Godzilla x Kong director says the monster movie sequel was inspired by a Michael Mann film – and Kong is James Caan

Two titans of monster cinema return to the big screen for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – and director Adam Wingard reveals that he took inspiration from two other Hollywood greats for the MonsterVerse franchise's fifth installment.  

"There’s just something about the iconography of Kong that really relates to people," Wingard tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Star Trek: Discovery season 5 on the cover. "He’s sort of a representation of our baser instincts and vulnerabilities as human beings. Kong really is the last masculine hero in movies. They just don’t make them like that anymore."

"A big influence on me from that perspective is one of my favorite films, Michael Mann’s Thief. James Caan’s performance is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. It’s the most masculine performance, I feel, in film history. He’s got his hairy chest, his hairy arms and all that, and he’s just such a badass. He doesn’t take shit from anybody. He’s good at what he does but at the end of the day what really defines him, what makes him feel truly masculine, is the fact that he’s also in touch with the sensitive side to him. He wants to have a kid, and it’s his relationship with the woman that you really remember."

Mann's action thriller was released in 1981 and sees Caan play Frank, an experienced jewel thief who agrees to one last heist before he leaves his life of crime behind – if only it were that simple. 

Wingard continues, "Kong is similar. He’s masculine because he’s a sensitive guy as well. In this film it’s all about his loneliness and him wanting to find others. We played with that in the last movie, his relationship with this little girl, Jia. What really, truly brings out what makes Kong such an interesting, very macho character is the sensitivity he can have as well. So there’s a lot of interesting things about him as a character that are fun to explore."

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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire releases on March 29. The above is just a snippet from our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Star Trek: Discovery season 5 on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, March 20. 

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