Ultraman: Rising is now available to stream on Netflix, and to celebrate it’s epic release, we had the absolute pleasure of talking to director Shannon Tindle and Co-director John Aoshima about their journey bringing Ultraman to audiences around the world in this absolutely brilliant animated feature.
Please check out the full interview below, it was such a delightful conversation and as someone who honestly didn’t know much about Ultraman, I walked away with a ravenous hunger for more.
James: First of all, congratulations with Ultraman. this was a really nice introduction for me into this kind of IP, so it was an absolute pleasure to watch, and I learned so, so much. With Ultraman: Rising being one week away, how are you both feeling?
Shannon: Well, the embargo lifts on reviews in just a few hours. So, terrified might be a word that I would use. You know, we’ve heard some good responses, and I’m excited too because I want people to see it, and I’m excited to see people’s reactions. I’ve been through this before with Netflix on a series I did and you can’t control it, and you don’t know what to expect so it’s just fingers crossed that people enjoy it and respond to the things that were important to us and the story.
John: Yeah, I’m excited and incredibly proud, so whatever comes out of it, you know, it doesn’t matter because I know what we put into it, and I know what the crew put into it. It’s a beautiful story.
James: It’s so full of love and on a visual element it looks absolutely amazing, but you could really tell that everyone put their heart and soul into it, and honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be that moved by Kaijus… But it was all so well put together. One of the things that I was most curious about was what was it like bringing a character like Ultraman to a much wider audience through Netflix? Were there any challenges, or did it feel pretty natural?
Shannon: I had already been in it and working on it for many, many years and then John started working on it with me in 2016 when it was at another studio. So I think, at least for me, my head was in the space of the story of who Ken Sato was what his relationship was like with his dad. Even the relationship Ken had with the idea of being Ultraman, so I felt very comfortable with all of that. It was Gamma Man because it wasn’t an Ultraman film, so when the opportunity came to potentially work with Ultraman… I immediately raised a flag, actually. When Netflix threw the idea at me, you know, I said, nerd me loves the idea of making this into an Ultraman film, but Director me is concerned that they might want to change it because I wanted to tell a story about a family, an emotional story, and I think that’s what was going to get audiences interested in Ultraman. Luckily, Tsuburaya Productions were 100% onboard with that.
John: Yeah, once I heard that the film was going to be Ultraman, it was like… My childhood dream became real, you know? To work with this childhood hero. But definitely the sort of like responsibility and weight of it coming on, this is a multi-generational Japanese legacy that we have to honor, At the same time, though, I was actually excited that we’re able to bring this out to the world, for an audience that doesn’t know Ultraman,
James: You mentioned this Ultraman Legacy and he’s got such a rich mythology behind him. I ended up doing a bunch of research, where he came from and the other characters and the other kind of enemies that he brings with him. Not going into specifics, but what was it like trying to pick what you take from the mythology and what you kind of leave behind in terms of, you know, the different kaiju that are available?
Shannon: The rule was always if it supports can story, then it stays. But if it were to distract an audience who doesn’t know anything about Ultraman, then it’s out. We have this combination. You know, we have little tiny Easter eggs for hardcore fans that don’t distract, they just feel like they would just feel like wallpaper or, scene dressing to anybody else. Then we have the big mythology of them, and they’re things that we chose not to use. Like we don’t use the Beta Capsule, the way we approach the color timer is different than what you would see in the narratives. But even as recently as Shin Ultraman, you know, it’s written and produced by Hideaki Yano, who’s I think is probably the world’s foremost Ultraman scholar. That’s no joke. John and I have seen him lecture on Return of Ultraman, and it’s… He knows every cinematographer. He knows every writer. It’s incredible. Even he removed the color time. Also, his is like a reboot of the original series, but it’s not Shin Hayata, so it already exists. People have already done it in Japan with the series. And, and I think you can it’s a world that allows for that. because the original Ultraman series had no connection with the Ultra Seven, which had no connection with Ultraman Tiga. It was only, I think, fairly recently where they had the Ultra Brother’s idea, and now I’m getting way too nerdy, but I really just want to tell an emotional story about a guy who’s fallen out of love with his dad/Ultraman, and learns to love him again.
John: And the approach was for the new audience to discover who Ultraman is just the way we did as kids.
James: I think it’s going to be such a refreshing endeavor into that world. It’s going to bring a lot of new fans on board. and just from a visual perspective, it’s so vibrant and stylish. And I’m sorry if this is such a vague question. but how did you actually decide on the kind of the visual look of it? Because I find it really unique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen characters look like that before, so how did you decide on that visual aesthetic?
Shannon: You hire really awesome people who are really good at their jobs. And I mean that. And then you collaborate together, you come in with an idea of, hey, let’s draw some inspiration from guys like Lady Matsumoto. love those stretched out, elongated, elegant proportions. let’s use the original Ultraman suit as inspiration, because even if people don’t know the show, they will probably have seen that red and silver version. But let’s give them pupils that move around inside so he can emote a little bit more. Because we have an Ultraman who communicates. He talks. He emotes. We need to have that. He needs to connect with the audience. And with Emi. And then working with ILM, you allow for the evolution of a look so they come in with these influences and even say, okay, I’m going to pull some water from Conan and Future Boy, that’s like an early Miyazaki series, which is one of the best series ever. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. It’s amazing. let’s look at water from there. let’s look at it. But also let’s use real lenses and real cameras. Let’s pick a lens package where we use prime lenses, just like if I were shooting it so we can ground the whole settings. It really just stems from a lot of conversations. I love brainstorming. I love brainstorming with this dude. we’ll just sit in a room, just come up with ideas and say, like, how? What can we do to to take what we have in the story and have every element support the story.
John: Behind everything that we love about, you know, our childhood, all the Japanese pop culture references and stuff, and working with ILM, taking on the challenge to really like, explore this unique style or, you know, what was, what we hope and it’s something that hasn’t been achieved before. But ILM was willing to take that on, take on that challenge and to really develop it and really honour that vision And it was just… Magic. Because literally like in their name, I L M right. And, yeah, they, they put in all the love and passion into it.
Check out the full trailer below:
The film was produced in partnership with Netflix, Tsuburaya Productions, and Industrial Light & Magic, Ultraman: Rising is written by Shannon Tindle and Marc Haimes, directed by Shannon Tindle, and co-directed by John Aoshima. The film will also feature original songs from Diplo & Oliver Tree and Alicia Creti.
Starring in Ultraman: Rising are Christopher Sean (Ken Sato/Ultraman), Gedde Watanabe (Professor Sato), Tamlyn Tomita (Emiko), Keone Young (Dr. Onda), Julia Harriman (Ami).
