous, he was seen in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” Guy Ritchie’s “Wrath of Man,” James Kermack’s “Knuckledust,” Brian Helgeland’s “Legend,” the Shammasian Brothers’ “Retaliation,” Max McGill’s “Hot Property” and David Yates’ “Tarzan.” His additional feature film credits include “Caring for the Recently Deceased,” “Farewell,” “Shadow Man,” “Joyeux Noel,” “Man Dancin’,” “Britannic” and “Ghost and the Darkness.”

His work in television has been seen in series regular and guest-starring roles across long-form programs, features and special event television. Titles include “Nightsleeper,” “Six Four,” “The Devil’s Hour,” “Andor,” “Danny Boy, “ “Barkskins,” “The Irregulars,” “Chernobly,” “Taboo,” “River City,” “Vera,” “The Coroner,” “Wallander,” “The Widower,” “24: Live Another Day,” “The Passing Bells,” “MI High,” “Casualty,” “Holby City,” “Doctors” and “Eastenders,” among others.

Fern’s performances onstage cross from classics to dramas to musicals, and includes leading roles in such works as “The Girl on the Train,” “Rehearsal for Murder,” “The Father,” “True West,” “South Pacific,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “And Then There Were None,” “Strangers on a Train,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Art,” “King Lear,” “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Richard III” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

FALA CHEN (Iwi Queen) will next be seen in Legendary Pictures’/Warner Bros.’ GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, the next iteration of the Monsterverse franchise. Fala joins returning cast members Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle, as well as Dan Stevens, with director Adam Wingard. She was most recently seen opposite Alicia Vikander in Olivier Assayas’ limited series adaptation of his feature IRMA VEP, for HBO, A24, and producers Sam Levinson & Kevin Turen.

Chen starred as one of the leads in the Marvel feature SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS for director Destin Daniel Cretton, opposite Awkwafina, Tony Leung, and Simu Liu. She made her US television debut in the HBO limited series THE UNDOING, opposite Nicole Kidman for director Susanne Bier.

Born in China and raised in Atlanta, Fala started her career as a film and television actor in Asia before attending The Juilliard School, where she received her MFA in drama. Fala’s mother tongue is in Mandarin, but she is known to be multilingual, and can speak fluently in English, Cantonese and Japanese. Fala is internationally known for her Chinese-language work, which includes her lead roles in SOUND OF THE DESERT, TRIUMPH IN THE SKIES, MOONLIGHT RESONANCE and TURNING POINT.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS…
ADAM WINGARD (Director / Story Writer / Executive Producer) is the celebrated cult filmmaker who most recently directed GODZILLA VS. KONG, for the cinematic Monsterverse. The blockbuster film starred Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall and Kyle Chandler. The film was a huge commercial and critical success and grossed over $470 million worldwide. Up next, Wingard is working with Paramount on a sequel to the much beloved action classic FACE/OFF; he is set to co-write and direct the project.

In 2010 Wingard premiered his serial killer love story A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE at the Toronto International Film Festival; it later played at Fantastic Fest, where it received awards for Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress. The following year, TIFF invited Wingard back to premiere his home invasion thriller YOU’RE NEXT; the film sparked a very enthusiastic response and was released by Lionsgate in August 2013.

Sundance invited Wingard to their fest in 2012 and 2013 with his critically acclaimed genre films V/H/S and V/H/S 2. In 2014, Wingard had the Sundance premiere for his thriller THE GUEST starring Dan Stevens. The film quickly became a cult hit, receiving rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. It currently holds a 91% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Wingard’s additional directing credits include 2016’s BLAIR WITCH, the sequel to 2001’s found footage phenomenon THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, and Netflix’s DEATH NOTE, a live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese horror crime-thriller manga.

On the TV side, Wingard directed the pilot episode of OUTCAST, created by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. The horror drama series premiered on Cinemax in 2016. Currently, Wingard is developing a series based on the sci-fi horror film EVENT HORIZON for Amazon.

TERRY ROSSIO (Screenwriter / Story Writer) is a writer known for a diversity of works, including 2021 blockbuster “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, “Shrek” (2001) and “Aladdin” (1992). Most recent credits include “The Amazing Maurice” and the upcoming “Protocol-7” and “Aladdin: Live from the West End.” Additional credits for Rossio include “Shrek the Musical,” “Deja Vu,” “G-Force,” “Lovestruck” and “The Lone Ranger.”

Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University Fullerton, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio, television and film.

