Person

Takao Okawara

Directing · Born 1949-12-20 · Tokyo, Japan

Takao Okawara (born December 20, 1949, in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese film director, writer and producer. Most famous for his entries in the Heisei Godzilla series, Takao Okawara joined Tōhō in 1973, but would not get his first shot in the director's chair until 1980, when he joined Akira Kurosawa and Ishirō Honda on the film Kagemusha (1980). Four years later, he worked as an assistant director for the first Godzilla film of the Heisei series: The Return of Godzilla (1984). Okawara debuted as primary director seven years later on the film Reiko, the Psyche Resurrected (1991), which he also wrote. Okawara is the oldest living Godzilla film director. With Kazuki Omori's death in 2022, he also became the last living director of any pre-Millennium Godzilla movie.

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  Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

  Director

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  Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

  Director

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  Godzilla vs. Mothra

  Director

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  Godzilla 2000: Millennium

  Director

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  The Return of Godzilla

  First Assistant Director

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  Kagemusha

  Assistant Director

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  Godzilla 1985

  First Assistant Director

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  Submersion of Japan

  Assistant Director

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  The Gate of Youth Part 2

  Assistant Director

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  Human Revolution II

  Assistant Director

• 2010Making of Godzilla vs. MothraHimself
• 1999Godzilla 2000: MillenniumDirector
• 1997AbductionDirector
• 1995Godzilla vs. DestoroyahDirector
• 1994Orochi, the Eight-Headed DragonDirector
• 1993Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla IIDirector
• 1992Godzilla vs. MothraDirector
• 1991Reiko, the Psyche ResurrectedDirector
• 1987The Goodbye GirlsAssistant Director
• 1985Godzilla 1985First Assistant Director
• 1984The Return of GodzillaFirst Assistant Director
• 1982The Longest TunnelAssistant Director
• 1981The Imperial NavyAssistant Director
• 1981The Last Days of Planet EarthAssistant Director
• 1980KagemushaAssistant Director
• 1977The Gate of Youth Part 2Assistant Director
• 1976Zero FighterAssistant Director
• 1976Human Revolution IIAssistant Director
• 1975Tidal WaveAssistant Director
• 1975The Gate of YouthAssistant Director
• 1974Prophecies of NostradamusAssistant Director
• 1973Submersion of JapanAssistant Director