Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 294 How Did I Become a Casting Director?

The newspapers announced that Shadow Warrior cost $10 million to make.

The actual budget was $6 million, with a little more added later.

Overall, it is still within this range.

If converted into Japanese yen, it would be over 600 million yen.

It can be said that the production cost is extremely terrifying.

Today is the day for the open audition for Shadow Samurai. The audition will last for many days. What is needed are mainly various extras, various subordinates of Takeda Shingen, and even supporting roles such as Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Uesugi Kenshin who do not have many shots but do appear.

Even some of Takeda Shingen's attendants and wives had corresponding auditions.

Sitting behind the audition table, Gu Ming couldn't help but sigh.

How come I, an actor, suddenly come here to host an audition?

But Kurosawa Akira said that the Kurosawa group has decided on you.

The so-called assistants actually do nothing more than this kind of laborious work.

Originally, the assistant was Honda Ishiro, and it is still the same now, but there is also an additional person named Tani Ming.

In addition, there is a staff member from the Kurosawa group who is responsible for assisting Gu Ming in casting.

Although Gu Ming is trying out some unimportant small roles and there are no supporting roles with significant lines, it is still a position that holds the power of life and death.

If it were a parallel world... I would have to sleep with a few willing actresses.

Maybe there are men too.

"Wait, why are there men here?"

Gu Ming coughed lightly, put down his water cup, and told the staff, "You can start now."

"Yes, Mr. Furutani." The staff member responded and waved to the door. Soon, someone walked into the audition room under the guidance of the staff member.

Takeda Shingen had four ministers, Baba Nobuka, Kosaka Masanobu, Yamagata Masakei, and Naito Masatoyo.

They are the four famous ministers of Takeda Shingen, namely "Furin, Huoshan and Mountain". Among them, Yamagata Masakage is the commander of the red-armored cavalry, so he is the fire among the four famous ministers, Fenglin, Huoshan and Mountain.

Among all the characters, Fire has the most screen time.

A piece of information was finally delivered to Gu Ming. Gu Ming looked down and couldn't help but gasp.

"Isn't this... a little old?"

How old is Yamagata Masakage? The actor is already in his fifties!

Gu Ming raised his head and looked at the middle-aged old man in front of him.

Hideji Otaki is not an unknown actor. He has collaborated with Ken Takakura many times in his early years, such as in "The Chase".

After much thought, Gu Ming decided that he should not discriminate against the elderly.

Maybe he has excellent acting skills!
He then took out the script and handed it over.

Otaki Hideji was stunned at first, but then he was ecstatic. He hurried over and took the script with both hands.

"Old man, I'll give you three minutes to think about the role. Then, follow this script and perform as you think is most appropriate."

"Yes, I will certainly try my best."

Otaki Hideji suppressed his ecstatic expression and began to look through the script.

Three minutes passed in a flash. When he looked up again, the old man had a completely different expression on his face, and he was reciting his lines slowly but firmly.

It was the last scene where Masakage Yamagata died on the battlefield and Changtiao was defeated.

Gu Ming looked at it in detail for a while and was somewhat amazed.

It must be said that although the old man is a bit old, he is still quite capable.

"It's just that I'm a little older. I don't know if it's suitable."

Gu Ming just drew a circle and said a few words to comfort the old man before sending him away.

Next to Gu Ming, a staff member of the Kurosawa group seemed to be hesitant to speak.

The next person came in for an audition, and it was naturally the role of Masakage Yamagata.

Gu Ming studied the man. He was in his thirties, and, if you were to ask, he was quite similar to Yamagata Masakage. Gu Ming had also handed him the script, but he was also ecstatic, reciting his lines quickly.

Gu Ming shook his head secretly, thinking that this person's level was far below par.

Compared with Otaki Hideharu just now, the gap is probably the gap between Hua Chentu and Wang Feng.

——No matter how obscure Wang Feng is, he does have representative works.

Seeing that the next person was about to come in, the assistant hurriedly stopped him, moved closer to Gu Ming, and whispered a few words to him.

"Gugu-kun, um... there's something I'm not sure if I should say. Of course, I'm not questioning your choice, nor do I have any other intentions. I just have something to say, and I hope you don't mind."

Gu Ming was surprised: "If you have something to say, just say it directly. What's wrong?"

The Kurosawa assistant breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, generally speaking, when an actor comes in for an audition, they're given a script, but it's best if I and a few others hand it over. If you hand it over directly, it'll feel like, 'I've chosen you, and I've chosen you for this role.'"

The assistant spoke in a roundabout way for a long time, fearing that he would say something wrong and be scolded by Gu Ming and told to get out.

Gu Ming couldn't help but exclaim "Nest!"

I didn't expect there was such a rule.

"But the level of that old gentleman just now is really good." Gu Ming glanced at his assistant's notebook. He directly circled the name of Otaki Hideharu. It seems that he also took a fancy to this actor.

Gu Ming readily accepted the suggestion and directly handed the task of distributing the scripts to his assistant.

Afterwards, several Yamagata Masakage came one after another. Some of them were visibly bad. Gu Ming didn't even need to wait for them to finish their performance. He just waited patiently for them to leave.

In the end, Gu Ming calculated that there was no one more suitable than Otaki Hideharu.

Otaki Hideji was the actor who originally became Yamagata Masakage through selection.

Although he is a little older and doesn't quite fit the role of Yamagata Masakage, he did give an outstanding performance.

Gu Ming just took note of this person and prepared to look at the next actor.

The person who came this time was auditioning to be one of the Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda.

Gu Ming flipped through it and was somewhat surprised.

"This person's resume is a bit special."

This person's name is actually 'Zhang Mingnan'.

Gu Ming was puzzled.

Could it be that this guy is from Zhou?

But if you look closely, it feels like a Korean name.

"That's right," the assistant whispered, "This man graduated from 'Mumeijuku' and was a student of Mr. Nakadai Tatsuya. He's a Korean-Japanese, and his stage name is recorded as 'Ryu Daisuke.'"

Gu Ming nodded slightly.

There is no need to mention Tatsuya Nakadai, as Kurosawa Akira often used him to play the leading role in his later films.

In Gu Ming's impression, the male protagonist of Shadow Warrior should also be Nakadai Tatsuya, but for some reason the person who has been decided now is Katsu Shintaro.

He put these thoughts aside for the moment and called the actors in first.

Not long after, a thin but tall young man walked in.

This image somewhat brightened the eyes of the staff in the audition room.

Gu Ming compared them and immediately felt that this person might not be suitable.

There's no other reason, it's just not suitable.

——The average height of the actors around here is 1.6 meters, and suddenly there is someone who is 1.8 meters tall, and he doesn’t fit in very well.

It's okay as the protagonist, but as a supporting role it will overshadow the main character.

"But let him perform for now."

Gu Ming signaled with his eyes, and his assistant handed him the script.

Ryudaisuke cleared his throat and began to recite his lines.

(End of this chapter)