SIMON BARRETT’s (Screenwriter / Story Writer) writing credits include You’re Next (2011), The Guest (2014) and Azrael (2024), along with the successful V/H/S franchise. He’s directed segments for multiple V/H/S films, as well as the 2021 release Seance. Currently in development, Barrett is writing the feature adaptation of ThunderCats to be produced by Warner Bros., as well as Face/Off 2, a direct sequel to the 1997 film, for Paramount.

JEREMY SLATER (Screenwriter) is the creator and co-showrunner of THE EXORCIST on Fox. He also created MOON KNIGHT for Marvel and Disney+, and THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY for Netflix/UCP/Dark Horse. He is currently writing MORTAL KOMBAT 2 for New Line/Warner Bros. He most recently worked on JOHN HENRY AND THE STATESMEN for Netflix/7 Bucks, UPRISING for Netflix/21 Laps, OLD MAN’S WAR for Netflix, and Stephen King’s THE TOMMYKNOCKERS for Universal and James Wan.

MARY PARENT (Producer) Dune Part 2
MARY PARENT (Producer) is the Chairman of Worldwide Production at Legendary Entertainment, overseeing all aspects of film. While at Legendary she has produced DUNE: PART TWO, the Academy Award-winning film DUNE, as well as KONG vs. GODZILLA, ENOLA HOLMES, DETECTIVE PIKACHU, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s virtual reality piece, CARNE Y ARENA, which received a rare Special Achievement Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its groundbreaking exploration into fully immersive storytelling.

Prior to joining the company in 2016, Parent was founder and CEO of Disruption Entertainment, where she produced a prolific slate of films including THE REVENANT, which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture 2016 and she won both the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama, and 2016 BAFTA for Best Film. Her other films at Disruption included such commercial and critical successes as, KONG: SKULL ISLAND, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONG OUT OF WATER, GODZILLA, NOAH and PACIFIC RIM.

Prior to that, Parent served as Vice Chairman of Worldwide Production at Universal Pictures and Chairman of MGM. Parent also co-founded the production company STUBER/PARENT, which produced such films as THE BREAK-UP; YOU, ME, AND DUPREE; ROLE MODELS; and THE KINGDOM. Parent began her career as an agent trainee at ICM before joining New Line Cinema as a Creative Executive. At New Line, Parent served as an Executive Producer on films such as SET IT OFF and PLEASANTVILLE, eventually rising to Vice President before moving to Universal Pictures as a Senior Vice President, where she worked her way up the ranks to eventually become Vice Chairman. As an executive or producer, Parent has actively been involved in films amassing over $20 billion at the global box office.

Parent is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter 100 Most Powerful People In Entertainment, the Variety 500, Vanity Fair New Establishment List, Wall Street Journal 50 Women To Watch, Hollywood Reporter Most Powerful Women in Entertainment.

ALEX GARCIA (Producer) is Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs at Legendary Entertainment. Garcia has been instrumental in the company’s Monsterverse franchise, developing and serving as executive producer on the 2014 hit Godzilla; producing Kong: Skull Island, the 2017 reintroduction of Kong; 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters; 2021’s hit Godzilla vs. Kong; and the upcoming entry Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. He has been involved in films of diverse genres and budget ranges, including producing Michael Dougherty’s 2007 cult-horror-film-turned-Halloween-perennial, Trick ‘r Treat; the 2015 Christmas horror-comedy hit Krampus; and the Netflix global hits Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2, among others.

Prior to his work with Legendary, he served as executive in charge of production on the first three seasons of Fox and NBC Universal’s hugely successful TV series House M.D., and as co-executive producer of the hit 2005 Syfy Channel miniseries The Triangle.

ERIC MCLEOD (Producer) most recently served as an executive producer on Jaume Collet-Serra’s “Black Adam” and James Wan’s horror film “Malignant”; he also produced the 2021 hit “Godzilla vs. Kong.” McCleod also executive produced “Skyscraper,” “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” “Kong: Skull Island,” “Blackhat,” “The Lone Ranger,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “The Cat in the Hat,” among others.

He also served as producer on “47 Ronin,” “Unstoppable,” “Tropic Thunder,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” the second and third “Austin Powers” films and “The Cell.”

THOMAS TULL (Producer) is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Tulco, a Pittsburgh-based investment-holding company.

Prior to his work with Tulco, Tull served as the Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board for Legendary Entertainment, where he produced and executive produced more than 40 films that together have realized grosses of more than $14 billion at the worldwide box office, including “Dune: Part Two,” “Dune,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” “Kong: Skull Island,” “Godzilla,” “Jurassic World,” “The Dark Knight” trilogy, “The Town,” “Inception” and “The Hangover” franchise.

