Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 74 New Year, New Plan
Winter has arrived in the blink of an eye.

In December, Ultraman has aired 24 episodes, more than half of the total.

——More than half of the historical broadcasts have been completed, but now, probably less than half have been completed.

The addition of manpower and scripts gives Wan Gu more opportunities to show his talents.

In the evening, Gu Ming huddled in front of the quilt to warm his hands and feet.

"No wonder the Japanese invented things like kotatsu, after all, they don't have central heating!"

Covered with the kotatsu, the heat does not escape or evaporate, and it feels much better than before.

Gu Ming took a deep breath to warm his hands before picking up the pen to continue writing.

"The total salary for the 192 episodes is million yen."

"The total fee for the three-episode script is 80 yen."

"Saizeriya commercial performance fee is 15 yen"

"Other opening celebration commercial performances totaling 11 yen"

"Income 298 million yen"

"Living expenses..."

"rent……"

There is also an invisible expense from the Nara agency that is not written down. Although Gu Ming has never lived there, he has rented the house for more than half a year and has not stopped paying various fees. He is just waiting to finish filming Ultraman and then go back to take over the house and obtain various identities at the same time.

The script actually has four episodes, but the final battle episode originally written was shelved by Eiji Mantani and not filmed. Tani Ming guessed that it would most likely not be used as the ending. The most likely possibility is that it will be used as a theatrical version similar to the historical OVA.

After all the calculations, Gu Ming had less than 170 million yen on hand, all of which he had saved.

Gu Ming chewed on the tip of a pencil, thinking about this matter.

What can I do with 170 million yen?

In 1976, the official exchange rate of the Japanese yen to the US dollar was 280:1, which means that Gu Ming now has almost US dollars in his hands, which seems not much.

But the purchasing power is much stronger than that of later generations.

In 1976, an ounce of gold was worth $120, and an ounce is approximately 28 grams.

This means that Gu Ming can now buy nearly 1400 grams of gold.

——According to the gold floor price in 2024, one gram of gold is 699 yuan, and 600 grams of gold is about yuan.

Apart from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, even in provincial capitals, it is crowded enough to buy an apartment.

Gu Ming twirled his pencil, thinking about how he had been here for half a year. He started out as a part-time worker sleeping in a warehouse, but now he had 1400 grams of gold in his pocket, could even speak to the top management of Wangu, was surrounded by a dozen young Yakuza, and had made friends with many actors who would become famous in the future.

Gu Ming felt that his life had changed a lot.

Now that he has money, he wants to spend it, but Gu Ming is still hesitant.

"Opening a shop? Investing? Saving?"

Gu Ming scribbled a few words, circled a few options, and drew a big question mark next to them.

All of this is still unknown.

To open a restaurant, you need a good chef, and you also need a good investment route. Savings are of course the safest, but the returns are negligible.

Gu Ming thought about it and wrote another stroke.

“Monetizing Popularity”

But this line was quickly erased by Gu Ming himself.

His popularity has nothing to do with him, all the popularity belongs to Kurobe Susumu.

Kurobe Susumu said that recently when he goes out, he is often called "Ultraman" or Uncle Hayata, and some people ask him to take out his big stick and transform. This is a kind of happy trouble.

"So I still have to go a step further from being a suit actor and show my face. After filming the first Ultraman, maybe I can try to move around and see if I can get the role of the human form of Seven. I can also give TBS a try and see if I can find a role that is easier to shine in those original dramas."

Gu Ming finally put pen to paper and circled the words "human body".

Seven is the most special work. He is not very popular, but he has the deepest ideological connotation. He is also the one that Wangu loves the most.

Well, Seven is not Man... Seven is Ultra Seven.

The prerequisite for monetizing popularity is to have popularity. Although Ultraman is more popular, Ultraman's popularity cannot be transferred to suit actors. If you want popularity, you still have to compete for the position of human body.

Or Gu Ming could be a little more shameless and just label himself as an Ultraman man.

