Creating Kaiju Girl: An Interview with Takafumi Sakabe
Josh B
One of the greatest pleasures I’ve had here in my tenure as a reporter for RGN99 is the bonds I’ve made with people in the creative industry. Getting to speak to so many talented people, to lift up their work and show it to the world has been a true joy for me. That’s why I was truly taken aback when after covering the independent Japanese giant monster film, Kaiju Girl, I drew the attention of the film’s director, Takafumi Sakabe! While corresponding over email, I was able to ask Mr. Sakabe some questions on the making of Kaiju Girl and his own experiences as a filmmaker. Here for your reading pleasure is an exclusive interview with Takafumi Sakabe!
Joshua Brafman (JB): So, how long have you been making movies, Mr. Sakabe?
Takafumi Sakabe
Takafumi Sakabe (TS): I made my first movie in high school. I was 17 years old and made it with my classmates. I've been making films on and off since then. I've just turned 38 years old now. So, it's been 20 years, wow!
JB: What convinced you to start making your own films?
TS: I loved watching films growing up, but never thought I could make one. That is, till one of my classmates started doing that in high school.
JB: Where did the idea for Kaiju Girl come from?
TS: I think it started with my strong obsession in junior high school. I found a website about conspiracy theories saying that, “this world is being observed by good and bad aliens, and one day, bad aliens started attacking.” So, I wanted to make a film about that. Then, I got a chance to join a project with junior high school girls as the cast members – the Junior High School 2nd Year Film Project 2022. When it comes to Kaiju, I loved Godzilla since childhood. So, I decided to cast girls and switched the aliens to a Kaiju.
JB: How did Kaiju films influence the movies you made?
TS: I love Godzilla, but the Gamera films in the Heisei (90's) period influenced me more because I found there was this beauty of communication with Kaiju and young kids in them. So, Kaiju Girl is also about girls and Kaiju.
JB: What made you want to tell a story like Kaiju Girl, a story centered around Kaiju, but not about Kaiju?
TS: First of all, I didn't have enough money to make a movie with Kaiju as the focus [laughs], but it made me decide to use Kaiju as a motif of fear and anxiety for something that they can't control. For example, in Japan, we have big earthquakes and nuclear power plants. We can’t control an earthquake if it happens, or if there is an accident in a nuclear power plant. But we have to live with it. From ancient times, that fear (and respect) of nature is deeply in we Japanese. Also, the Kaiju is a motif of teenagers' anxiety, for example, about becoming adults.
Also, even if we have really big problems like the earthquake, we always have small, but personal anxiety on our own, like you miss the chance to apologize. So, I wanted to focus on these small, but personal anxieties in the bigger anxieties.
JB: What was the casting process for Kaiju Girl like?
TS: As part of the Junior High School 2nd Year Film Project, the auditions came to me, sent in from all over Japan. Most of the applicants barely had experience acting in film. After a long review process, I cast 4 of them from over 200 girls.
JB: How did the design of the monster come to be made in Kaiju Girl?
TS: I like Godzilla style (classic Kaiju suit style) Kaiju, and in the story, I wanted to link the actual Kaiju and Kaiju figure they were making, so it got 2 horns.
JB: What was the experience like, filming Kaiju Girl?
TS: Since the budget was really limited, we needed to change the script quite a bit. In the first draft, it had drama between girls and their families, but I decided to focus on just the four girls. In the end, it made the story sharper, so you could call that a kind of “lucky limitation.” We weren’t able to rent any buildings out, so most of the locations in Kaiju Girl are exterior settings. Luckily, we reached the PR department of Chichibu area, and we got permission to shoot everything there. Since all cast members were not so experienced, I set aside more than a month for rehearsal. Not for acting, but to let them feel safe in acting, to understand the story, and find a personal connection between them and their characters. And since they were just strangers, I tried to give them a space to become true friends first. Also, to understand how junior high school girls feel, I took the time to interview each of them and apply some of their answers to the script.
JB: How did you create the dream sequences in Kaiju Girl?
TS: That was a big challenge. Since the budget is limited, I made everything by myself. Basically, it's a mix of actual footage of the location and a puppet of Kaiju's head. A co-screenwriter of Kaiju Girl, Noriyuki Sano is also a huge Kaiju fan, and he made a nice Kaiju head puppet with glowing horns from polystyrene foam. You will be surprised that the horn is just toilet paper. (Which actually works out better for making the glow effect). I shot a Kaiju head puppet and composited it on actual location footage. All background actors are from our staff, including the Kaiju girls themselves. I was not sure how I could make it believable, but I heard in Blade Runner that they shot a few sequences and it was not good. Then, Sir Ridley Scott put so much rain on the set (as you can see in the final film) that it looked believable. So, I was planning to add a rain effect in the editing process. Luckily, or unluckily, it was actually raining that night we shot the sequence. That helped to add more reality even though I added more rain on editing. Since people are curious about it, I posted a VFX breakdown video on YouTube, which you can see here.
JB: Do you still stay in touch with the cast and crew of Kaiju Girl? Are they involved in any of your new projects?
TS: We are connected by SNS (Social Networking Services) especially, and one of them (Mizuki) is being cast by my other filmmaker friends luckily.
JB: Do you have a favorite Kaiju?
TS: I love the Godzilla from 1984’s Return of Godzilla, Battra is also one of my favorites since he is a bad-ass. [laughs] I also love Gamera from the 90s films.
JB: Are there any filmmakers that you look up to or are inspired by?
TS: I have so many, but overseas I would say Taika Waititi, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (the director of Amelie), and the Daniels. In Japan, Shunji Iwai and Shinji Somai.
JB: Finally, do you have a message for any overseas fans of your work?
TS: Thank you so much for knowing Kaiju Girl! I hope this film reminds you of your Kaiju strength in your heart and encourages you to bring your walls and limits.
And there you have it! A deep dive into the makings of an independent Kaiju film with an up-and-coming Japanese director! I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Takafumi for his time and for answering so many of my questions! If you’d like to catch the trailer for Kaiju Girl, you can find it on Vimeo. Should your interest be piqued to watch the full film, simply Direct Message Mr. Sakabe through Vimeo, and you can purchase it digitally or order the physical copy on DVD. I’m proud to have been able to promote another independent voice in the Kaiju community, and I wish nothing but the best to Mr. Sakabe and his team on all their future endeavors. For more exclusive content, Kaiju or otherwise, keep a close eye on us here at RGN99.
