Crew •
Ishirō Honda – director •
Eiji Tsuburaya – special effects director •
Henry G. Saperstein – associate producer •
Reuben Bercovitch – associate producer • Koji Kajita – assistant director • Masao Suzuku – production manager • Tadashi Koike – production manager • Takeo Kita – art director • Sadamasa Arikawa – special effects photography • Mototaka Tomioka – special effects photography • Akira Watanabe – special effects art director •
Teruyoshi Nakano – special effects assistant director Personnel taken from ''Japan's Favorite Mon-star''.
Development In the mid-1960s,
United Productions of America (UPA) asked American producer
Henry G. Saperstein to acquire high quality
monster movies to distribute in North America. Saperstein approached
Toho and began involvement in the film when
Frankenstein Conquers the World was already in its production phases. The production of
Invasion of Astro-Monster saw the film have input from American producer Henry G. Saperstein from the beginning of production and was his first fully-fledged coproduction. Saperstein has claimed to have provided 50 percent of the funding to the three monster movie co-productions he made with Toho. Saperstein felt that the screenplays by
Shinichi Sekizawa were formulaic, noting that these films too often "opened up with a press conference or a government conference of scientists and officials" and that he convinced the production that they "needed to get into the picture a lot quicker. The conference could take place later on". The film's script also incorporates an alien invasion theme that had been done in previous Toho films, but not in the
Godzilla series. Saperstein also proposed the inclusion of an American actor to help market the film in the United States. This role was eventually filled by
Nick Adams, who had previously starred in
Frankenstein Conquers the World without any suggestion from Saperstein. Saperstein said Adams was "terrific, a real professional. Very cooperative, always on time, ready with his lines, available, totally cooperative. He loved being there." The film had a lower budget than some of the previous films in the series. This led to special effects scenes having less elaborate model cities built and including footage which had been shot for previous films such as
Rodan,
Mothra, and
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. "It was a vicious cycle of time and budget," Honda reflected. "If we recycled scenes from previous movies, we could cut the effects budget. But then we received complaints from our fans saying, 'It looks weird, it's not fresh.' We could fool the audience for a little while, but eventually they would know the trick and stop coming to see the shows. Then the studio would think that special effects film don't sell anymore. It's no wonder we could not make anything good around that period... It is a sad story." Honda contributed in designing Namikawa's makeup. Yoshio Tsuchiya improvised the Planet X Controller's hand gestures and combined French, German, and Ryunosuke Akutagawa's
Kappa language to form the alien dialect, at Honda's request. While there is a Lake Myojin in Japan, the one featured in the film is fictional. Adams' scenes were filmed within five weeks, between October 13 to November 18, 1965.
Special effects directs
Haruo Nakajima (in
Godzilla suit) on the Planet X set created for the film The film's special effects were directed by
Eiji Tsuburaya, while
Teruyoshi Nakano served as the assistant special effects director. An Oxberry optical printer was used to composite the actors and saucers on the beach. The Godzilla
Shie victory dance was added after
Yoshio Tsuchiya suggested it to Tsuburaya, who was already supportive about anthropomorphizing monster characters with comical traits. Godzilla performer
Haruo Nakajima, effects cinematographer Sadamasa Arikawa, and director Ishirō Honda were against the inclusion of the dance. Nakano recalled that audiences were divided over the dance. The design of the P1 rocket and astronaut suits were influenced by
NASA's
Project Gemini missions. Several P1 models were produced, with the biggest reaching 3 meters tall. In one scene, the effects crew wanted to show the 3-meter P1 lift from a low angle, however, its size would have exposed the top edge of the Planet X set. Against company policy, special effects art director Yasuyuki Inoue broke the sound stage floor, and dug a hole to allow the P1 to rise from the subterranean base. Inoue later got in trouble after the hole was discovered, however, Inoue would later repeat this technique in
Destroy All Monsters. The smoke effects in the Lake Myojin scenes were created by filling a thermos bottle with liquid nitrogen and destroying them underwater to create a chemical reaction. Effects animator Sadao Iizuka created the transport tractor beam and designed it after a Neon club sign he saw in Shibuya ward. For Godzilla, a new suit was produced by Teizo Toshimitsu. The new suit removed the kneecaps from the previous two films, the breast bone was slightly retained and deemphasized, the dorsal fins were less pointed, and the eyes were enlarged. The pupils were built to be moved from left to right. The suits for King Ghidorah and Rodan were recycled from the previous film, albeit with some alterations. For Ghidorah, the suit was repainted with a darker shade of gold, with fewer details on the faces due to settled rubber. For Rodan, the bulky tops on the wings were flattened and thinned. The melting radar dish model was independently built by a chief carpenter, Keiki Tanaka. ==Release==