From now on, I can give speeches wherever I go. That’s what it means to be an international superstar!

That’s not all, Gu Ming has planned another expenditure of 50,000 yen.

The New Year is coming soon, so it’s time to go out and move around. After all, Wan Gu has taken a lot of care of me in the past six months. It would be unreasonable not to go out and move around.

And there are also people like Aragaki Teruo and Manatsu Ryu who I have made friends with in the past six months.

Gu Ming had an idea in his mind, but he never said it out loud.

The big studio system will eventually die out. Even Toho is about to disband its artist department. At that time, it will be the time for the agency system to rise.

The agency is loose and flexible, much better than a big studio.

Therefore, Gu Ming was thinking about whether he could set up an agency in the future, focusing on actors who are good at action and martial arts, including people like Manatsu Ryu.

"Also, there's Niemoto Tatsumi... I don't know where he went."

Gu Ming wrote down another name.

He already remembered that Niikemoto Tatsumi was the suit actor of Ultraman Leo. He had strong martial arts skills and was rated by Shinichi Chiba's JAC Club as one of the best action actors in Japan.

Unlike later Ultraman films, almost all of the scenes in Ultraman Leo were real fights, with almost no stunts. The human form also fought for real, which is why Ryu Manaka, who had a background in martial arts, was chosen to play the male lead.

Facts proved that Shinichi Chiba was not wrong. Later, Tatsumi Niikemoto became the martial arts instructor of Ultraman in the Heisei era. His action design was excellent, and he was a rare action actor who could both fight and direct.

But Gu Ming couldn't find him for the time being. He just heard from those young Yakuza that they had seen him once by chance, and it seemed that he was still in Tokyo.

"Manatsu Ryu, Niemoto Tatsumi, action actor agency."

Gu Ming wrote down several more names and circled them.

There is no rush for this matter. Currently, Japan is still in the transition stage of large-scale film studios, and will still give priority to its own people when hiring actors.

In the era of big studios, it is both easy and difficult to stand out.

If you have connections, you can easily get ahead and get all kinds of resources to support you. If someone says you can do it, you can do it, and if someone says you can't do it, it's okay too.

Without connections, you will only be a supporting role for the rest of your life.

Gu Ming was planning his plans for next year. When he heard the door open, he looked up and greeted them.

"Welcome back."

Shaqin also bowed, put down the various vegetables she brought back, and changed her shoes.

"I have a rare day off tomorrow, and I can finally go to Ueno Zoo." She smoothed her hair and smiled at Gu Ming, "I heard there are giant pandas in Ueno Zoo."

"Oh, I was just about to say that." Gu Ming paused for a moment and forced a smile. "Actually, my scheduled vacation has been canceled. I have to work overtime at Wangu tomorrow because the person who was supposed to be in charge of receiving visitors has gone back to his hometown to attend a funeral. Wangu hopes I can temporarily fill in for a day and see if they can find a child suitable for acting to play the role in the next episode."

The children in the early Wangu plots were basically found among the visiting tourists, so the acting skills of those children were all kinds of weird, which was basically equivalent to non-existent.

We need to receive guests and select children, so we probably can’t go to Ueno Zoo.

"Oh, I see." Shaqin nodded, seemingly having no objection to this.

Gu Ming felt a little sorry. He had originally planned to take advantage of the day off tomorrow to close the convenience store for a day and then visit Ueno Zoo.

A few years ago, the two countries restored diplomatic relations, and Japan received two giant pandas as a gift, which were raised in Ueno Zoo. With countless visitors, Ueno Zoo's business was booming.

"actually, I……"

"actually……"

"You go ahead and say it."

"No, no, you should speak first."

After a brief hesitation, Shaqin said, "Actually, I can go visit Wangu tomorrow. Speaking of Wangu, I've never been there before."

Seeing Gu Ming's surprised yet relieved expression, she bowed slightly.

In this way, you don’t have to be caught in the middle and feel awkward.

(End of this chapter)