Takashi Yamazaki (山崎 貴, Yamazaki Takashi, born June 12, 1964) is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters with advanced visual effects, Yamazaki is considered a leading filmmaker in the Japanese film industry. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including 12 Japanese Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, one Golden Globe Award and three Academy Awards. His films have collectively grossed over $2.2 billion worldwide.
Yamazaki developed an interest in filmmaking and visual effects after watching Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (both 1977). Starting his career in the industry at Shirogumi in 1986, he later made his feature film debut with Juvenile (2000). After directing Returner (2002), Yamazaki gained recognition with his third film, Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), which won twelve awards at the 29th Japanese Academy Awards. He then moved onto direct several film adaptations of popular anime, novels, and manga, including Space Battleship Yamato (2010), Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki (2011), The Eternal Zero (2013), and Stand by Me Doraemon (2014) respectively; the latter two films earned a total of nine awards at the 38th Japanese Academy Awards. These were followed by Parasyte (2014), Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate (2016), The Great War of Archimedes (2019), Dragon Quest: Your Story (2019), Lupin III: The First (2019), Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (2020), and Yokaipedia (2022).
Yamazaki's first Godzilla film, Godzilla Minus One, was released in Japan in November 3, 2023 and in the United States the next month, on December 1. In 2024, he and his team became the first Japanese production crew ever to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. He would go on to make a two sequels: Godzilla Plus Two, where he would again win an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, in addition to winning Best Director and being nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay with his wife, Shimako Sato (and the film also winning Best Picture), and Godzilla: The Power of Three, which he would again be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. He would co-write the story for the fourth and final film of Godzilla's Reiwa series, Godzilla: Synthetic Division. He would not serve as director and visual effects supervisor, having those duties held by Kiyoko Shibuya.
Yamazaki would go onto direct, co-write and VFX supervise the Stars Wars film, Monster Planet: A Star Wars Story, his first feature film in Hollywood, where he would again be nominated for Best Visual Effects. It became his highest-grossing film, earning $618.8 million at the box office against a $150 million budget. He went onto write and VFX supervise Gareth Edwards's 2037 kaiju film, Foodlosslla. His next directorial feature would be Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato, where he would be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Visual Effects. It grossed $498.3 million against a budget of $119 million.
Selected filmography[]
- This section will focus specifically on select films that are well-known only. For the full list, click here.
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | VFX supervisor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Always: Sunset on Third Street | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote with Ryota Kosawa |
| 2007 | Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2010 | Space Battleship Yamato | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2012 | Always: Sunset on Third Street '64 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2013 | The Eternal Zero | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote with Tamio Hayashi |
| 2014 | Stand by Me Doraemon | Yes | Yes | No | Co-directed with Ryuichi Yagi |
| Parasyte: Part 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote with Ryota Kosawa | |
| 2015 | Parasyte: Part 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2019 | The Great War of Archimedes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2020 | Stand by Me Doraemon 2 | Yes | Yes | No | Co-directed with Ryuichi Yagi |
| 2023 | Godzilla Minus One | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2027 | Godzilla Plus Two | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote with Shimako Sato |
| 2031 | Godzilla: The Power of Three | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote screenplay with Ryota Kosawa Co-wrote story with Shimako Sato |
| 2034 | Godzilla: Synthetic Division | No | Story | No | Co-wrote story with Shimako Sato |
| 2035 | Monster Planet: A Star Wars Story | Yes | Story | Yes | Co-wrote story with Dave Filoni |
| 2037 | Foodlosslla | No | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote screenplay with Dave Callaham and Tony Gilroy Co-wrote story with Gareth Edwards VFX supervisor for Shirogumi only |
| 2041 | Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-wrote with James Cameron and Josh Friedman Also producer |
Directorial reception[]
| Year | Title | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Cinemascore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Godzilla Minus One | 98% (171 reviews) | 81 (35 reviews) | A |
| 2027 | Godzilla Plus Two | 95% (194 reviews) | 80 (44 reviews) | A+ |
| 2031 | Godzilla: The Power of Three | 79% (220 reviews) | 68 (51 reviews) | A |
| 2035 | Monster Planet: A Star Wars Story | 81% (407 reviews) | 64 (65 reviews) | A- |
| 2041 | Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato | 89% (465 reviews) | 74 (73 reviews) | A |
Notable awards and nominations[]
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | |||
| 2024 | Best Visual Effects | Godzilla Minus One | Won |
| 2028 | Best Director | Godzilla Plus Two | Won |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | ||
| Best Visual Effects | Won | ||
| 2032 | Godzilla: The Power of Three | Nominated | |
| 2036 | Monster Planet: A Star Wars Story | Nominated | |
| 2042 | Best Picture | Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato | Nominated |
| Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Best Visual Effects | Nominated | ||
| BAFTA Awards | |||
| 2028 | Best Film Not in the English Language | Godzilla Plus Two | Won |
| Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Best Special Visual Effects | Nominated | ||
| 2036 | Monster Planet: A Star Wars Story | Nominated | |
| 2042 | Best Film | Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato | Nominated |
| Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Best Special Visual Effects | Won | ||
| Japanese Film Academy Awards | |||
| 2006 | Picture of the Year | Always: Sunset on Third Street | Won |
| Best Director | Won | ||
| Best Screenplay | Won | ||
| 2008 | Picture of the Year | Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 | Nominated |
| Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Best Screenplay | Nominated | ||
| 2013 | Best Animated Picture | Friends: Naki on the Monster Island | Nominated |
| 2014 | Picture of the Year | The Eternal Zero | Won |
| Best Director | Won | ||
| Best Screenplay | Nominated | ||
| 2020 | Best Animated Picture | Stand by Me Doraemon 2 | Nominated |
| 2024 | Picture of the Year | Godzilla Minus One | Won |
| Best Director | Nominated | ||
| Best Screenplay | Won | ||
| 2028 | Picture of the Year | Godzilla Plus Two | Won |
| Best Director | Won | ||
| Best Screenplay | Nominated | ||
| 2032 | Picture of the Year | Godzilla: The Power of Three | Nominated |
| Best Director | Nominated | ||
| 2036 | Best Foreign Language Film | Monster Planet: A Star Wars Story | Nominated |
| 2042 | Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato | Won | |
| Visual Effects Society Awards | |||
| 2024 | Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature | Godzilla Minus One | Nominated |
| 2028 | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | Godzilla Plus Two | Nominated |
| Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature (Godzilla) | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature (Anguirus) | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature | Won | ||
| 2032 | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | Godzilla: The Power of Three | Nominated |
| Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature | Nominated | ||
| 2036 | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | Monster Planet: A Star Wars Story | Nominated |
| Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature | Nominated | ||
| 2042 | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature | Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato | Won |
| Outstanding Model in a Photoreal Feature | Won | ||