According to Godzilla vs. Kong concept artist Jared Krichevsky, Mechagodzilla's design in the movie was directly inspired by The Terminator's T-800.
"'It has to be a Terminator.' That's what [Legacy Effects] Co-Head John Rosengrant said in our meeting with [Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard] as we reviewed images [of Mechagodzilla]," Krichevsky wrote in a post on Instagram. "Being [Legacy Effects], [there are] lots of T-800s about and so I studied what made them terrifying. So that became my main source of inspiration. The skeletal structure, the eerie but uncanny similarity of man with the cold steel of machine."
In its first appearance in 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, the eponymous mecha was depicted as being an enormous robot made out of an other-worldly metal and constructed by extraterrestrials. However, in its subsequent appearances, Mechagodzilla has typically been portrayed as a super-weapon developed by humans to battle Godzilla. That's once again the case in Godzilla vs. Kong, where the mecha was engineered by Apex Cybernetics in an effort to re-establish humanity as Earth's apex species. Of course, as is frequently the case in the MonsterVerse, this scheme blows up in humankind's face, much like Skynet turned against its human creators in The Terminator franchise.
"Mechagodzilla had to look different than any other previous versions," Krichevsky added. "So I knew RPO was off the table. He couldn't look like an exact machine version of Godzilla, which was my first attempt. So I went to opposites, Godzilla has a thick body, so I went with a lean, [fish-like] body and skeletal tail, Godzilla has stubby arms, so I gave him extra reach. The claw hands were something I pitched in the room, but I knew they needed to see it to understand it. One note was that the hands needed to be unique. I decided the claws could have a range of flexibility and possibilities, So I based this off of something called mirror-hand syndrome. I wanted this Mecha to be fast and maneuverable [and] built like a tank."
Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans -- instigated by unseen forces -- is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.
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