Godzilla vs. Kong concept artist Jared Krichevsky has revealed his early designs for Mechagodzilla in the MonsterVerse film.
Krichevsky posted three different pieces of Mechagodzilla concept art to his Instagram account, highlighting the mecha's body, head and torso, respectively. "This keyframe was what kinda made the [Godzilla vs. Kong] team take notice as they kind of looked at each other in the room in a 'not bad' expression," Krichevsky said. "It was electrifying and he really didn't change much after this."
Mechagodzilla first appeared in 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, in which the mecha was depicted as a super-weapon made out of "space titanium" and built by aliens. In later films, Mechagodzilla was portrayed as being a weapon designed by people to protect humankind from the King of the Monsters.
For Godzilla vs. Kong, Mechagodzilla is re-imagined as a giant machine constructed by Apex Cybernetics and piloted telepathically by the engineer Ren Serizawa using the neural networks from the skull of one of King Ghidorah's severed heads. However, when Apex tries to tap into the Hollow Earth's boundless energy to power its creation, the company quickly loses control of Mechagodzilla, which proceeds to attack Hong Kong and battle Godzilla. With a little help from Godzilla: King of the Monsters' Madison Russell and her compatriots, Godzilla and Kong are able to overwhelm and defeat Mechagdozilla by teaming up.
Shortly before Godzilla vs. Kong was released, director Adam Wingard went ahead and spoiled Mechagodzilla's appearance in the movie. When asked why, he explained, "The whole spoiler process of a movie like this, at the end of the day, it either works or it doesn't work whether you know that [Mechagodzilla's] coming or not. Obviously, you want the purest experience possible." Wingard added that he was "asked specifically by Warner Bros." to post a photo of a Mechagodzilla toy for the film, admitting "The thing's already out there, so I did it, and then you kind of realize that may have upset some people. But you can't please everybody."
Directed by Adam Wingard and written by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, Godzilla vs. Kong stars Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry. The film is now playing in theaters and on HBO Max.
Source: Instagram