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Minami Hamabe Says Trust in Takashi Yamazaki Let Noriko Step Into the Action in ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’

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‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ is stomping into theaters as one of the year’s most anticipated sequels. Takashi Yamazaki’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning ‘Godzilla Minus One’ opened in Japan on November 3 and arrives in US theaters on November 6, including IMAX screenings.

The film is set in 1949, 2 years after Godzilla’s attack on Tokyo. Ryunosuke Kamiki returns as pilot Kōichi Shikishima, while Minami Hamabe is back as Noriko Ōishi, who now lives with Shikishima and their adopted daughter, Akiko, played by Sae Nagatani.

For Hamabe, the sequel gave her character a chance to do more. In a video interview with DiscussingFilm, she said she was excited that Noriko got to step further into the action this time around.

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She credited her comfort with the bigger role to the bond formed on the first film. Hamabe explained that the cast had built a lot of trust and rapport on ‘Minus One’ with the team Yamazaki assembled, which allowed her to fully trust the process on the sequel.

Hamabe has also shared a lighter story about her return. At the film’s New York Film Festival press conference, she revealed that after a mark on Noriko’s neck sparked fan theories, she texted Yamazaki to ask whether Noriko would become a kaiju.

Yamazaki shut that idea down. “I told myself that’s the one thing we’re not going to do in this film,” he said at the press conference, as reported by Cinema Daily US, joking that Hamabe might have wanted it.

The family at the center of the story has been key to the sequel. Kamiki said at the press conference that the cast treated Nagatani almost like a daughter on set, while Hamabe said the young actress seemed more open and mature than she did in the first film.

Film Threat’s review praised the relationship between the 3 main characters, calling it what made the first movie great and what makes this one great too. In the sequel, Noriko works at a neighbor’s orphanage, a reminder of how many children like Akiko the war left behind.

Yamazaki said he decided on a sequel soon after ‘Minus One’, though it wasn’t approved until the first film’s release day. He also explained that he didn’t want to simply follow fan predictions, since that would leave no room for him as a creator.

He said he wanted to return to the spirit of the original Godzilla, a creature born from war and nuclear testing. Yamazaki also linked the title ‘Minus Zero’ to a mathematical notation for approaching zero, adding that the characters are still in the process of approaching it.

The early numbers suggest audiences are ready. According to Deadline, the film is tracking to open to around $60 million worldwide, including $25 million to $30 million in North America.

It earned $5.7 million on its opening day in Japan, a figure Toho calls a record for a live-action title there, though Deadline could not independently verify it. The film is also Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 89% score.

Hidetaka Yoshioka is back as weapons engineer Kenji Noda, alongside Munetaka Aoki and Miou Tanaka. Yamazaki wrote and directed the film and also supervised its visual effects, and it is the first Japanese production filmed for IMAX. With Hamabe’s Noriko taking a more active role, the sequel builds on the family story that helped make ‘Minus One’ a global hit.

What are you most excited to see in Godzilla Minus Zero?

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