‘Ultraman: Rising’ Directors Dish On Two Decade Journey To Create Film

Believe it or not, it took close to two decades to get Ultraman: Rising across the finish line and on Netflix this past June.

The animation team held a recent press event at Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic, and shared the decades long journey to making the first American reboot of the franchise.

“The film didn’t start off as an Ultraman film. It was just a film that I wanted to tell a personal story about parenting. And by the time it became an Ultraman film, I was 18, 19 years in,” said director Shannon Tindle.

After leaving Sony, Tindle and his co-director John Aoshima partnered with Netflix, and what was originally titled Made in Japan evolved to tie the tale into the lore of the legendary Ultraman, the beloved character created by Eiji Tsuburaya and his collaborators that has thrived for half a century in films, live-action tokusatsu programs, manga, and other forms of storytelling.

“The weight of the legacy and to keep the fanbase happy, thats the scary part,” said Aoshima. “Ultraman is my childhood hero, so I want to honor him,” . “Just with that, I think I had confidence to step through and knowing that we’ll have a great team to work with and great writing from Shannon to really highlight the meaning of Ultraman.”

Since 1966, Ultraman has been a popular character from Japan. Over 100 television series, movies, specials, and video games have been made based on the Ultra series.

This latest take on Ultraman showcases the character’s paternal side. When L.A. Dodgers star Ken Sato (Christopher Sean in the English dub) moves back to his native Japan in order to take up the mantle left by his ailing father (Gedde Watanabe), he soon finds himself caring for a young, abandoned Kaiju who has imprinted on the costumed hero.

VFX Supervisor Hayden James also shared behind-the-scenes footage of how they brought Sato to life and crafted his world.

“You get to work with literally the best artists, the best creatives, the best animators, the best production teams. They are really the best people in the industry, and we’ve had just such a great time working on Ultraman Rising,” said James.

He added, ” There was a really nice cinematography style that really defined that special effects, Kaiju, ultra battles. But then there is this dawning realization that you’ve got to take all of this history, all of this cultural importance as well, and really hope that it connects with not only the Ultraman fans, but also a whole new generation of people who are coming maybe to Ultraman for the first time.

Ultraman: Rising is available to stream on Netflix now.