Godzilla: 20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know
15. The Creators Were Suspected For Terrorism
The director of the first film, Ishiro Honda, was in regular discussions with the special effects developer, Eiji Tsuburaya, to ensure they were on the same page about every scene. Since nothing of this scale had ever been attempted before in Japan, the filmmakers had to be incredibly thorough while planning out Godzilla's attacks on Tokyo.
During pre-production, Honda and Tsuburaya were on top of a skyscraper discussing how Godzilla’s path of destruction should unfold. Some passerbys heard part of the men's conversation and assumed the filmmakers were planning a terrorist attack.
You must understand that this film was released less than a decade before the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were wiped out by atomic bombs so it cannot be emphasised how terrified the Japanese people were of a similar attack occurring again.
When the police were called on Tsuburaya and Honda, they had to explain that they were talking about an upcoming film that they were working on. Since a monster movie had never been made before in Japan, I'll imagine it was pretty hard to convince the cops they were telling the truth.