'Godzilla' director Gareth Edwards explains why monsters still matter

The last two Godzilla trailers have given us a hint of what's to come in the upcoming film, and at SXSW a small audience got the best look yet at the new monster. After a screening of the original 1954 Japanese film, director Gareth Edwards introduced an extended sequence — still with some unfinished visual effects — in which the new Godzilla lays waste to Hawaii before squaring off against another giant monster. The morning after we sat down with the filmmaker to talk about the design of the new beast, how his film ties into the rest of the franchise, and what viewers can expect from the movie's opening scene when the film is released on May 16th.