Edwards, a resident of the United Kingdom, got his start working as a visual effects artist on BBC Television’s Heroes and Villains. After winning a London-based festival competition that tasks aspiring filmmakers to create—from scratch—a short film over the span of two days, Edwards moved onto the indie film for which he’s best known up to this point: Monsters.
　　英國居民愛德華斯的（生涯）起步是在BBC電視臺的《英雄列傳》中擔任視覺特效師。愛德華斯在一次倫敦電影競賽中獲獎，該競賽要求躊躇滿志的制片者們在兩天的時間內（從零開始）制作一部短片；此后他轉向獨立電影，其迄今最為人熟知的便是：《怪獸》。

　　Made on with small budget of less than $500,000, Monsters saw Edwards pulling a multitude of duties behind the camera. Not only did he serve as the writer and director of his first feature, he’s also credited as Monsters’ director of photography, production designer, and naturally, visual effects artist. In fact, he put the film’s visuals together working with consumer grade software from his home.
　　《怪獸》以少于50萬美元的有限預算制作完成，可想愛德華斯在鏡頭背后的身兼多職。他不僅在自己的處女作中擔任編劇與導演，而且還掛職《怪獸》的攝影指導、后期設計師，自然也是視覺效果工程師。事實上，他是在家中用消費者級別的軟件對影片做了視覺效果處理。

　　Comprised of only two actors and a handful of crew members, the production size of Monsters was just as modest as its budget. Grassroots filmmaking at its finest, the movie earned positive reviews from critics, a half-dozen British Independent Film Awards nominations, a strong return-on-investment for backer Vertigo Films, and of course, bigger opportunities for Edwards—namely, the chance to helm this year’s Godzilla reboot.
　　《怪獸》僅有兩名演員和少數劇組工作人員，其制作規模與其預算一般秀氣。該電影將草根電影制作到極致，贏得評論家的積極評價，6個英國獨立電影獎項提名，為贊助商Vertigo Films賺取豐厚的投資回報率，當然也為愛德華斯爭取到更大的機會，換言之，執掌今年重啟的《哥斯拉》項目。

　　However, if Edwards’ trajectory is one of the upward kind, the Japanese creature’s hasn’t been so in many years.
　　然而，如果說愛德華斯的事業是蓬勃向上的，但這頭日本怪獸在許多年間可非一帆風順。

　　1954’s original Godzilla from Toho Company, Ltd. still represents one of the most iconic films of the 20th Century, as well as one of Japan’s most influential contributions to global film culture. Directed by Ishirō Honda, the genesis of the original film’s titular monster is often credited as a thematic allegory for Japan’s cultural mood following the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, shortly before the end of World War II. In the original film, Godzilla and his attack were portrayed as terrors created by nature in the wake of mankind’s pursuit—and success—in splitting the atom.
　　1954年來自東寶股份有限公司的原版《哥斯拉》仍是20世紀最具代表性的電影之一，也是日本對全球電影文化最具影響力的貢獻之一。由本多豬四郎導演，被用作原版電影片名的怪獸，其起源通常被視為1945年二戰結束前不久遭受廣島與長崎核毀滅之后的日本文化意境的主題性寓言。在原版電影中，哥斯拉和它的攻擊被描繪成人類追求核裂變——并取得成功——之后大自然造成的恐怖。

　　Unfortunately, the darker and deeper metaphors of the original movie were lost in following decades. Toho produced sequel after sequel, steadily in favor of lighter tones that appealed to younger viewers (such as 1967’s Son of Godzilla). The creature went through several evolutions as an anti-hero, often defending humanity only when he deemed it the lesser of two evils when facing other monsters that threatened Godzilla himself. Entries like 1984’s The Return of Godzilla attempted to correct the course along the way by reintroducing the original film’s themes, but ultimately the direction of the franchise proved unstable.
　　不幸的是，原版電影中的這個陰郁深刻的隱喻在接下來的幾十年里消失殆盡。東寶制作一部接一部的續集，穩步地轉變為較輕松的基調吸引年輕觀眾（比如1967年的《怪獸島決戰：哥斯拉之子》）。這個怪物作為反英雄通過幾輪演變，往往只有當哥斯拉面臨其他怪獸自身受到威脅時會兩害取其輕而去保衛人類，。1984年的《戰龍哥斯拉之怪獸王復活》試圖通過重新引入原本主題糾正路線，但最終系列的方向還是搖擺不定。

　　Of course, in 1998, director Roland Emmerich followed up the massive global success of his Independence Day with the first Americanized take on the world’s most famous monster (Sony had obtained producing rights from Toho in the early 1990s). Emmerich’s Godzilla earned a disappointing $379 million worldwide against a high price tag of $190 million (including estimated costs for prints and advertising). Overseas numbers were decent enough for the time, but domestic audiences rejected the movie. After a $44 million opening weekend, word of mouth killed the film’s potential for summer legs and quickly ended Sony’s plans for a franchise.
　　當然，在1998年，導演羅蘭·艾默里奇緊隨其《獨立日》的轟動性全球成功之后，接手哥斯拉成為世界最知名怪獸的首部美國化嘗試（索尼在90年代初從東寶公司獲得制作權）。艾默里奇的《哥斯拉》賺得令人失望的3.79億美元全球票房，與其高價成本1.9億美元（包括印刷品和廣告預算成本）不成比例。海外票房當時看來還算體面，但（北美）國內觀眾拒絕這部電影。在4400萬美元首映周后，口碑淹沒了影片在夏季中旬的潛力，并迅速打消了索尼對這一系列的計劃。

Fortunately for Gareth Edwards, Sony allowed its rights to expire five years after the failed blockbuster attempt. Following 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, Toho itself abandoned the pursuit of more Godzilla pics.
　　加里斯·愛德華斯很幸運，索尼在這次巨資嘗試流產五年之后任由其版權過期。繼2004年《哥斯拉：最后決戰》后，東寶自己也放棄了哥斯拉更多電影的追求。

　　Enter Legendary Pictures.
　　傳奇影業接手

　　The emerging studio, in the middle of a box office hot streak through its partnership with Warner Bros., jumped at the chance to purchase the rights from Toho in early 2010. Within two years, Legendary and WB officially announced an entirely new take on the franchise.
　　這家新興的工作室，與其合作伙伴華納兄弟影業在票房上屢戰屢勝，在2010年初抓住機會買下東寶公司的版權。不出兩年，傳奇影業與華納兄弟影業便正式宣布該系列的全新重啟。

　　Enter Gareth Edwards.
　　加里斯·愛德華斯加盟

　　Principal photography on the new Godzilla commenced in March 2013, wrapping three months later. Edwards and his team worked quickly to get the film ready and the effort is paying off. Godzilla earned nearly $200 million during its first weekend of global release. Moviegoers around the world are responding with enthusiasm, which means that Godzilla should easily hit $500 million globally. The film is also generating a lot of revenue on IMAX screens. Godzilla currently holds the record for biggest North American IMAX opening with an impressive $14.1 million.
　　新版《哥斯拉》主要拍攝始于2013年3月，3個月后收尾。愛德華斯與其團隊速戰速決，這一努力大見成效。《哥斯拉》在全球首映周賺得2億美元票房。世界各地的觀眾均熱情響應，這意味著《哥斯拉》應該能輕松贏得5億美元全球票房。電影在IMAX銀幕的上映同時也收獲頗豐。《哥斯拉》目前保持著北美IMAX首映1410萬美元這一令人難忘的最高紀錄。

明星渡邊謙與導演加里斯·愛德華斯在《哥斯拉》片場