Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 524 Director, Kinji Fukasaku

The fake city was ultimately located at the border of Ikoma City and Yamato-Koriyama City. Nominally, it was still part of Ikoma Studios, but in reality, it was more under the jurisdiction of Yamato-Koriyama City.

Nara was called "Yamato" in ancient Japan, and Yamato-Koriyama City got its name from it. Like Ikoma, Nara is geographically well-off, being part of the Osaka metropolitan area. Moreover, Nara and Ikoma are like brothers in misfortune—both are quite poor places.

Such a sudden and unexpected event was truly a delightful surprise. On the same day, a councilor from Yamato-Koriyama City came to find Gu Ming and presented him with local specialties from Yamato-Koriyama City.

—Same as Ikoma City.

Since they're all within Nara Prefecture, and given the vast land area of ​​Japan, the local specialties are actually not that different.

They're all basically deer antlers, mountain products, and so on.

Even so, the other party's attitude was clearly conveyed to Gu Ming.

With filming about to begin, Representative Ita came twice and finally found the busy Tani Akira.

"Furuya-kun." Councilor Ita bowed deeply, showing no sign of the dissatisfaction he felt when he was rejected earlier; on the contrary, his face was full of gratitude.

"Thank you, Mr. Furuya, for giving Ikoma City this opportunity to send workers from Ikoma City to assist in this castle construction."

Gu Ming's hands continued fiddling with props and costumes without stopping: "I'm ashamed to say that I only did a little bit of insignificant work. And as for building a castle, it's really just for the castle tower used for filming. There may be other outer buildings to expand it in the future."

“Even so, I still want to thank you, Furuya-kun.” Councilor Ita bowed again. “Ikoma will always be Furuya-kun’s hometown. Ikoma will never ask for anything… It’s enough as long as Furuya-kun thinks of Ikoma occasionally.”

Gu Ming stopped what he was doing and turned to Representative Ita.

pretty good.

It seems that Representative Itada has finally understood.

In fact, where the filming takes place and where the city is built are not that important.

The key to this matter lies in...

You can give it, but you can't ask for it.

And now, Representative Itada understands this as well.

After seeing off Councilor Itada, Gu Ming rubbed his aching back.

It doesn't take long to build a Japanese-style ancient castle using modern technology, since it's not really going to be a place where wars are fought.

This type of wooden Japanese-style castle is actually quite easy to recreate.

Therefore, Haruki Kadokawa plans to film in two parts, involving scenes such as the castle tower and the final battle, which will be filmed after the castle construction is completed.

The other outdoor scenes and the Eight Dog Warriors scenes were filmed on location in Nara.

After the city is built, it can be used for filming other period dramas in the future.

Gu Ming flipped his wrist and looked at his watch.

Therefore, there is still one thing missing in the initial preparations.

script.

……

……

The script for "The Eight Kenken of Satomi" was already available, and it was adapted from the popular Japanese novel "The New Eight Kenken of Satomi".

The reason it's called "New" is because before this, there was a novel called "Nansō Satomi Hakkenden," which was the earliest work written. "New Satomi Hakkenden" is a novel written specifically for this movie by the screenwriter and is now published by Kadokawa Shoten.

However, a novel is a novel after all, and adapting it into a screenplay requires radical reforms.

The author of the new Satomi Hakkenden, and the screenwriter of the film, is Toshio Kenta.

Accompanying Toshio Kenta was another person, a very famous figure in the Japanese directing industry, Kinji Fukasaku.

The director of this film is none other than Kinji Fukasaku, Toei's top director. He not only directed many blockbuster films under Toei, but also directed a unique work like Battle Royale in his later years.

Kinji Fukasaku's directing style is unique, often blending violence, compassion, passion, cruelty, and ruthlessness into a unified whole, while also interspersing some lighthearted and humorous elements in the plot.

That's the kind of dry humor that's unique.

Kinji Fukasaku has directed many famous works, including the No Honor and Humanity Wars series, Makai Tensei, the Yagyu Family Trilogy, Satomi Hakkenden, Battle Royale, and so on.

It's fair to say that Kinji Fukasaku was a remarkably prolific director. Although most of his works were commissioned by Toei, he also produced some excellent pieces.

Outside the Ikoma Studio, Tani Akira, along with several main actors who would be appearing in Satomi Hakkenden, stood waiting.

Even Haruki Kadokawa, the investor and project initiator, is no exception.

In fact, under Japan's oversight-centered system, Kinji Fukasaku wielded considerable power.

It can even be said that.

Even if Kadokawa Haruki had already decided on Tani Akira as the protagonist, if Fukasaku Kinji disliked him and planned to get rid of Tani Akira, the most that would happen is that everyone would part ways and the production team would disband, which would not have any impact on Fukasaku Kinji.

If Gu Ming dislikes Fukasaku Kinji, then I'm sorry.

There's only one Kinji Fukasaku, but there are plenty of Akira Furuya.

"Kinji Fukasaku, he's really making me a little nervous. I heard that director is practically an emperor with absolute authority at Toei."

Behind Gu Ming, someone was whispering.

But soon, Hiroyuki Sanada gave a brief response.

"Mr. Kinji Fukasaku is usually very kind. He doesn't have high requirements during filming; he only needs the actors to have basic acting skills."

Of course, there are occasional high-level aspects, namely the scale of the scenes. Kinji Fukasaku also highly values ​​large-scale scenes.

Everyone looked at Hiroyuki Sanada and fell silent.

Ultimately, he was still an outsider.

Gu Ming didn't speak, but looked into the distance, where a car appeared in his line of sight from the end of the road.

"coming!"

Everyone straightened up, even Kadokawa Haruki adjusted his tie.

Gu Ming looked at him with some surprise.

"I thought someone like you wouldn't respect a director that much."

"What a joke! That's Kinji Fukasaku! Toei only agreed to let him direct this film to show their sincerity. If he does a good job, I won't be stingy with the money. We can't replace Kinji Fukasaku with some unknown director!"

The car finally stopped in front of us.

Born in 1930, Kinji Fukasaku is now in his fifties. Although he cannot be called old, he can already see some signs of fatigue.

He was wearing a pair of brown sunglasses, and through the unevenly tinted lower half of the sunglasses, you could see Kinji Fukasaku's eyes.

To Gu Ming's astonishment, Fukasaku Kinji's two eyes were not the same size.

It's quite obvious that one of his eyes is bigger than the other.

This is a lingering effect of Kinji Fukasaku's filming of "Battles Without Honor and Humanity".

After filming "Battles Without Honor and Humanity", Kinji Fukasaku was threatened by members of the Yamaguchi-gumi. Although the bullet did not actually hit him, it still caused severe aftereffects, causing Kinji Fukasaku to wear sunglasses all year round. If he does not wear them, his eyes will water when exposed to the wind.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry." Looking at the people in front of him, Shinji Fukasaku bowed and then pulled Toshio Kenta beside him.

"Kenta-kun, it seems we're late. We've kept you waiting."

Gu Ming looked at everyone, but no one stepped forward to speak; everyone was waiting for him to speak.

Even Haruki Kadokawa had an expression that seemed perfectly natural.

"Ugh."

Gu Ming sighed inwardly and stepped forward.

"Welcome Director Kinji Fukasaku to Ikoma, the team behind 'Hakkenden Satomi'!"

Fukasaku Kinji adjusted his sunglasses and looked at Tani Akira.

“Furutani-kun.” Fukasaku Kinji’s expression was complicated for a moment: “Indeed, I’ve heard so much about you.”

(End of this chapter)