We just lost a Godzilla legend today 😔🕊️
Veteran Japanese suit actor Kazuhiro Yoshida has passed away at 56. Yoshida spent roughly four decades working in action and suit performance.
Kaiju fans will know him best from Godzilla: Final Wars, where he stepped inside the suits of not one, but two classic monsters: Gigan and Hedorah. He later portrayed the title creature in Geharha: The Dark and Long Haired Monster.
Away from movie sets, Yoshida also brought heroism into the real world through Ganbari Alpha, a Fukuoka-based local hero he began performing as in 2021.
The character became part of community events, cleanups, and visits to elderly residents, giving Yoshida another way to use suit acting to make people smile.
Rest in peace, Kazuhiro Yoshida. The face may have been hidden beneath the suit, but the performance inside helped make the monsters unforgettable. 🕊️
At 82, George Lucas opens up about the decision that changed the future of Star Wars.
In a new interview about the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Lucas reflected on the decision he made more than a decade ago to step away from filmmaking.
He explained that retiring was a major decision because he still had "three more Star Wars to make." But Lucas realized that continuing to make movies would take years of his life, and he wanted to devote that time to creating the museum he had spent years developing.
Those three films refer to the sequel trilogy Lucas had been developing, Episodes VII, VIII and IX, before he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012. His planned versions ultimately were not the stories used for Disney's sequel trilogy.
So while Lucas retired from filmmaking years ago, his new comments offer a fascinating look at what he was giving up when he made that choice.
He had created the galaxy far, far away. He could have continued shaping it.
Instead, he chose to spend his time building a completely different kind of legacy.
Three more Star Wars films were left behind, but George Lucas chose to tell a different story with the rest of his time.