Ishirō Honda

The original idea [for Destroy All Monsters!] was to show all of the monsters.

I don't really have a positive or negative opinion about them [the Heisei Godzilla films]. The special effects technically are very sophisticated, but the films lack imagination.

Ishirō Honda (本多 猪四郎) (7 May 1911 - 28 February 1993) was a Japanese director and one of the creators of the Godzilla franchise.

Quotes

• My nightmares are almost always about war - wandering the streets, searching for something that's lost forever. But it's possible for me to will myself to have pleasant dreams. For me, the most wonder fragrance in the world is new film. You open the canister for the first time and breathe deeply. That night, the same wonderful fragrance fills your dreams. It's grand.
  • Honda, interviewed by James Bailey, Tokyo Journal, April 1991

• Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy, they are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy. They do not attack people because they want to, but because of their size and strength, mankind has no other choice but to defend himself. After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them.
  • Honda in an interview with Midi Minuit Fantastique (October 1968), according to 2010 Giant Creatures in Our World

• The intention of not only the screenwriter, but also the entire production staff, was to focus on how people would react if a creature such as Godzilla really did appear. What would the politicians do? How about the scientists? How would the military handle the situation? Given this, it was inevitable that the film would seem at least somewhat like a documentary.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• Ghidrah was merely meant to be a modern interpretation of the eight-headed snake of Japanese myth.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• The original idea [for Destroy All Monsters!] was to show all of the monsters. We then started thinking about undersea farming. Eventually, we came up with the idea of an island on which all of the monsters had been collected for scientific study. You see, we imagined that undersea farming would be required to feed all of the monsters. I very much wanted to explore that idea, but because of financial constraints, I was not allowed to do so. Only the idea of an island of monsters survived.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• I don't really have a positive or negative opinion about them [the Heisei Godzilla films]. The special effects technically are very sophisticated, but the films lack imagination. It seems as if all Toho is trying to do is show things being destroyed. I don't fault the members of the production department, though, because I know that that is what Toho's executives are demanding.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)

• Godzilla was a product of the times. There previously had been no monster like him. So, people were frightened, and shocked, by him. Now, when Godzilla appears in a city, most of the buildings are even taller than he is! The image of what a monster is shouldn't stay the same. It should be different so that people will be shocked and surprised, just as they were by GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS in 1954. Something new, and strange, must be created.
  • As quoted by David Milner, "Ishiro Honda Interview", Kaiju Conversations (December 1992)