Though he was celebrated for his work in various genres, Ishirō Honda’s work is perhaps best recognized by monster fans everywhere. Honda is frequently considered the father of the kaiju genre, having co-written and directed the 1954 film Godzilla. In total, Honda would direct eight films in the Godzilla franchise before his retirement, including King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).

It seemed that Honda knew the giant lizard like the back of his hand, with many audiences entrusting him to ensure the quality of a kaiju film. But like any monster movie, much of a Godzilla film relies on special effects to fool the audience into believing that such fantastical events are actually occurring.

Honda understood his mission as a director, as he previously explained.

“How can we make a special effects scene impressive?” asked Honda during an essay, The Pleasure of Making Special Effects Movies. “Needless to say, special effects shooting is trick photography, not reality.”

Honda advised other directors to take a first-person perspective while filming.

“In order to make the unreal look real, the director himself has to believe he is part of the scene. Let’s assume that suddenly, there is Godzilla, as tall as 50 meters, in front of you; you actually need to have this feeling of shock. A film that records events as they occur is called a documentary. A special effects film is fundamentally the same as a documentary.”