Keizo Murase
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Keizo Murase (村瀬 継蔵 Murase Keizō) was a Japanese suitmaker and the president of Twenty Ltd. His long career began in 1957, when he was hired as a part-timer at Toho, and continued up until his death with the 2024 film Brush of the God, his directorial debut. After working for Daiei on Gamera the Giant Monster in 1965 he, Masao Yagi, and Toru Suzuki founded the modeling company Ex Productions, which he left in 1972 to form Twenty. Murase was also an amateur photographer and extensively documented his work; the pictures he took were collected into the 2015 book Monster Maker: Keizo Murase - Treasured KAIJU Photobook.[4] Murase passed away at age 89 on October 14, 2024, due to decompensated cirrhosis.[3]
Selected filmography
- Note: All work in the first two headings is uncredited unless noted otherwise.
Modeling assistant
- The H-Man (1958)[1]
- Varan (1958)
- The Three Treasures (1959)
- Mothra (1961)
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
- Gorath (1962)
- Matango (1963)
- Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
- Dogora (1964)
- Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
- Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965)
- Ultra Q (TV 1966)
- Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
Modeler
- Gamera the Giant Monster (1965)
- Return of Daimajin (1966)
- Wrath of Daimajin (1966)
- Monster Booska (TV 1966-1967)
- Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)
- Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
- Gamera vs. Viras (1968)
- Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (1968)
- Feng Shen Bang (1969) [credited][b]
- A Valiant Villain (1969)
- Ultraman Ace (TV 1972-1973)
- Zone Fighter (TV 1973)
- Kure Kure Takora (TV 1973-1974)
- Go! Greenman (TV 1973-1974)
- Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
- The Snake Prince (1976)
- The Mighty Peking Man (1977)[c]
- The Cat (1991) [credited in Japanese version][d]
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
- Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) [credited][e]
- Howl from Beyond the Fog (2019) [credited][f]
Actor
- The Mighty Peking Man (1977) as Peking Man [one stunt; uncredited]
- Thus 11 Samurai Fought! Making Against the Pekingman (DVD 2004) as himself, interviewee
- "Modeler Keizo Murase Interview: Part 1" and "...Part 2" (DVD 2019) as himself, interviewee
- Howl from Beyond the Fog (2019)
Miscellaneous
- Iké Boys (2021) - Ikenjer Warrior suit effect coordinator
- Brush of the God (2024) - Director / original story / modeling supervisor
Selected bibliography
- The Pictorial Book of Godzilla (1995) - Writer [section "Memories of the Special Art Era"]
- Monster Maker: Keizo Murase - Treasured KAIJU Photobook (2015) - Author
Modeled monsters
- Varan [back] (Varan)
- Yamata no Orochi [necks] (The Three Treasures)
- Mothra [larva details, imago eyes and wings] (Mothra)
- Godzilla [skin], King Kong [full-sized arm] (King Kong vs. Godzilla)
- Maguma [tusks] (Gorath)
- Matango (Matango)
- Mothra [larva finishing] (Mothra vs. Godzilla)
- Dogora (Dogora)
- Godzilla [claws, teeth, tails], King Ghidorah [necks, paint] (Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster)
- Frankenstein [forehead], Baragon [back], Giant Octopus (Frankenstein vs. Baragon)
- Gamera (Gamera the Giant Monster)
- Gomess (Ultra Q)
- Daimajin (Return of Daimajin, Wrath of Daimajin)
- Booska (Monster Booska)
- Ebirah (Ebirah, Horror of the Deep)
- Gyaos [paint] (Gamera vs. Gyaos)
- Yonggary (Yongary, Monster from the Deep)
- Viras (Gamera vs. Viras)
- Karakasakozo (Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters)
- Ao Guang's subjects (Feng Shen Bang)
- Tiger, sea serpent (A Valiant Villain)
- Verokron, Vakishim, Giron Man (Ultraman Ace)
- Wargilgar (Zone Fighter)
- All monsters (Kure Kure Takora)
- Greenman (Go! Greenman)
- Titanosaurus (Terror of Mechagodzilla)
- Giant snake (The Snake Prince)
- Peking Man (The Mighty Peking Man)
- King Ghidorah, Mecha-King Ghidorah (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah)
- Mothra (Godzilla vs. Mothra)
- Nebula (Howl from Beyond the Fog)
Gallery
Murase (third from right) on the set of Frankenstein vs. Baragon
Murase with a model of Varan
Murase (right) with Tomoo Haraguchi and Akira Inoue
Keizo Murase with Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki in 2023
External links
- 2017 interview with Chris Mirjahangir for Toho Kingdom
- 2018 interview with Brett Homenick
- 2019 interview with Nicholas Driscoll for Toho Kingdom
Notes
- ↑ Multiple sources, including his own book, list Murase's birth year as 1933.[1] However, according to his associate Daisuke Sato, this is incorrect and Murase was in fact born in 1935. Murase thus celebrated his 88th birthday in 2023.[2]
- ↑ Credited as "special effects modeler" (特撮造型) with Yoshito Komatsu.
- ↑ Though uncredited in the Hong Kong version, the U.S. version Goliathon credits Murase with Sadamasa Arikawa as "Special Effects Supervisor."
- ↑ Credited as "special modeler" (特殊造型).
- ↑ Despite leading the team who created Mothra's props, Murase is only credited as a modeling assistant; Tomoki Kobayashi, head of the modeling department at Toho Eizo Bijutsu (which was in charge of Godzilla's props), is given sole modeler credit. This approach would be abandoned with subsequent Heisei films, which credited the teams in charge of each monster as "[monster name] modelers."
- ↑ Credited as "monster modeler" (怪獣造形).
References
This is a list of references for Keizo Murase. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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Bibliography
- Murase, Keizo (24 September 2015). Monster Maker: Keizo Murase - Treasured KAIJU Photobook. Yosensha. ISBN 978-4-8003-0756-9.
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