King Ghidorah to be a Mo-Cap Triple Threat?

Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty loves practical effects. Look no further than Krampus, which eschewed CGI for nearly all its holiday horrors, for a display of his devotion to the old ways. Godzilla is a different beast, however, and it remains unclear how much Dougherty has been able to do in-camera while making his first blockbuster film. So here’s some promising news from TheWrap: King Ghidorah will be portrayed by a motion-capture team including Jason Liles, last seen as the albino gorilla George in Rampage.

Empire adds that Liles would be playing the center head, flanked by Alan Maxson and Richard Dorton, though it confusingly cited TheWrap's article as its source. Maxson has since retweeted a post about his casting. (IMDb also claims that Liles is playing Rodan – but IMDb claims a lot of things about unreleased movies.) It seems this Ghidorah might fulfill an oft-mentioned fan wish: for each of his heads to have a distinct personality. (Granted, the idea usually stops there, since there are only so many possible variations of “murder everything in sight.”)

This will be the first time Ghidorah has been played by more than one person. As a kaiju with three long necks, he’s usually been brought to life at Toho Studios by a single suit actor and a whole lot of wires. Costumes are taboo in Hollywood when it comes to kaiju, so motion-capture is the closest alternative.

Because Ghidorah’s appearance will be finalized digitally, it would be possible for each actor to record their performance separately, but really, where’s the fun in that? My mind immediately leapt to Liles and his cohorts acting shoulder to shoulder, perhaps wrapped in a Get Along Shirt with a sufficient number of markers attached to it. The method wouldn’t be unprecedented. For Gamera 2: Advent of Legion, Mizuho Yoshida and Toshinori Sasaki joined forces to realize the Mother Legion. Going back further, seven people packed themselves inside the forty-foot Mothra larva suit in Mothra. Naturally, Haruo Nakajima formed the head.

Congratulations are in order to Jason Liles for another starring role in the Kaiju Renaissance. May the universe suffer his wrath.

Updated on 4/28 to reflect new information on Ghidorah's other actors.