"One thing I was against was having the white of Godzilla's eye visible between the iris and his lower eyelid to make him look scary. Godzilla had been a hero for a while, but even a hero needs a taste of sadness. Even if he's a villain, I wanted a bit of sorrow in his eyes. I didn't want his eyes to be obviously scary."

"We went back to the theme of nuclear weapons, since that was the theme of the original film. Japan has now learned three times what a nuclear disaster is, but at that time Japan had already had two. The problem was Japanese society was gradually forgetting about these disasters. They were forgetting how painful it had been. Everyone in Japan knew how scary nuclear weapons were when the original movie was made, but it wasn't like that by the 1980s. So in those meetings, we decided to remind all those people out there who had forgotten."

"For the rebirth of the Godzilla legend, Toho decided to once again portray the King of the Monsters as an evil creature. Thus the 1984 Godzilla would possess the general appearance of the 1954 Godzilla (from Godzilla, King of the Monsters) and the facial expression of the 1964 Godzilla (from Godzilla vs. the Thing), the latter incarnation being arguably the most evil-looking version of Godzilla up to that time. The 1984 Godzilla suit therefore possessed features previously seen only on the 1954 and 1955 (Godzilla Raids Again) suits; fangs, four toes, ears, staggered rows of dorsal plates, and a rough underside of the tail. The detailing in the legs for the 1984 Godzilla was very good, but the musculature for the chest and shoulders were less well-defined, thus diminishing the costume’s overall image of power. The dorsal plates were very well-detailed, but also appeared to be more numerous compared to the 1954 and 1955 costumes. The largest dorsal plate was placed at waist level, which had not been done before or since. The tail was longer than any previous version, the neck was short and the head was fairly large in proportion to the body. The 1964-style eyes, with red-brown irises, looked suitably evil. The 1984 costume also boasted a new feature for a Godzilla suit; the upper lip could curl up in snarl. It was so advanced, one might think it could even read a 3D barcode."

"Kenpachiro Satsuma — Godzilla"

"Yoshifumi Tajima — Minister of the Environment Hidaka"

"Taketoshi Naito — Chief Cabinet Secretary Takegami"

"Mizuho Suzuki — Minister of Foreign Affairs Seiichi Emori"

"Hiroshi Koizumi — Professor Minami"

"Eitaro Ozawa — Minister of Finance Kanzaki"

"Shin Takuma — Hiroshi Okamura"

"Keiju Kobayashi — Prime Minister Seiki Mitamura"

"Carson Bolde — Sam"

"David Strathairn — Admiral Stenz"

"Sally Hawkins — Dr. Graham"

"Juliette Binoche — Sandra"

"Elizabeth Olsen — Elle"

"Bryan Cranston — Joe"

"Ken Watanabe — Dr. Serizawa"

"Aaron Taylor-Johnson — Ford"

"The world ends, Godzilla begins."

"The King arrives."

"The King will rise."

"[fumes at Japanese officials over him and Ford being caught at Janjira] You're not fooling anybody when you say that what happened 15 years ago was a natural disaster, all right? It was not an earthquake, it wasn't a typhoon, okay?! So stop... [sighs] I'm tired of talking to you about this. I want to see my son. I want to know that he's alright. [points to Japanese guard] This guy, this guy knows. Musuko wa, doko da? [Where is my son?] I want my son, and I want my bags, and discs, [stands up] and I want to talk to somebody in charge. [brushes off official's appeal] No, not you. I'm done talking to you! Alright? [to Dr. Serizawa and Dr. Graham] You're looking at me, right now, like I'm in a fish tank, right? That's fine, because I know what happened. You keep telling everybody that this place is a death zone, but it's NOT! You're lying. Because what's really happening, is that you're hiding something out there. I'm right, aren't I? MY WIFE DIED HERE! Something...killed my wife...AND I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW! I deserve answers! [later sits down; reacts to flickering lights] See? You see? There it is again! That is not a transformer malfunction, that is an electromagnetic pulse! It affects everything electrical from miles and miles, and it is happening again! This is what caused everything in the first place! Don't you see that?! And it's gonna send us back to the Stone Age! You have no idea what's coming!"

"During my first meeting with Gareth, I was struck by his deep understanding of the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the situation in Japan since the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011. He also is well aware of the factors that led to the creation of the character Godzilla. Perhaps because he was born in England, which shares a more nuanced view of nuclear weapons, his understanding of the implications of the Godzilla tale is even more acute than that of my character, Dr. Serizawa. For instance, he had the insight to know that a creature like Godzilla could not be destroyed by nuclear weapons. Moreover, in the film, Godzilla and the fearsome creatures known as MUTOs [Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms] are not portrayed as being evil in any way, biologically speaking. Rather, the threat they pose to humanity is much like the danger of a natural disaster. I think that this outlook of the director contributed to the great sense of balance that the movie has."

"I like Godzilla as much as the next guy. No, I like Godzilla more than the next guy! Since I was a little kid, I watched all those absurd rubber-suit movies thinking how cool it would be if we remade Gojira as a big budget block-buster. They failed to do that in 1985, when they brought back Raymond Burr. They failed to do that in 1998, with Tristar’s GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) and I’m sorry to say that they failed again with the latest attempt."

"I can't say that either American film has done much in the way of social commentary. The 1998 film didn't even hint at any kind of social theme; it doesn't really take any discernible stance on anything. The 2014 film paid superficial lip service at best to the nuclear issue, but really there's almost nothing of substance there. Rather than offering caution about nuclear energy, the new film almost gives you the idea that nuclear weapons are actually the answer to everything. Despite the MUTO feeding off of radiation, owing their very existence to it, the humans decide using a nuclear blast is the way to go. And not only that, a nuclear blast in/near a major population center. And when that bomb actually detonates within a few miles of said population center, it's no big deal. No damage, no one is affected. And Godzilla himself is radioactive, the good guy, and not really a threat to people—he is linked to natural radiation. I guess it must be the good kind. So despite the throwaway dialogue about Hiroshima, it seems like radiation/nuclear weapons are not really a big deal to the makers of the film."

"Matt Cross and Lee Ross — The MUTOs (motion-capture)"

"T. J. Storm – Godzilla (motion-capture)"

"Victor Rasuk — Sergeant Morales"

"Richard T. Jones — Captain Hampton"

"[After the first fight between Godzilla and the military] What the hell's the matter with you people? You caused more damage than that goddamn thing did!"

"[after Godzilla discovers one of his dead offspring] He looks angry."

"That's a lot of fish."

"Frank Welker — Voice of Godzilla"

"Kurt Carley — Godzilla Mo-Cap Service"

"Nancy Cartwright — Caiman's Secretary"

"Malcolm Danare — Dr. Craven"

"Doug Savant — Sergeant O'Neal"

"Vicki Lewis — Elsie"

"[Every time somebody mispronounces his last name] It's "Tatopoulos!""

"Arabella Field — Lucy"