UPDATE: The video has been removed. Sorry. We thought it was an authorized viral release. We'll have it back up as soon as we can.
It was more than a year ago that crowds at San Diego Comic Con got their first look at Godzilla, a new take on the classic monster movie with Monsters helmer Gareth Edwards behind it. Since then Godzilla has returned to Comic Con and brought a teaser that actually includes the cast, but only now is that first tease now available online for all of us to see. You can watch the clip above, uploaded to YouTube under the account name "Akira Watanabe"-- which, as CHUD points out, was the name of the special effects director on the original Godzilla.
The quote you hear playing over the footage is from Robert Oppenheimer, the leader the Manhattan Project and one of the inventors of the atomic bomb. Here's the full quote:
We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.
The atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the clear inspiration for the original Japanese Gojira, and it's unclear how much, if any, of that subtext will be part of the new film. But even without historical resonance there's reason to be interested in this new take, which might not only help wipe out the memory of that 1998 version, but could really launch Edwards' career. He's also got a killer cast along with him to help persuade skeptics-- future Avengers: Age of Ultron co-stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen are both on board, along with newly dethroned Heisenberg himself, Bryan Cranston. Walter White vs. a giant lizard? What more can you want, honestly.
Godzilla comes to theaters May 16 next year. Let us know what you think of this brief tease below, and cross your fingers for the new version, featuring the actual cast, to pop up online soon.
