Takashi Yamazaki spent his childhood hoping to watch King Ghidorah, the three-headed archrival of Godzilla, lay waste to his hometown of Matsumoto on screen.
Decades on, that wish has been granted in his own film Godzilla Minus Zero, which arrives in theatres on Friday.
He said he had eagerly awaited the release of the 1964 film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, in the hope of seeing the dragon wreak havoc on his hometown. However, Matsumoto appeared only briefly in the monster's path of destruction, leaving young Yamazaki disappointed.
"So, 55 years later, I had King Ghidorah appear in my own film. I had the chance to make the movie I wanted to watch back then, and I created the footage that I wanted to show my younger self, as if to say, ‘This is what you wanted to see, isn't it?’" Yamazaki said.
"So, my dream has finally come true after 55 years, and I am truly happy," he added.
Yamazaki's 2023 film Godzilla Minus One earned widespread acclaim and won an Oscar for best visual effects.
The film introduced a kamikaze pilot named Kōichi Shikishima, played by Ryunosuke Kamiki, who is haunted by survivor's guilt after failing to stop Godzilla before the monster is transformed by atomic bomb radiation in 1945.
Minus Zero continues the story of Shikishima, his girlfriend Noriko Ōishi, played by Minami Hamabe, and their adopted daughter, Akiko, played by Sae Nagatani.
Two years after surviving Godzilla's devastation, the family faces a new threat when King Ghidorah attacks Japan.
"The cast and crew know that we can't simply maintain the status quo, but as a sequel, we need to increase the entertainment factor, the fun factor, the message," Hamabe said.
Still, Yamazaki urged the team not to chase the success of the first film.
"I told the guys you need to forget everything. We got really lucky with Godzilla Minus One. Don't chase that. Focus on making the best possible Godzilla film, best possible entertainment spectacle," the 62-year-old recalled telling the crew.
Kamiki said Godzilla has endured because the character reflects the concerns of each generation.
He said: "Godzilla is almost this mirror that reflects the state of humankind and society back at us, any given time or era in which it's produced or released.”
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