2018’s Pacific Rim: Uprising was the sequel to the popular 2013 film, Pacific Rim. It starred John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona and Zhang Jin, with Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman. It was also writer and director Steven S. DeKnight’s first full-feature-length directorial film. While 2013’s Pacific Rim is regarded as a fan favorite, its sequel didn’t hit the mark for everyone. In an interview between DeKnight and The Filmmaking and Fandom Station (@KingdomKid90 and @ImAFilmEditor), DeKnight talked about some behind the scenes factoids. What did and didn’t make it into the film.
Spoilers
Keep in mind, this interview is from two years ago, but offers some cool information for Pacific Rim fans. DeKnight wrote the film alongside Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, and T.S. Nowlin. DeKnight took over for Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro directed the original and was a producer on the sequel – alongside Boyega, who made his producer debut.
What Was Originally Planned for Mako
One of the first things that DeKnight touches upon is the death of Mako Mori, who was a fan favorite. Played by Rinko Kikuchi. DeKnight does confirm that Mako was always supposed to die, but it doesn’t mean it would be the last time. He also said that she was meant to be in more scenes and there was going to be a huge funeral scene that could not happen.
“Director’s Cut”
DeKnight touched upon something in this interview where he mentioned that “unless you’re Spielberg” the director will never have all of the say. In today’s day, where the demand of “director’s cut” is huge, fans should understand that the studios do have a say as well. Considering they’re the ones shelling out the money for the film. It’s because of this that DeKnight says there were changes to his original script, as well as revamps. Keep in mind, they also test these scripts and scenes on audiences to see what can stick.
Raleigh Was Meant to Be In It
Back to Mako. Why was she not a pilot anymore? According to DeKnight, this could have been to radiation poisoning. In fact, Raleigh was meant to die of radiation poisoning in the original script. DeKnight recalls that Charlie Hunnam, who played Raleigh in the first film; was meant to be in the sequel. In fact, DeKnight and Hunnam had met to discuss this. And Hunnam was on board. Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts prevented this from happening and DeKnight had to rework quite a bit of the script.
DeKnight also says that several scenes were cut out after the glacier scene. Particularly one that involved a forklift, where a tentacle popped out. Which, was revealed as a kaiju’s brain. No pilot found. A scene of the facility being destroyed was cut out. AND the Obsidian Fury would be revealed as custom built.
There was all of that information and more, which you can listen to here:
What did you think of Pacific Rim: Uprising?
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