Cole Bennett reveals Dr. Dre wasn’t originally in his plan to feature on Eminem’s “Godzilla”.
A couple of years ago, Eminem released his album “Music To Be Murdered By”, which featured a fan favourite “Godzilla” collab with Juice WRLD. The song also arrived with a creative music video, which was directed by Lyrical Lemonade’s Cole Bennett.
The Young director now made an appearance on Full Send Podcast, where he recalled the surreal feeling of working with Eminem, and how Dr. Dre was added in the video at the last minute. “That was actually really crazy. I got a call that Eminem wants me to do this music video,” he said. “I’ll never forget, I got the call at night time, and I was, “I’m gonna write it as soon as I’m awake”. I went to bed, I woke up at 7 a.m., and I had turned in the treatment by 10 a.m. I just wrote it in three hours. It just happened. It was like an essay. It was six to eight pages, no photos. I just wrote it all out and sent it over, hopped on the phone with him, and he loved everything about it. I remember one thing. I wrote in the treatment that Mike Tyson knocks him out, but I was like, if we can’t get Mike Tyson, then maybe, I don’t know, Hulk Hogan. I was just throwing other names there, but he’s like, “No, we’ve got to get Mike Tyson”. I was like, okay, now I have how to figure out how to get Mike Tyson. But we figured it out.”
He continued, “I’ll never forget when I got to set that day, it was the most unreal feeling. Eminem got there, he was first on set. He was there for 14 hours, two days in a row. At the beginning of the second day, I got word that Dr. Dre was going to be there if I wanted to put him in the video. So I had to find a way to get Dr. Dre in there. We already had a scene of Eminem getting knocked out by Mike Tyson and them going to the hospital. So Dr. Dre as the doctor worked out perfectly. But being in that room, giving direction to Eminem, Dr. Dre and Mike Tyson, was such a surreal feeling.”
Cole Bennett on Directing Around Eminem, Mike Tyson and Dr. Dre Filming the Godzilla Music Video🎬 pic.twitter.com/5B0ZLd3p7B
— Full Send Podcast (@fullsendpodcast) September 16, 2022
The song was a huge success in the United States and Europe, and the music video currently has over 500 million views on Youtube. As of August 8, 2021, the song has sold more than 5 million copies, being eligible for 5 times platinum in the US.
The song achieved international success as well, peaking at No. 1 in Finland, the U.K. Singles Chart, and the Irish Singles Chart, respectively. This was Eminem’s tenth and eighth No. 1 hit in the UK and Ireland.
Em consumes a bottle of “Godzilla Whiskey” while rapping on how booze may transform him into a monstrous creature in the music video for “Godzilla.” After being struck in the face by Mike Tyson, he finally needs medical attention, so he is taken to the hospital, where Dr. Dre, of course, plays a doctor, and is there with an impersonator of Eminem.
Check out the interview below.
