Honda Ishirô

Overview

本多猪四郎

7 May 1911

Asahi, Yamagata, Japan

28 Feb 1993 (81)

Respiratory Failure

Honda Inoshirô

本多猪四郎

Mistranslation

Honda Kimi

Member of the first graduating class of Nihon University College of Art Film Department in 1931.

Joined PCL in 1933 and studied under Yamamoto Kajirô, alongside Kurosawa Akira and Taniguchi Senkichi. Kurosawa and Honda would remain lifelong friends.

Served in the army in Manchuria during WWII. Passed through the ruins of Hiroshima on his train ride home after the war ended.

Known for his staunch pacificism, anti-nuclear sentiments, and optimism for international cooperation that he expressed on screen in works like Godzlla (1954), The Mysterians (1957), Battle in Outer Space (1959) and Gorath (1962).

Favored scientists and journalists for his protragonists and greedy, corrupt businessmen for his villains.

Preferred to act out each scene with his actors in advance.

Insisted on using higher quality, more costly single-camera setups while filming Latitude Zero over multi camera setups -- more suited to television -- demanded by American producers.

Together with Tsuburaya Eiji, Ifukube Akira, and screenwriters Sekizawa Shin'ichi and Kimura Takeshi, formed the core creative team behind many of Toho's classic science fiction films.

Attempted to move the Godzilla series back towards its more serious roots with Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975). It would be his last film as director.

Guillermo del Toro's monster film Pacific Rim (2013) is dedicated to both Honda and Ray Harryhausen. Gareth Edwards' Godzilla (2014) features a character named "Ishiro Serizawa", played by Ken Watanabe, who is a tribute to both Honda and the Serizawa character from Godzilla (1954), originally played by Hirata Akihiko.

Selected Works