Tull serves on the MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and the Carnegie Mellon University Board of Directors. He also sits on the boards of the Motion Picture Television Fund, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Football Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Players Tribune. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School and part of the six-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers ownership group, where he also holds a board seat.

BRIAN ROGERS (Producer) has vast experience in the film industry and a list of credits that includes theatrical motion pictures, special venue 3D films, IMAX films and television production. These have taken him to all parts of the world including Kuwait, India, Nepal, China, Japan, England, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico, St. John, St. Thomas and St. Lucia. One project, “Mystic India”—which was filmed in stereo 70mm film in India and in the Himalayas of Nepal, a period piece production that utilized a total of 45,000 extras in period costuming—reflects this multifaceted skill-set.

This is coupled with his many years of pioneering producer work with new technology filmmaking that includes the world’s first digital 3D capture used in a production. These projects encompass all aspects and formats of 3D production, including both live action and computer-generated imagery captured in 65mm and 35mm motion picture film and also digital capture. Brian’s expertise has been sought out by companies such as IMAX, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. and projects like Terminator 2/3D for Universal Studios and director, Jim Cameron. Overall his diverse slate includes projects for HBO, Paramount, MGM, NBC and Nickelodeon.

Rogers has developed an extensive experience and history working on visual effects projects for VFX companies that include Digital Domain, IE Effects, R Greenberg / Imaginary Forces and Rhythm & Hues. This has been as a producer, VFX producer, line producer on such films as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” “Green Lantern,” “The Hole.”

Currently, Rogers is a producer on the Godzilla franchise of Legendary’s Monsterverse, including the 2014 “Godzilla,” “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and the 2021 hit, “Godzilla vs. Kong.” He also executive produced John Meyers’ “Being Dead.” He has been a featured guest speaker at the 3D Next Conference and the Entertainment Summit held in Los Angeles, and the 2017 Shanghai Film Symposium in China, and is also a member of BAFTA, the British Academy of Film & Television Artists.

BEN SERESIN (Director of Photography) has lensed such feature films as Niki Caro’s “The Mother,” Adam Wingard’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” Doug Liman’s “Chaos Walking,” Fisher Stevens’ “And We Go Green,” Alex Kurtzman’s “The Mummy,” Marc Forster’s “World War Z,” Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” Allen Hughes’ “Broken City,” Tony Scott’s “Unstoppable,” Ringan Ledwidge’s “Gone,” Rob Walker’s “Circus,” and Mike Barker’s “A Good Woman,” “The James Gang” and “Best Laid Plans.”

Seresin provided additional photography on Jon Turtletaub’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and Gore Verbinski’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” On the small screen, he shot the Netflix documentary series “The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann.”

TOM HAMMOCK (Production Designer), after studying landscape architecture at the University of California at Berkeley and production design at the American Film Institute on fellowship, designed the critically acclaimed horror film “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.” Starting with “You’re Next,” Hammock entered a long collaboration with director Adam Wingard, designing “The Guest,” “V/H/S/2,” “Blair Witch,” the “Outcast” pilot, “Death Note” and the hit 2021 feature, “Godzilla vs. Kong.”

Hammock’s recent credits include the features “Pearl,” “X,” “Blindspotting” and “The Devil’s Candy,” along with the TV series “Them” for Amazon.

JOSH SCHAEFFER (Editor) most recently cut “Ghosted,” “National Anthem,” “65” and the 2021 hit, “Godzilla vs. Kong.” His other feature credits as editor include “The Mandela Effect,” “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” “Molly’s Game,” “Demonic,” “Would You Rather” and “Brotherhood.” He also served as additional editor on “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Kong: Skull Island,” as well as “The Kings of Summer.”

On television, Schaeffer edited the series “The Last Man on Earth,” “You’re the Worst” and “Detroiters.”

EMILY SERESIN (Costume Designer) was born in New Zealand and has been working in Australia as a costume designer since 1995 with directors such as John Curran, Cate Shortland, Scott Hicks and Jane Campion. Emily has been nominated six times for an AFI award for Best Costume Design for PRAISE, TWO HANDS, CLUBLAND, NIGHT WE CALLED IT A DAY, THE HUNTER and winning in 2004 for SOMERSAULT.

