Adam Wingard Teases A "Dark" GODZILLA VS. KONG Movie; Compares Fanbase To DEATH NOTE Fanbase

The King Kong and Godzilla franchises have gone through a variety of tones throughout their very long lifespans. This has also been reflected in Legendary Pictures' ongoing MonsterVerse, with Gareth Edward's Godzilla taking on a somber, slower-paced tone that teases its titular monster more than it shows him (some would say to a fault), whilst Jordan Vogt-Roberts' Kong: Skull Island takes a more light-hearted, action-packed, adventurous tone that shows its titular monster frequently (again, some would say to a fault).

We have yet to find out what tone Michael Dougherty's Godzilla: King of the Monsters will take, but while promoting his newest film, the Netflix manga adaptation Death Note, future Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard discusses how he is taking inspiration from the original 1954 Godzilla film in regards to the tone of his film.

"Godzilla has gone through so many iterations. He’s been a bad guy, he’s been a good guy, he’s been a conflicted guy. There’s so many different things you can do with it, but it’s not drawing on one core story and its always been about the evolution of the character. They’re going in a great direction with it so far. I just went on the set of 'Godzilla 2', got to peak in on that and it looks totally awesome and the vibe that they’re going for is great. It’s a cool tradition to jump into, but it’s also one of those things where at a certain point you have to take it very seriously. Even though these are big, wild monster movies the origin of that is really from World War II and Hiroshima. If you watch that first film it’s really a sad movie. It’s a really depressing exploration of that, so you always have to remember at the end of the day the reason you’re here is because a major catastrophe took place. There’s this underlying darkness under it all, but at the end of the day it is for kids as well. Its evolved into this whole other thing that means so many things to different people."

He also discusses what it's like to go from one property with a large fanbase with Death Note to another property with a large fanbase like King Kong/Godzilla.

"It’s hard to say because each one is so different. The fanbases are so different. Anime fans have had a hard time in general because a lot of times Hollywood movies haven’t really respected the properties or taken them seriously, or made them too cartoony. For me on 'Death Note' it was really about almost trying to approach it as if it wasn’t an anime at all, to wipe the slate clean and pretend we’re adapting a novel and you’ve never seen anything from this. What’s interesting is the anime sensibility is in the DNA of it, so it still creeps in. I was really impressed the first time I watched the rough cut of the film that it sunk in that some of the anime stuff is just in the movie. It wasn’t like we were trying to do 'Speed Racer' or anything like that. The Godzilla/Kong fanbase is very different. They’re just really excited that anybody is taking this stuff seriously. They can smell a fake from a mile away, so if your enthusiasm isn’t real then they’ll eat you alive. As soon as you can prove that your intentions are true to the source material, that’s all that matters, specifically if you’re dealing with big monsters. You really have to take them seriously, almost as people."

Are you encouraged by what Wingard has to say? Do you prefer the more serious tone of Godzilla 2014 or the more fun tone of Kong: Skull Island? Are you excited for his adaptation of Death Note? Sound off with your thoughts down below!