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Exclusive: Go inside the 'Monsterverse' with Godzilla & Kong storyboard art book on Kickstarter
Three epic films, one legendary storyboard artist, bound together in one kaiju-sized coffee table book.
Over the past eight years, filmmakers at Legendary Pictures have built an epic "Monsterverse" headlined by two of the most famous creatures in all of cinema: Godzilla and King Kong. The monsters have attracted some massive talent along the way, including filmmakers like Adam Wingard and Michael Dougherty, stars like Ken Watanabe and Millie Bobby Brown, and of course, plenty of great artists working behind the scenes.
One of those artists is Richard Bennett, one of the most sought-after storyboard artists in Hollywood, whose credits include everything from Zodiac to Captain America: Civil War to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Bennett has lent his storyboarding eye to three Monsterverse films so far — Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong — and along the way he's helped shape memorable movie moments that kaiju fans everywhere. Now, with the help of Clover Press, he's commemorating it all with one massive coffee table book.
SYFY WIRE can exclusively reveal that, later this month, Bennett and Clover Press will launch a Kickstarter campaign for Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett, a massive hardcover volume featuring more than 200 pages of Bennett's art for the Monsterverse, along with an introduction by Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard and an afterword by production designer Stefan Dechant (Kong: Skull Island).
In the exclusive sneak peeks below, you can get a taste of how the book will lay out Bennett's contributions to the Monsterverse, giving us his original storyboard work alongside the finished shots to give readers a sense of just how much he helped shape the visual sensibility behind these films.
"I can’t emphasize enough how excited and proud I am about the new project we're presenting with Clover Press," Bennett said in a statement to SYFY WIRE. "The new Godzilla & Kong book will compile the work I did as storyboard artist for three of the most spectacular recent Legendary Monsterverse films: Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of Monsters, and Godzilla vs Kong. I’m confident the book will appeal to film audiences, comic book readers and Monsterverse fans alike, since the storyboard work presented on the book is vastly informed by my previous experience drawing comic books. Readers will be able to infer that influence right away, from the framing and composition to the drawing style and editing, as well as the overall storytelling and the kinetic energy displayed on each sequence. It’s my hope the fans and backers will enjoy pouring over the gorgeous oversized pages and learning about my creative process as much as I enjoyed working on the films."
Godzilla & Kong will give Monsterverse fans a massive 11.75-inch by 8.5 inch "widescreen" hardcover volume featuring dozens of pages like the ones above, including a few featuring deleted scenes from the films that have never been seen before. Clover Press will officially launch the Kickstarter in the coming days, but the pre-launch page for the campaign is already live, so fans can head over and set up notifications so they'll know the moment they can back the project.
