Director Cole Bennett, who helmed the video for Eminem and Juice Wrld’s “Godzilla” collaboration, penned an emotional Instagram post on Thursday (July 30), not long after he’d learned the visual is nominated for Video of the Year at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards.
In the caption, he raved about working with Slim Shady and was admittedly blown away by his tireless work ethic. He also spoke about how powerful the tribute to Juice Wrld was toward the end of the video and is thrilled the later rapper is getting the recognition he feels he deserves.
“The godzilla video got nominated for video of the year for the @vmas,” he wrote. “I could really cry. this is one of the most amazing feelings. to share this moment with juice is beautiful & easily the best part about this whole moment. im so happy to see juice finally get recognized by a big award show. he deserves this moment more than anyone! he guided me through this whole video, I felt him every step of the way.
“& man, working with eminem was one of the most surreal moments ever. he is the most humble, hard working super star there is. he was on set before anyone on 2 straight 14 hour days. it inspired me and pushed our whole crew to go as hard as we could.”
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Bennett went on to thank his “unstoppable crew” who worked on the “Godzilla” video, writing, “without them, this isn’t anywhere near possible. thank you world and congratulations to everyone involved on this project. this is all of our moment! go vote at the link in my bio 🙂 I love you all.”
“Godzilla” comes from Em’s latest album Music To Be Murdered By,which arrived in January. Juice died only a month before in December 2019 after suffering an accidental overdose at the ripe age of 21 and “Godzilla” served as his first posthumous release.
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The song peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and saw success overseas as well, debuting at No. 1 in Finland and on both the U.K. Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart, becoming Eminem’s 10th and eighth No. 1 single in the UK and Ireland, respectively.
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It also spawned the #GodzillaChallenge, which found countless aspiring rappers attempting to rap the 224 words and their 330 total syllables in just 31 seconds found in one of Em’s last verses. Meanwhile, the album itself debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA in February.
The video for “Godzilla” features Em downing a bottle of “Godzilla Whiskey” as he raps about how alcohol can turn him into a monster. He eventually gets punched in the face by Mike Tyson and then must head to the hospital where Dr. Dre plays (of course) a doctor alongside an Eminem clone.
Revisit the visual below.
