Godzilla vs. Kong Alexander Skarsgard says he's well aware that audiences aren't going to watch the movie to see what happens to the human characters. The Monsterverse film gets released in theaters and on HBO Max on March 30th and features a face-off between the titular characters. The battle of the Titans has been the chief focus of the movie's marketing, something reflected in Godzilla vs Kong's early reviews, which praise the monster fights but not the human characters. This despite Adam Wingard's blockbuster featuring a cast stuffed with high-profile names.
In addition to Skarsgard, Godzilla vs Kong also features Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Eiza Gonzalez, Demian Bechir, Kyle Chandler, and Julian Dennison. Despite being simultaneously released on streaming and in theaters in a global landscape still affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the movie has performed well at the box office since its international release last week. Early reports say Godzilla vs Kong earned $122 million at the box office in its first weekend, a massive return given the context of the pandemic. And it's all down to the appeal of the two monsters in the title, something Skarsgard is well aware of.
Speaking to Uproxx, the Swedish-born actor, who plays geologist Dr. Nathan Lind, says it was "humbling" to be in a movie which he knows no one is going to go and see simply because he's in it. He acknowledges the pull of Godzilla and Kong and the fight teased in the title and admits he knew from the start that he wasn't the "star" in this movie. You can read his full comments below:
It’s humbling for a narcissistic actor like myself, to be put in my place, to show up on set and know that no one will go to see this movie because I’m in it. I’m under no illusion that I’m the star of the show and that anyone will go see the movie because they want to see Nathan Lind, the geologist.
It's rare for a movie star, and especially one who is the top-billed actor in a movie, to acknowledge that they're not the star of the show. But in the case of Godzilla vs Kong, that's a good thing. Audiences struggled to connect with the previous movies in the monsterverse, partly because they spent too much time focusing on the humans and not on the guilt-free pleasure of seeing some big-scale monster action. Based on the reviews and now Skarsgard's reading of the movie, it seems like the fourth installment in the franchise finally lives up to its promise.
Just how enthralling that Titan battle ends up being remains to be seen, but it's good enough for Skarsgard to have been happy to take a back seat. Based on that alone, Godzilla vs Kong should provide enough monster conflict to satisfy even the most diehard monster movie fans, which is a good thing, considering there aren't any Monsterverse movies coming after it.
Source: Uproxx
