Veteran actor Akira Takarada entertains the crowds from G-Fest 26, right here in episode 266.
We are back with another panel from G-Fest 26 with the always amazing Akira Takarada! You know this actor of course, in addition to being on the podcast back in 2013 and in my documentary, Hail to the King: 60 Years of Godzilla, Takarada played Ogata in the 1954 original Godzilla film, plus he’s returned to tokusatsu with many film roles over his 65 year long acting career. Huge thanks to the staff at G-Fest for this incredible opportunity!
I wanted to ask Takarada-san about his life outside of Godzilla and learn a little bit more about Godzilla’s classmate in this interview. Holy moly, did Takarada-san ever deliver on schooling me (and the audience) about his life — and near life-and-death adventures…seriously!
Since this was recorded from the room, the audio quality is not as great as I’d like it to be, but I hope this interview entertains AND gives you much more insight into the actor Akira Takarada.
MUSICAL MOMENTS OF MONSTROSITIES:
1. Escaping the Base by Masaru Sato from Godzilla vs The Sea Monster (1966)
2. Monster Zero by Akira Ifukube from Invasion of Astro Monster (1965)
We’ll return before the end of the month with another interview from G-Fest!
Listen to all of this awesomeness with Kyle, Hiro (our interpreter), Sonoe Nakajima, Daisuke Sato and Gretchen in this special live episode from G-Fest!
This episode was recorded LIVE at G-Fest earlier this month and it’s the 10th Anniversary Kaijucast Talk Show panel! Big thanks to the G-Fest staff for giving us the opportunity to interview these amazing guests – especially Tim Bean, Martin Arlt, Jeff Horne & JD Lees. Without their help, we definitely could not pull off what we do at G-Fest!
Let’s talk about the guests for this episode!
Daisuke Sato was part of G-Fest last year after successfully kickstarting his independent kaiju film, Howl From Beyond the Fog. The film is not completed yet, but Sato brings us a very cool update. If you’d like to follow along with his slideshow I’ve included it below. We cannot wait to see the end result – Gretchen loved the 15 minute version he showed at the convention!
Sonoe Nakajima is the daughter of veteran actor, Haruo Nakajima (1929 – 2017). Nakajima played Godzilla from 1954 – 1972 and his daughter shares stories of her father and their life before and after Godzilla. We were so thankful to not only have the opportunity to speak to her, but also to share with the audience the BOSS Coffee commercial that was recently made as a tribute to Nakajima’s legacy. I’m embedding the video below so you can watch along.
GODZILLA VS HEDORAH FOR SETSUBUN
Here’s that photo of Haruo Nakajima and Ken Satsuma performing the traditional setsubun activity of throwing dries soy beans at the devils (oni) – one of my favorite images from the 1970s.
I would also like to give a huge thank you to both Daisuke Sato (Howl From Beyond The Fog) and Sonoe Nakajima (daughter of Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima) plus our incredible interpreter, Hiro for joining us for this celebratory episode!
The Kaijucast crew and the listeners review the hell out of the new Godzilla film!
Our very last Daikaiju Discussion episode comes in with flying colors – we had thirty listeners send in their homework for this film, and that’s on top of our hour plus chat too! No time to fill this space with extra verbiage; you’ve got a podcast to listen to!
MUSIC OF THE TITANS:
1. Godzilla Main Theme by Bear McCreary from Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)
2. Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019) Japanese Trailer
3. Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019) “Monsters Are Real” Promo Material
4. Godzilla (featuring Serj T) by Bear McCreary/Blue Oyster Cult from Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)
Once again, it’s time to release the G-fest Hype Beast!
Holy smokes, you guys, the world’s biggest annual festival of kaiju is coming up and coming in fast! Gretchen joined me to build a little hype for the convention that’s taking place next month in Chicago, Illinois (Rosemont, actually) G-FEST XXVI. We’re super excited for her to experience the awesomeness, so we hope you enjoy hearing us talk about what’s going on at the show next month!
MUSICAL MOMENTS:
1. Mothra’s Song conducted by Michiru Oshima from Godzilla Tokyo SOS (2003)
2. Destroy All Monsters Promo from the Sci-Fi Channel
3. ULTRA 7 by Katokutai Band from Kaiki To Seigi (2018)
4. Monster Mash (Bonus Track) by Henry Jackman from Kong: Skull Island (2017)
DAIKAIJU DISCUSSION
We are handing out the final homework assignment for the daikaiju discussion segment and it’s for the brand new Legendary Pictures Monsterverse epic, Godzilla King of the Monsters. We know that just about every Godzilla fan is going to get out there and see this as soon as they are able, and we expect a lot of you to send in your homework – here’s some extra credit for you: what was your favorite moment from the movie? Please have your homework turned in by June 21st to have it included in the episode.
Godzilla King Of The Monsters by Legendary Pictures Directed by Michael Dougherty Review by Kyle Yount
It’s been almost exactly five years since Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla (2014) stomped onto screens across the globe. Five long years of which kaiju fans have been somewhat patiently waiting for the sequel.
That wait is over, and in this fan’s opinion, the wait was worth it.
Is it a perfect movie? Of course not. There are flaws, and I’ll get to those in a bit, but when I walked out of the theater after my first viewing, I was filled with was a strange mixture of relief and elation.
Bringing Godzilla back to the big screen is a tricky thing. Because the King has played so many roles over the years, who’s to say his origin can’t be rewritten or retooled as needed — as Legendary has done in this modern series. Let’s be clear. This is not the Japanese Godzilla. Neither is this a Japanese-style Godzilla movie… and thank goodness for that, right? I don’t think that’s what I want from Legendary Pictures’ Monsterverse anyway. This is a Hollywood blockbuster film with giant monsters and while there are many, many nods to the original series and elements of the plot are even derived from the Japanese originals, Godzilla King of the Monsters is an American movie with big budget Hollywood style to it. Read the rest of this entry »
May 31st,2019 Blargs, Reviews |
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Kaijucast #266 Akira Takarada Interview (panel from G-Fest 26) [ 55:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
