Of course everyone knows who this actor is and the impact he had on the Godzilla franchise as a whole.
The late Raymond Burr starred in the very first Godzilla film "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" along with its pseudo-sequel of sorts "Godzilla 1985".
In both instances Burr was added onto scenes incorporated towards US releases, the idea being they would help the average US moviegoer relate to the drama being presented.
The combination worked spectacularly as while the original Gojira film was a success of sorts in Japan, it became an international blockbuster thanks to the US release, one that introduced Godzilla to the world and made him the success he is today.
What truly made Burr's US scenes work was the level of seriousness he played them with. The movie is basically an overgrown lizard stomping around a big city, and in all context it can easily be taken as a silly joke.
But Burr took the matter just as if it were a Shakespearean piece of work, and it was this level of quality that gave the film the dramatic impact it needed.
(It's the same thing as with Orson Welles famous "War of the Worlds" radio drama, one person can make a huge difference on the matter being presented).
I tried to find info on how he first came into the Godzilla world, but there was nothing to see so presumably he just auditioned and won the original part.
No comments:
Post a Comment