One of the biggest talking points of Godzilla vs. Kong was the inclusion of Mechagodzilla, and how it would play into one of the biggest fights in cinematic history. It comes as no surprise that his giant hulking mechanical beast’s design was in fact inspired by the work of James Cameron, Stan Winston and effects houses Stan Winston Studio and Legacy Effects – the aforementioned people (and studios) having been integral in the conception, design and construction of the T-800 Endoskeletons featured in the Terminator franchise.
Character / creature concept artist Jared Krichevsky posted the following to Instagram:
“It has to be a Terminator” That’s what @legacyeffects Co-Head John Rosengrant said in our meeting with @adamwingard as we reviewed images.
Jared Krichevsky
Being @legacyeffects, theres 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. Mechagodzilla had to look different than any other previous versions 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-ike 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 has built like a tank.”
John Rosengrant was of course was there from the beginning, as an integral member of Stan Winston Studio, and now co-head of Legacy Effects who have continued to have a hand in the latest Terminator movies. Legacy Effects is essentially the legacy of Stan Winston Studios living on and bringing practical FX magic to the movies of today.
Did you see Godzilla vs. Kong, did you feel the Terminator inspiration on the big screen?
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