Emily trained in the UK with designers including Marit Allen and Milena Canonero, working on films and commercials with directors such as Agnieska Holland, Lous Malle, Storm Thorgerson and Ridley Scott. When Emily first moved to Australia she worked as Costume Supervisor on PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT and VACANT POSSESSION.

In 1995 Emily was Costume Designer for the film PRAISE, directed by John Curran, and later that year for Gregor Jordon’s TWO HANDS. In the following two years she was Costume Designer on Samantha Lang’s film MONKEY’S MASK and Emma Kate Croghan’s STRANGE PLANET. Following this, Emily designed costumes for Paul Goldman’s THE NIGHT WE CALLED IT A DAY, Jeff Balsmeyer’s DANNY DECKCHAIR and THE OYSTER FARMER, directed by Anna Reeves.

In 2003 Emily was Costume Designer on Cate Shortland’s film SOMERSAULT with Abbie Cornish and then worked with Cate again on the ABC mini-series THE SILENCE in 2005. Other films around this time included Cherie Nowlan’s CLUBLAND, Ringan Ledwidge’s film GONE and Danilel Lepaine’s 48 SHADES.

In 2009 Emily was Costume Designer on Scott Hicks’ film THE BOYS ARE BACK starring Clive Owen; Daniel Nettheim’s THE HUNTER with Willem Dafoe; and the acclaimed first series of MY PLACE, produced by Penny Chapman.

Emily has worked with director Tony Krawitz on his feature film DEAD EUROPE; Jane Campion’s epic TV production TOP OF THE LAKE; and with directors Glendyn Ivin and Emma Freeman on the TV series set in 1977 PUBERTY BLUES, series one and two. Recent credits include the feature film STRANGERLAND; SBS TV series THE PRINCIPAL; ABC TV series CLEVERMAN; and the second series of Jane Campion’s TOP OF THE LAKE.

Recent feature film credits include CARMEN with director Benjamin Millepied; BOSCH & ROCKIT with director Tyler Atkins; THE INVISBLE MAN with director Leigh Whannell; and I AM WOMAN for director Unjoo Moon. Emily recently wrapped on the TV series EXPOSURE with director Bonnie Moir.

From the height of electronic music, to the cutting edge of film scoring, TOM HOLKENBORG (Composer), a.k.a. Junkie XL, is a Grammy-nominated multi-platinum producer, musician, composer and educator whose versatility puts him on the cutting edge of contemporary music, and whose thirst for innovation is helping to reimagine the world of composition.

Known as a ‘Full-Contact Composer,’ Holkenborg is hands-on at every stage of the composing process, a multi-instrumentalist who combines a mastery of studio engineering, classical musical training and an innate sense of curiosity. He’s as adept working with a 50-piece philharmonic orchestra as he is with a wall of modular synths, playing a bass guitar or building his own physical and digital instruments. His drive to reimagine what’s possible and share that knowledge with the next generation of composers is what makes Holkenborg a unique force, and one of the most in-demand film composers in the world.

Holkenborg’s film scoring credits have grossed over $2 billion at the box office and include “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Deadpool,” “Black Mass,” “Alita Battle Angel,” “Divergent,” “Brimstone,” “The Dark Tower,” “Tomb Raider,” “Terminator: Dark Fate,” both parts of the record-setting “Sonic the Hedgehog,” along with the recent monster hits “Justice League: The Snyder Cut,” “3000 Years of Longing” and “Godzilla vs. Kong.” He also recently scored Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon” and George Miller’s highly anticipated “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” He has worked with such directors as Peter Jackson, Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron, George Miller, Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder and Tim Miller, among many others.

An educator as well as a creator, Tom is committed to breaking down the barriers of entry in the world of film composition, creating the groundbreaking educational series Studio Time (which has been watched by millions), the free SCORE Academy program and a music composition program at the ArtEZ conservatorium in his home country of the Netherlands. On YouTube, Tom has created an educational series Studio Time, which is available for free and has been viewed millions of times.

Tom is able to draw on his extensive knowledge of classical forms and structures while keeping one finger planted firmly on the pulse of popular music. When his eclectic background is paired with his skill as a multi-instrumentalist (he plays keyboards, guitar, drums, violin, and bass) and a mastery of studio technology, a portrait emerges of an artist for whom anything is possible. Outside of his own artistry, Tom’s desire to marry technology and classical composition to initiate change and evolution led him to partner with Orchestral Tools to create Tom Holkenborg’s Brass and Tom Holkenborg’s Percussion, his first sample libraries, making world-class sounds available to composers everywhere.

