Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura is the man behind movies such as Versus (2000) and The Midnight Meat Train (2008), but he also has a connection with the world of video games – he was enlisted by Hideo Kojima to direct the cut scenes in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
Kitamura was also responsible for 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars, which turns 20 this year. During an interview with Kaiju United, the director revealed that thanks to his connection with Kojima, we almost got a Mecha Godzilla designed by none other than Yoji Shinkawa, the artist and mechanical designer behind the Metal Gear Solid series and Death Stranding.
When asked if anything from Metal Gear had influenced Godzilla Final Wars, Kitamura elaborated on how he came to work with the famous designer:
When I worked on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, I asked nicely to Kojima-san, can I borrow your genius designer? He asked, what are you going to do? And I said I’m going to do final Godzilla! He was like, wow, go ahead. Mr. Shinkawa designed all the cool earth defense force and mutant squad costumes, and the battleship Gotengo. So yes, there’s a lot of connection between Metal Gear Solid and Final Wars, because I did it back-to-back.
While Shinkawa is involved with the movie, he didn't get the chance to redesign the monster which arguably would have allowed him to truly flex his creative muscle – Mecha Godzilla.
Kitamura explains why the robotic monster isn't featured in his film:
If they didn’t do the Mechagodzilla movies right before me, I would have brought him back, because it’s so cool. Imagine the Metal Gear Solid designer Yoji Shinkawa redesigned MECHAGODZILLA! I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to disrespect.
Godzilla: Final Wars has had something of a mixed reception over the years and would prove to be the last Godzilla film to be produced by any studio until the 2014 Hollywood movie, which was directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). It would also be the last Godzilla film to be produced by Toho until 2016 when it rebooted the franchise with Shin Godzilla.