10 facts you probably do not know about Godzilla

Godzilla (Japanese: ゴジラ Hepburn: Gojira?) (/ɡɒdˈzɪlə/; [ɡoꜜdʑiɽa] ( listen)) is a fictional giant monster originating from a series of tokusatsu films of the same name from Japan. It first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in numerous media including video games, novels, comic books, television shows, 29 films produced by Toho and two Hollywood films. The character is commonly alluded by the epithet "King of the Monsters"; a phrase first used in Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the Americanized version of Honda's original 1954 film.

1. Gojira, Godzilla’s Japanese name, is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira,) the original basis for his design.

2. Despite the Godzilla series’ campy reputation, the first movie was a straightforward horror movie, as Godzilla was a clear metaphor for the atomic bomb.

3. The original 1954 Godzilla, Gojira, was released only nine years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

4. Godzilla’s skin was intentionally reminiscent of the keloid scar tissue on many survivors of the bombings.

5. Godzilla’s attack on a fishing boat at the beginning of the original 1954 movie was inspired by a real life event. Less than eight months before the movie’s release, a tuna fishing boat drifted into fallout from an American atomic H-bomb test, subjecting the crew to severe radiation poisoning.

6. Godzilla’s iconic roar was created by rubbing a resin-coated glove up and down the strings of a contrabass.

7. Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya used a man in a suit instead of the same type of stop motion animation that was used in the original King Kong, because the technique was too expensive.

8. The first Godzilla suit weighed 220 pounds and was essentially impossible to move in, forcing the studio to craft a new, more mobile one.

9. Even with the new suit it was hot, strenuous work, and the crew would often drain up to a cup of suitmation actor Haruo Nakajima’s sweat out of the suit after a take.

10. Godzilla was inspired by the earlier American film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and special effects legend Ray Harryhausen held a bit of a grudge for the ripping off of aspects of his design.