The foundation for Tom’s work in film started in his native Holland, where he created multiple film scores, before undertaking mentorships with celebrated composers Harry Gregson-Williams and Hans Zimmer, with whom he worked on projects like “Inception,” “Batman vs. Superman” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” Tom’s partnership with Hans was formative, enabling him to hone his own voice and style while learning from one of Hollywood’s most influential composers. Tom’s own Hollywood journey really started to take flight in 2014 with his first major solo project, and the first of his many collaborations with Zack Snyder, “300: Rise of an Empire.” It was the beginning of a scoring schedule that has netted billions of box office dollars, included blockbusters and indie projects, seen Tom work with some of Hollywood’s most lauded directors, and kept him jam packed ever since.

Holkenborg’s music career began in 1993 when he started the industrial rock band Nerve while also producing hardcore and metal bands like Sepultura and Fear Factory. Drawn by electronic breakbeats, he started Junkie XL in 1997, debuting with the album “Saturday Teenage Kick.” Holkenborg went on to produce six albums under the Junkie XL moniker while playing headline shows all over the world. In 2002, he scored a #1 hit in 24 countries with his rework of Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation.”

Following the success of his Junkie XL project, Holkenborg collaborated with celebrated artists like Dave Gahan, Robert Smith and Chuck D, and remixed artists such as Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and many more. In addition, Holkenborg created the music for video games like FIFA, Need For Speed, The Sims and SSX, and commercials for global campaigns like Nike, Heineken, Adidas, Cadillac and VISA.
It was only after hearing his track “Dealing With the Roster” featured in the 1998 film “Blade” that Holkenborg got the bug to score films.

The rests, as they say, is history.

ANTONIO DI IORIO (Composer) is a Los Angeles-based award-winning music composer for film, TV and concerts. His educational background includes degrees in composition, piano and conducting obtained in Italy and Seattle. Di Iorios’s impressive career has seen him contribute to major animation, action and sci-fi movies in Hollywood, recording scores in esteemed scoring stages across the globe, including Los Angeles, London and Italy.

After a few years of cooperating as an additional composer, Antonio has recently stepped into a more prominent role, collaborating as a co-credited co-composer with Tom Holkenborg (a.k.a. Junkie XL), composing the music score of Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, directed by Adam Wingard and produced by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. This marks a significant milestone in Antonio’s career, elevating his contribution to the blockbuster film and showcasing his growing influence.

Over the years, Antonio has worked closely with directors on award-winning films such as Wings Over Washington, Il Viaggio, Jacks, Life In Between, and Spirito Eroico (for the Olympic Games in Vancouver 2010). After moving to Los Angeles decades ago, he extensively collaborated with Tom Holkenborg as an additional composer, contributing to major films like Godzilla vs. Kong by Adam Wingard (Legendary Entertainment/Warner Bros.), Sonic the Hedgehog by Jeff Fowler (Paramount Pictures), Terminator: Dark Fate by Tim Miller and James Cameron (20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Lightstorm), Mortal Engines by Peter Jackson (MRC/Universal Pictures), Alita: Battle Angel by Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron (Twentieth Century Fox), Tomb Raider by Roar Uthaug (Warner Bros./GK Films), The Dark Tower by Nikolaj Arcel and Ron Howard (Sony/Columbia Picture) and Distance Between Dreams by Red Bull.

Antonio has contributed additional music to many of Hollywood’s major franchises. Working alongside composers such as Pinar Toprak and Henry Jackman, his work can also be heard in movies like PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (Paramount Pictures), The Lost City (Paramount Pictures), Shotgun Wedding (Lionsgate), Strange World (Walt Disney), Red One (Amazon Prime), and TV shows like NFL Thursday Night Football, among many other.

At an early age, Antonio attended the highly prestigious and coveted ASCAP Television & Film Scoring Workshop 2014 in Hollywood with Richard Bellis and Michael Todd.

In addition to his film endeavors, Antonio has a dynamic presence in live concerts, showcasing his compositions, famous classical and film composers’ music and conducting orchestras at renowned festivals.

Among his awards, some stand out, like the Global Music Awards (Silver Medal Winner) Los Angeles 2017; the First Prize at the FMF Young Talent Awards 2015 in Krakow, Poland; Second Prize at the Transatlantyk Film Music Competition 2014 in Poznan, Poland; two nominations at the Hollywood Music In Media Awards in 2013 and 2014, Los Angeles; First Prize at the SKY’s To Vancouver With Your Music 2010 in Milan, Italy; and Best Award at the Premio Valentino Bucchi 2010 in Rome, Italy.