Millie Bobby Brown used to battling monsters

Millie Bobby Brown at the Los Angeles premiere of Godzilla: King of The Monsters. Photo / AP

Millie Bobby Brown may use brute force against demon monsters in Stranger Things, but the teenage actor relies more on intelligence to outsmart the 150m-tall behemoths in the new Godzilla film.

Brown plays Madison Russell, 14-year-old daughter of scientists, in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

"The characters are completely different. One's got superpowers, and one doesn't," said Brown, who portrays the mysterious Eleven, who wields telekinetic superpowers in the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters, in New Zealand cinemas now, is the first starring film role for the Briton.

Vera Farmiga, who plays Madison's mother Dr Emma Russell, called Brown a professional who made the jump from TV to the big screen in a "confident stride".

"She's an old pro at it," Farmiga said of the 15-year-old Brown. "She's a student. If she wasn't on screen, she was at the screen, like looking at the different ratios of film and studying everything. She's a quick study."

Godzilla: King of Monsters is a follow-up to 2014's Godzilla reboot and the 35th film in the franchise that began in 1954. The sequel highlights the battle between Godzilla and other monstrous creatures called the titans.

Brown said director Michael Dougherty helped her evolve in scenes where her character had to grow from being "pretty simple" to "complicated". She will also star in the sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong, which recently wrapped up filming and is expected to be released next year.

The films are part of Warner Bros' MonsterVerse featuring Godzilla and King Kong, which underwent his own big-screen makeover in 2017's Kong: Skull Island.

Brown said the new Godzilla film was a culmination of the cinematic legacy of the radiation-spewing reptilian monster, which she jokingly called "a bit of a diva. Hard to work with occasionally, but all right."

O'Shea Jackson jnr, who plays a military officer, as a child would park in front of the television and watch Godzilla movies with his father, rapper Ice Cube, and brother and uncle.

"I was born to play in this film," he said giddily during a recent interview.

Dougherty said the new film was sort of a passion project because he had been a Godzilla fan since he was a boy.

"I grew up with the guy. I feel like I've been best friends with Godzilla since I was old enough to walk," said Dougherty, who also co-wrote the film.

- AP