Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 40 A threatening letter? Don't worry

TBS can certainly withstand this level of pressure.

A few decades earlier, perhaps, this wouldn't have worked, but it was 1976. The economy was recovering, and after the baptism of the five-star emperor, the most conservative faction in Japan had long been beaten to a pulp.

That level of dissatisfaction is not enough to shake TBS's determination.

——Regardless of what, the ratings are there! Those who oppose it have no right to speak unless they can produce comparable ratings.

With the support of Qujing Wei, all this will naturally not be a problem.

However, Kagi Wei also entrusted Miwa Toshimichi to convey his opinions to Wangu.

Well… mapping is fine, but be careful not to get too close to reality, and it’s best to modify the situation slightly.

Toshihiro Iijima just laughed it off.

The human part of the third episode has been filmed, so it’s too late to change the script even if we want to.

Besides, there is no clue in the third episode.

The next step, of course, is to finish filming the special effects portion of the third episode as quickly as possible on Monday.

……

……

Early in the morning, when Gu Ming arrived, he heard several Wan Gu employees whispering to each other.

He moved closer, a little confused: "What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's Brother Gu Gu."

"Brother Gugu."

All kinds of weird names.

A dark-skinned employee showed Gu Ming what he had in his hand with great trouble.

"It's a letter. It's written in a very old-fashioned tone. I don't know who put it in Wangu's mailbox."

Gu Ming raised his hand to take it and took a look. The tone of the letter was particularly tough. It basically said that the second episode shot by Wangu had offended certain groups, and if Wangu did not correct it, they would impose sanctions.

"What a mess." Gu Ming frowned: "How are you going to deal with it? You don't take it seriously."

Several employees started talking at once.

"What else can I do? Of course I destroy it. It will be very troublesome if Mr. Wangu sees this letter."

"I say, what if they really come to cause trouble? It's very dangerous, right?"

"Come on, what era is this? Do they still dare to beat people up on the streets of Shibuya?"

"Don't forget those in the white helmets..."

"They are not the same group! They are going in two different directions."

It was obvious that the staff were somewhat nervous.

Gu Ming had no good solution for this kind of thing. He couldn't just stop filming because of a false threatening letter.

Of course, this thing cannot be shown to Eiji Mantani.

The old man received such letters when he was young. If he read them again when he was old, he might have a cerebral hemorrhage and die on the spot.

Just as he was struggling, Wanguyi came out and took the letter from the staff with a serious expression.

With Eiji Mantani not here, Mantani Ichi is the backbone of the place. The staff all looked at Mantani Ichi, and Gu Ming also turned to Mantani Ichi, wanting to know what he was going to do.

"How ridiculous! They expect us, Wangu, to change our plans based on a single letter? Furthermore, these are completely fabricated charges, and they're asking us to reflect on ourselves because of non-existent ones! It's clearly Mr. Iijima Toshihiro's thoughts on the Balkan conflict, so how could anyone relate everything to us?" Wangu tore up the letter in two or three shreds, looked at the others, and repeatedly warned, "Don't let my father know about this. As for this matter... I'll handle it."

As soon as Wangu finished speaking, he put away the torn letter and turned back.

However, Wan Gu couldn't help but hold his nose as he walked, looking a little awkward.

Gu Ming quickly followed and greeted him.

"Big Brother."

"Oh... Ah Ming." Wanguyi rubbed his face and sighed, "Don't worry, it's not a big deal. My father used to receive this kind of garbage all the time. I'll ask the patrol officers to increase patrols and organize some staff to guard the door. After a few days, those guys will forget about this."

It seems that Wan Guyi does have rich experience in dealing with things.

Gu Ming stopped asking questions and started to inquire about other things.

"Come to think of it, Ichigo hasn't been back since filming the first episode."

"Yes, there are more things going on at TBS." Wang Yayi said, "Mr. Iijima Toshihiro, there will be other things going on there too. The fourth episode will be filmed by someone else."

The director of the fourth episode of the original Ultraman was called "No Nagase Sanmadji", who had also been working there since the Toho period. He later followed Eiji Mantani to Mantani and also made great efforts in the original Godzilla.

That’s right, most of the people in Eiji Mangaya’s team have contributed to the original Godzilla, so Eiji Mangaya is so tolerant of Haruo Nakajima.

After all, we are all old friends of the original Godzilla.

The Nonagase Samadhi is not very well-known, but its shooting has a unique feature.

Not afraid to spend money...

Yes, I am not afraid of spending money.

Just in Ultra Q, in order to create the effect of the episode "Icefield Burning", No Nagase Samadhi spent several million yen.

—In the real world, several million yen in 1965.

The reason why Eiji Mantani agreed to spend a huge amount of money on the filming is very simple.

Because Mantani Eiji is the kind of person who would spend 46 million yen on optical equipment just to create Ultraman light effects...

In reality, this device was still in use until the time of Taylor, but by then it was already somewhat out of date.

By the time it came to Leo, it was finally discontinued because the equipment broke down. The company was short of money at the time, so the special effects for Ultraman Leo were extremely rudimentary, essentially just a coat of red light.

In layman's terms, Mantani Eiji lacked a good understanding of money. Toho's large studio system forced him to focus on one thing: spending the most money to make the best films.

Don’t worry about how much this film cost to make, just tell me whether it is good or not!
This also directly affected Wangu Company.

Bandai has always been a company that squanders money when it has it and borrows money when it has no money. It often shoots exploratory works that are well received but not popular. In the end, it was only when it lost money to Bandai that it was considered honest.

Although the new generation of Ultraman has a bad reputation, it really makes money.

If Toho had not always been there to back Wangu, Wangu would have disbanded after filming Ultra Seven.

Therefore, since this is the fourth episode directed by No Nagase Sanmadashi, it can be imagined that the fourth episode must have cost a lot of money...

Although Gu Ming was not clear about these things, he still had some understanding of the temperament of Wangu Company.

Thinking that three different directors had to be changed in just four episodes, Gu Ming was speechless for a moment.

Perhaps to cheer up the atmosphere, Wangu smiled and said, "I think everyone missed me. I'll finish my work as soon as possible and then come back for filming. I hope that Mr. Jincheng and the others can leave me a good script by then."

Finally, Wan Gu Fang patted Gu Ming's shoulder lightly.

"At that time, Amin must give more suggestions. Your ideas can be very helpful to Wangu!"

(End of this chapter)