Production
Kenpachiro Satsuma, the actor who played Hedorah, was struck with appendicitis during the production. Doctors were forced to perform the appendectomy while he was still wearing the Hedorah suit, due to the length of time it took to take off. During the operation, Satsuma learned that painkillers have no effect on him.
On a side note, this was the first (and only) time we see Godzilla fly under his own power. He uses his atomic ray as jet propulsion. Director Banno reportedly added the scene to provide a light moment in what is otherwise a fairly dark film compared to many of those which preceded it.
Yoshimitsu Banno was so pleased with Hedorah that he started writing another Godzilla film after wrapping his first entry in the long-running series. A unnamed project, dubbed Godzilla vs. Hitodah on the site, was his first attempt, but he abandoned it in favor of a direct sequel to his 1971 Godzilla film called Godzilla vs. Hedorah 2. However, Tomoyuki Tanaka, who was hospitalized during the production of Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), was extremely dissatisfied with the final product and went as far as to tell Banno that he had "ruined Godzilla!" So Tanaka immediately barred Banno from making another Godzilla film. In fact, Banno was never allowed to direct another Toho film again, reduced to assistant director for Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) and as overseer of the animated TV show Cashan: Robot Hunter (1988).
According to Banno though, from later interviews conducted with him, Godzilla vs. Hedorah 2 was actually still being worked on after he was removed from the project. Although who the new director would have been is unknown, but Jun Fukuda seems the most likely candidate considering that he would step up to direct the next three Godzilla films. If the film was going to keep its Africa setting at this stage is not known. The project was eventually scrapped, and three more proposed projects would be introduced that following year before finally settling on Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972).
Read more about this topic: Godzilla Vs. Hedorah
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