To say Steven Spielberg is a Hollywood legend would not be an overstatement, for the director-screenwriter is known for his filmography and unique vision. And to say that many directors look up to him as an inspiration would not be false either. Among these many directors is a Star Wars director who also created a reboot of Godzilla in 2014.
The British filmmaker revealed he started regretting making the movie despite it being a commercial success. But in the hard times, a review from his inspiration, Steven Spielberg, made him backtrack his thoughts and moved him to tears.
Godzilla Director Regretted Making The Movie Because Of Stressful Press Tour
Godzilla (2014) was a fairly good reboot of the monster mythos as it provided a fresh perspective of the tale through a more modern lens. The Bryan Cranston-starrer movie helped establish director Gareth Edwards in the world of Hollywood, propelling the British filmmaker as one with an excellent vision for destructive tales.
His 2014 remake earned a total of $525 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful ‘monster’ movies. Despite the fame, the director had started regretting the whole deal because of the extensive and stressful press tours. He described how he felt in a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
“When we finished- I don’t know if you’re familiar with publicity tours, where some filmmaker has to sit in front of a camera and do a million interviews, but apparently they exist. We had to do that for Godzilla, and I was fried by the end of it.”
Too tired and exhausted, Edwards decided to go have some drinks and attend a party.
“So we did that, and we got to the house party, and one at a time I could feel this queue of people wanting to talk to me, and each one had one of the questions from the publicity tour, like ‘What was it like working with Bryan Cranston? What was it like-‘, and I was like ‘I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I gotta go’.”
Extremely drunk, the director hurriedly left, too stressed and regretful. But that was until he got a video message from Steven Spielberg.
Steven Spielberg Made Gareth Edwards Cry His Eyes Out
To receive an extensive review of one’s work from a personality like Steven Spielberg is enough to move someone or even make them cry. And so it happened with Gareth Edwards, who was unfortunately mentally exhausted navigating his newfound fame. Being drunk and fatigued, Edwards opened his phone to find one of the best messages he had ever received in his life, one that made him cry like a baby right on the streets.
He stated on the podcast,
“I look at my phone and there’s an email. I recognize the email address, it’s Peter Jackson’s email, and I’m like ‘Peter Jackson’s emailing?’. And I look and there’s a video attachment.”
And Edwards stepped outside, putting in his earphones he realized that Jackson was filming Spielberg while the latter reviewed Godzilla.
“Spielberg started speaking about Godzilla, and it was nice to hear it, and I just started crying. I literally just collapsed. I hardly ever cry, it just felt like that’s why I did it, all the pain of whatever it was, was just worth it for that little video clip. It meant the absolute world to me.”
And now his vision has inspired a whole franchise dedicated to the monster tale and more.
Godzilla can be streamed on Netflix.
Source: Happy Sad Confused podcast
