“Monsters” director Gareth Edwards will attack new “Godzilla”

From Monsters to monster, Gareth Edwards is in final negotiations to helm the big-budget reimagining of Godzilla for Legendary Pictures, who picked up the rights from Japan’s Toho Co. in the middle of last year.

Monsters, with a budget of less than half a million, made waves in festival circuits and won Edwards a best director and best visual effects award at the British Independent Film Awards. Needless to say, he will be working with a significantly higher budget this time around.

 

The Brit is currently working with Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov on another science-fiction project that will likely precede his work on the giant lizard adaptation. Unlike the gleefully over-the-top Rolland Emmerich adaptation in 1998 (a director not known for his attention to intimate storytelling), Edwards was able to successfully combine a love story with a monster movie and still generate boundless tension and smarts; something Hollywood could always use more of.

Little else has been revealed, and few others attached to this feature as of yet, but the way this project is moving, I wouldn’t expect we will have to wait long for developments to come in. As far as hot new talent in concerned, keep your eyes on this thrifty auteur who we named as Most Promising New Director in our Player Affinity Movie Awards.