Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 14: Monster Actors, Godzilla's Leading Role
"Oh, it's so beautiful! I can't even imagine how good this leather suit would look on you."

Narita Heng held the draft and marveled at Gu Ming.

He still couldn't forget the design he was most satisfied with.

Adding lights, changing eyes, etc. are all compromises made for filming and are unavoidable situations.

"There's still some time before the official filming, A-Ming. If you have time recently, you can come to Wangu more often during the day. After all, you're still a beginner, and you need to get used to the camera's shooting methods, the work of the suit actors, and so on. You can communicate more with other suit actors. After all..."

After all, you suddenly became the main character, and the other actors would definitely feel dissatisfied.

In particular, many of Wangu's Pi actors were borrowed from Toho. Many of those Toho Pi actors were people who had been doing Pi actors for twenty years. The arrogance in their hearts was simply indescribable.

Narita Toru explained, "Especially Mr. Nakajima Haruo. You must build a good relationship with him. He was the first suit actor to play Godzilla when he was at Toho. He has a lot of experience as a suit actor."

Gu Ming wrote it down.

Since he is acting in the role of Godzilla, he can indeed be called a senior in the entertainment industry.

According to the Japanese rule of seniority, Wan Guyi could not order Pi Yan, who had such seniority, around at will, and had to show him some courtesy.

Cheng Tianheng gave a few more instructions before telling Gu Ming that he had nothing to do today and he could go back.

Gu Ming will be notified when the official shooting begins.

Gu Ming didn't leave. After saying goodbye to Narita Heng, he went to the studio on the way.

Although it has not been put into use yet, various tests are already underway to prepare for filming in the near future.

Gu Ming ran to buy a few packs of cigarettes, and came back to distribute them one by one. Soon, the staff present were lost in the constant calls of "Sir" and "Big Brother".

Wan Gu told Gu Ming all his filming experience and even his recent arrangements without reservation.

Gu Ming roughly compared the positions where the cameras would be placed in the future, and then looked at the sand table at the shooting site.

This place will soon be transformed into the battlefield of the first episode.

"When that happens, this place will be flooded and become a pool. Furuya-kun, I really sympathize with you. Water battles are very troublesome. As early as the Godzilla era, only director Eiji Mantani could shoot water battle scenes well."

Although Gu Ming has filmed "Armor Hero", there were no water battle scenes in it, and Gu Ming is not very familiar with it.

Gu Ming immediately looked at the staff with an open mind and inquired, "Brother, this is my first time as a suit actor, so I'm not very clear about these things. You said water battles are special... what's that all about?"

The clerk shrugged and spread his arms out in a swimming pose.

"The water isn't very deep, probably only up to your legs and feet. But when filming, you'll probably fall occasionally, right? At that time, water will flow into your body through the peepholes and cracks in the leather case, making you wet and hot, and even breathing will become difficult."

He blocked his nose and vividly described the scene to Gu Ming. "If you're not careful, you can suffocate. Back when Mr. Mantani Eiji was working on Godzilla, Mr. Nakajima accidentally inhaled water, causing suffocation and passing out. He almost drowned. But later, I heard he made some improvements, and he never fainted again."

After listening to this, Gu Ming seemed to be thinking about something.

If this is the case, then you have to be careful when filming water battle scenes.

Since Nakajima Haruo has experience with water battle scenes, Gu Ming thinks that he can go and ask him, and perhaps he can learn some experience.

"So, where is Mr. Nakajima Haruo?"

The staff shrugged. "Of course he won't come, at least not until right before filming begins. That gentleman was cast as the 'kaiju' from the very beginning. He'll be playing at least half of the monsters in this production!"

Gu Ming wanted to find out more about other things. If possible, it would be best to visit Nakajima Haruo now.

"Mr. Nakajima is of course staying in the Toho staff dormitory, but he might have other filming assignments at this time."

The clerk finally told him the location of the dormitory. Seeing Gu Ming's eagerness, the clerk added, "If you want to visit Mr. Nakajima, that's fine, but you'd better think about the souvenirs. Well, the souvenirs..."

He stared at the cigarette in Gu Ming's hand and stopped talking.

Gu Ming laughed and stuffed the whole box of cigarettes to the other party.

"'Pinball room,'" the clerk explained. "Mr. Nakajima likes to go to the pinball room. If you're willing to pay for his visits, he'll tell you anything."

Billiard room.

Gu Ming was really surprised by this name.

A pinball room, also known as a pachinko parlor, is, as the name suggests, a place to play marbles. However, unlike the bullet marbles played by children, a pinball room is a place for gambling. After the marbles are fired, they roll naturally in the machine and eventually fall into a specific location.

Use this to calculate points and exchange for gifts.

Gifts can't be exchanged for money directly, but coincidentally, there are usually pawnshops around the billiard rooms...

So many people would hang out in billiard rooms and exchange the gifts they won for other things.

Sometimes you can make a fortune, but sometimes you lose everything.

Gu Ming had never been to a billiard room, but he had seen a video in which a Japanese man knelt on the street and cried bitterly, shouting something like "300,000 yen" because he lost 300,000 yen playing billiards. He cried until he fainted.

Someone passing by was kind enough to give him some water - by just peeing on him.

It's obviously not fun to go to a place where you can lose 300,000 yen in just one day.

Gu Ming bowed and thanked the staff before leaving Wangu.

He plays the main role of Ultraman, while Nakajima Haruo plays the role of a monster. They will be collaborating more in the future, so it’s never a bad idea to visit him in advance.

If there is a conflict between the two people, the filming progress will be greatly delayed.

If conditions permit, Gu Ming also hopes to do his best.

Toho is located in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, right next to Shibuya. However, running there would likely leave you sweating profusely, and since you'd be meeting people, it certainly wouldn't make a good impression.

Gu Ming took a car and asked for directions along the way, and finally found the employee dormitory of Dongbao Company.

The employee said that no other souvenirs were needed, but it seemed a bit strange to go to a meeting with someone empty-handed.

Gu Ming bought a set of pastries from a roadside shop.

I don’t know whether it tastes good or not, but Gu Ming won’t eat it anyway.

"Nakajima Haruo...he lives here, right?"

Gu Ming looked at the building in front of him. It had a very standard housing estate appearance, no different from the Khrushchev buildings in China.

"It doesn't look like you're at home."

Gu Ming took a quick look through the window, but the curtains were drawn and there was no sign of any movement inside.

He walked up, knocked on the door and explained his purpose.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Nakajima Haruo here? I'm Akira Furuya from Banku, and I came to visit you specially!"

(End of this chapter)