Picture it: You’ve been hired to make a Godzilla movie. There have been dozens of Godzilla films, TV shows and video games before, and now it’s your turn to add something to the franchise. What scene do you put in the movie? What’s the first, most important thing that comes to mind?

Most of us will never get to make a Godzilla movie, but director Michael Dougherty did. When Bloody-Disgusting sat down with the filmmaker to talk about his new film Godzilla: King of the Monsters (read my review), we asked what scene he always wanted to put in a Godzilla movie.

MAJOR SPOILERS ahead.

“Okay, so there’s a key moment when a particular character has a very intimate scene with Godzilla. And by ‘intimate’ I don’t mean romantic!” Dougherty laughed.

“But there’s a very emotional and meaningful moment that a human character and Godzilla share together, and that’s something that I’ve always wanted to see in a Godzilla film, and it happens in a very special environment that we’ve never seen in any Godzilla movie.”

If you’ve seen the film, you know the scene: Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) ventures into Godzilla’s underwater lair to set off a nuclear bomb, healing Godzilla so the titan can rise up and defeat his nemesis Ghidorah, and save the world. In the moments before the bomb explodes, Watanabe shares a moment of human connection with Godzilla.

It’s a scene that carries odd significance. Earlier in the film, Dr. Serizawa suggested that mankind should become Godzilla’s pets, and now here he is, atop a pyramid, in an ancient city which – if the statues of Godzilla are any indication – once belonged to a culture who worshiped the monster as a god.

And no, it’s probably not Atlantis.

“I am fascinated with lost civilizations, [like in] Chariots of the Gods,” Dougherty said. “Just the basic theory that there might have been a race of people that predates our own civilization, and Atlantis is one example of those lost cities. So this spot isn’t necessarily Atlantis. Who’s the say? It’s meant to provoke more questions than answers. But it definitely is meant to represent a civilization that one point co-existed with Godzilla and the titans, and probably mastered a way of living in balance with them.”

“I love the idea that these creatures were worshipped by people at some point in history,” Dougherty added. “Kong clearly has his worshippers, has his cult on Skull Island. Mothra has hers. So it’s already interwoven, it’s already part of the Godzilla legacy and DNA. I just like that in this movie we get to explore that a little bit more.”

You can explore the history of these monsters – or at least watch them fight – in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, in theaters now.