Please note: Some production notes may contain spoilers.

To shoot GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE on location around the world—in such locales as Australia, Brazil, Gibraltar, Iceland, Italy, Morocco and the U.S.—production faced the Herculean task of creating and transporting a portable movie studio prepared to take on anything and everything (storms! snakes!) that nature could provide. Case in point: to film in the beautiful and ancient Daintree Rainforest in the far north of Queensland, Australia, all equipment was brought in by 55 trucks in an arduous three-day drive covering over 2,000 kilometers. And while there, the entire production was powered by portable generators (which were also imported). All in a day’s work for the cast and crew of GXK, traveling and filming where few productions have been before.

The Daintree Rainforest, where production filmed a portion of GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, is the oldest tropical lowland rainforest in the world—around the same age as the Giant Redwoods. Production used extreme caution while filming there, in order to leave the fantastic habitat in the same pristine state they found it.

In addition to the amazing plant species on display in the Daintree Forest (including the beautiful and ancient Licuala Fan Palms, which were identified in 1780 and date back centuries), GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE production shared their living rainforest location with a variety of wildlife—among them, snakes, crocodiles and cassowaries. Call sheets served as constant reminders for all cast and crew to remain alert, and special handlers were employed should any snakes wriggle onto the set (where they would be greeted and kindly transported back to a quieter part of the forest). For their part, the crocodiles and cassowaries mostly kept to themselves and stayed away from the production.

For the Hollow Earth MONARCH base in GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, production chose a practical property in Cape Tribulation in the heart of the rainforest. Stamp House, an incredible monolith surrounded by water and nestled in the wetlands, is the creation of Melbourne-based architect Charles Wright. Built in 2013, the home is an off-grid structure that is completely self-sustainable, constructed to withstand the tropical conditions, including cyclones. Stamp House is making its feature film debut in GXK.

When GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE production moved “indoors” to soundstage facilities at Village Roadshow in Queensland, they took full advantage of the mammoth Stage Nine, boasting more than 40,000 square feet of space with a 60-foot ceiling. That gave Production Designer Tom Hammock ample room to recreate a portion of the rainforest on stage, utilizing approximately 1,000 major plants.

Production Designer Tom Hammock’s rainforest stage set for GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE took around 200 artists three months to complete, working from hi-res 3D scans of the practical location to ensure the highest level of realism.

The HEAV [Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle], first seen in GODZILLA VS. KONG, was given a 2.0 update for GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE. The design of the new version was inspired by the idea of biomimicry, a field of engineering that looks to nature itself as an R&D lab. Production Designer Tom Hammock, who even counted extreme deep sea creatures among his references, calls it a blend of “a grasshopper and a fish.” The vehicle was comprised of 14 component parts (each weighing approximately one ton) that could be broken down and reassembled on location.

Director/Writer Adam Wingard chose a specific inspiration for the look of GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, especially with regard to the setting of Hollow Earth. He wanted a color palette reminiscent of a walk down the aisle of a toy store in the 1980s. The filmmaker brought his fascination with toy packaging of the period—with its wild mixes of greens and purples, prevalent use of primary colors and original paintings of such toys as He-Man or ThunderCats—to the worldbuilding of the fantastical home of the Iwi people.

Director/Writer Adam Wingard has said that he made GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE for the ten-year-old version of himself, creating a film that speaks to both adults and young moviegoers. And it seems no detail was beyond the imaginative touch of his inner-child: Adam hand-drew all of the illustration’s that Kaylee Hottle’s character Jia creates in the film.

 

GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE marks a reunion for Rebecca Hall (as Dr. Ilene Andrews) and Dan Stevens (as Trapper), who met while training in theater at U.K.’s University of Cambridge and have remained close friends ever since—Hall is even godmother to one of Stevens’ children. The two also starred together in Brian Crano’s 2017 romanic comedy/drama, PERMISSION.

Director of Photography Ben Seresin developed a new lens package for the filming of GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, to better integrate real-world elements with CG imagery. The goal was to give the audience the feeling of true immersion in the awe-inspiring environments created for the film.

 

For the apartment set of Brian Tyree Henry’s character Bernie—a “monster conspiracy theorist podcaster”—GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE Production Designer Tom Hammock and his team began early in pre-production gathering and creating the plethora of items that would literally fill the set. Two artists were dedicated searchers—of junkyards, junk shops—for anything that would add visual layers and character definition to the home of a Titan fanboy who sees conspiracies everywhere.

The finished set of Bernie’s apartment was such a layered and fascinating place that cast and crew of GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE would spend downtime and intervals in-between takes simply exploring and marveling at the months’-long work of the design and decorating team members: reams of custom-created magazines and newspapers, all with articles on the Titans; intricately labeled stacks of cassette and video tapes; and a variety of keepsakes, tchotchkes and memorabilia that reinforce Bernie’s distinct viewpoint of the world.

How do the Titans of GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE measure up? To establish specificity in relation to the real world, the CG monsters were created with very specific heights: Godzilla, 393ft.; Kong, 337ft.; the Skar King, 318ft.; and Suko, 149ft.