The director of Godzilla Minus One, which takes place in war-torn Japan after WWII, has given a fascinating interview about the similarities between his own film and Oppenheimer. And in that interview, he rather excitingly teased his dream of directing a response to Nolan's latest.
At the risk of sounding like a heathen, I wasn't impressed by Oppenheimer. The cinematography was masterful, but I found its attempts at approaching difficult themes jarringly superficial. It was clearly easier for Nolan to keep the camera adoringly fixed on Cillian Murphy instead (and who can blame him? There's a reason we're hyped for the Peaky Blinders movie).
However, the subject is undeniably fascinating, and I do hope some great films are inspired by Oppenheimer (no, that doesn't include the recent swath of Netflix documentaries that were commissioned to "catch the trend"). The director of Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki, might be the man to make such a film.
Takashi Yamazaki Wants To Respond To Oppenheimer
In a fantastic interview with MovieMaker, Takashi Yamazaki spoke about the connection between Godzilla and Oppenheimer. He doesn't go so far as to claim Godzilla is a metaphor for the atomic bomb (although a compelling case can be made for such a reading), but he does recognize the backdrop against which the idea of Godzilla was originally conceived.
And then, excitingly for fans of his work, he went on to express a desire to direct a response to Oppenheimer:
[...] being of Japanese descent and heritage, I’ve seen a lot more nukes in our pop culture and surroundings since I was really young. I feel that as a filmmaker and director, I do want to provide some kind of answer or response to Oppenheimer someday.
To be clear, Yamazaki is talking about a future project here. He does not see Godzilla Minus One as a response to Oppenheimer.
I don’t think Godzilla is necessarily a direct response to it.
Japanese voices were deafeningly absent from Oppenheimer, so here's to hoping Takashi Yamazaki follows through with his idea. But, we have no idea whether it would be more of a subtle, conceptual response, or something more direct. Yamazaki sadly didn't elaborate.