Hearing Ping Qingshan's doubts, Watanabe Kei was a little confused. It is common in the industry to use TV actors in making movies, but seeing Ping Qingshan's serious expression, she was a little afraid of this young man, so she set her eyes on her boss Nakamura Shujo. Nakamura Sakegami thought for a moment and then answered the question. "This is indeed a tricky issue. We have sent invitations to several agencies, but the feedback is not very good. Not many people have submitted resumes. Currently, we are mainly doing preliminary screening from the actor pools of BP Entertainment Agency and Sony Pictures..." Nakamura Sakumi's speaking logic is very good, and he slowly explains the problems encountered in casting. After listening. Ping Qingshan frowned even more tightly. In fact, casting for the Battle Royale movie is not that simple and tricky. There are a total of 42 students in the battle royale. Putting aside the students who just made cameo appearances, there are still a few others who have more roles to play.
Among them, the protagonists headed by Shogo Kawada have the most roles. If the acting skills of these protagonists are too bad, the quality of the entire movie will decline significantly. But the problem is that the current Japanese film industry is not healthy. This is not a problem of any one individual, but the result of the systematic poor performance of Japanese commercial films. There are no purely commercial film directors, no purely film actors, no film cameras, lighting, costumes and makeup, and no film industry. This leads to another problem, that is, a large number of actors are concentrated in the TV drama industry where there are more positions. This reality has led to another situation in the Japanese entertainment industry. That is, the movie and the TV series share the same actors. This would be unbelievable in China or the United States. Taking China as an example, basically movie actors are movie actors and TV actors are TV actors. Although there are occasional actors visiting the two, the distinction between the two is generally clear. Of course, after China Fortune Capital got involved in film casting, this distinction is not so obvious anymore. However, in essence, there are still differences between movie actors and TV actors. The young and handsome actors who are promoted by capital are often barely acceptable in TV dramas, but they are very easy to distract people from the show in movies. The reason is that movies and TV series are two different art forms. The rhythm, intensity, and refinement of TV acting are very different from those required for movies. Some performances that everyone thinks are good in TV dramas would be very abrupt in movies. In the Japanese film industry, except for a small group of actors who specialize in movies, in most cases, they are mixed. Just look at the cast list of Japanese films and you’ll find that most actors’ main job is TV dramas, not movies. In such a market environment, it is even more difficult for low-budget crews like Battle Royale to find actors who specialize in making movies. Seeing Ping Qingshan’s serious expression. Several main creators in the conference room also fell silent. Nakamura also knew that actors were a big problem, but now he had no choice. He and Watanabe Megumi had already found all the suitable actors they could.
But Ping Qingshan was obviously not satisfied with this result. So he could only throw this question to the other two main creators. "Daze, Anshang, do you know any actors? Anyone with decent acting skills?" But it was obvious that these two people had no other choice. "I do know two of them, but they are now filming a TV series..." As Da Ze Guangming spoke, his voice became smaller and smaller. Soon, the office became silent except for the sound of flipping through actor cards. Ping Qingshan flipped around for a while and also felt a headache. The actor casting manual made by Watanabe Megumi is very well done, but after flipping through it and just taking a look at the introduction, you can basically tell that the actor is not a good candidate without even calling him for an audition. A large number of actors have only acted in one or two TV shows, and all of them were supporting roles. With such a resume, they are suddenly cast in a tense movie like Battle Royale. It really makes people feel uneasy. "Well, how about letting them all try out the mirror first? Take a look at the people first, maybe we can choose the right one." Nakamura Sakami actually doesn't think there is any solution to this problem. Just like he said, it’s not that we can’t elect anyone, but that there’s no one to elect. The low-budget film crews he had been in before all conducted a large number of auditions, trying to pick one or two actors with movie sense from among the TV actors. After joining the crew, I started shooting and getting the feel for it. If you really can't find one, you can only choose one with better conditions and use it. But Ping Qingshan didn't think so, he shook his head. "I'll go out and make a phone call." The call was naturally made to his cheap dad, who seemed to be in a meeting, so the two did not have a deep conversation. After Ping Qingshan told his problem, he got a positive answer. Then I was about to hang up the phone. But before hanging up, Ping Qing Yinan asked him a strange question. "Do you know Spencer?" Although Ping Qingshan felt that the name sounded familiar, he did not have a deep impression of it. So his father did not continue to talk and hung up the phone directly. A few minutes later, Ping Qingshan returned to the meeting room again. "You don't have to choose between Shogo Kawada, Kazuo Kiriyama, Akiya Nanahara, and Noriko Nakagawa for these roles. My father introduced some actors to me, and I've already notified them to audition." Ping Qingshan looked indifferent, but Nakamura Shukami and Watanabe Kei looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes.
Excitement followed. "Hahaha, you are worthy of being the supervisor. Now most of the character's problems have been solved." "Amazing!" Nakamura Sakumi was impressed by Ping Qingshan's identity and couldn't help but feel excited about him, as he saw that he was a person who could solve critical problems for the crew with just one phone call. No one doesn't want their work to be better, and Nakamura is no exception. If he could choose, he would certainly want to cast all the good actors. Ping Qingshan was not very excited, but was thinking about something. In his opinion, today's experience exposed many systemic problems in Japanese films. Chapter 23 Kitano's Selection You know, Ping Qingshan's father was in charge of the film business at Dentsu. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the top level of the entire Japanese film industry. Although Battle Royale is a low-budget movie, it involves selecting the protagonist, and it actually has to rely on Cheap Daddy's channels to find the right person. It's too sad. And judging from his father's tone, these people are not easy to find. This also reflects the talent imbalance in contemporary Japanese films from another perspective. However, this question is still too far away for him. He couldn't solve this problem either. And looking at the happy faces of other people in the conference room, perhaps this issue is not even a problem in their eyes. "Don't be too happy. These people will definitely get a higher salary. After the audition, Nakamura needs to work harder and try to keep it as low as possible." "Yes, I will pay attention." Nakamura Shushang nodded immediately, as this was his job. "Now that the audition candidates for the main roles have been decided, let's decide on the role of Mr. Kitano as well." Japan's abnormal actor market. It’s hard to find young actors. On the contrary, middle-aged characters like Mr. Kitano are easier to find. Because most of the people who can play this role have been in the industry for many years. These people are very experienced and have usually worked in many TV and movie roles. Moreover, when people reach middle age, there are fewer and fewer suitable roles for them. Therefore, the crew has more choices.
An Shang Xiong Yi, who had been silent all this time, spoke at this time. "Although Kitano-sensei's role doesn't have many scenes, it is still very important to determine the overall tone. Well, I think a middle-aged male with a gloomy temperament is better, and he needs to be famous to a certain extent." Daze Mingguang nodded and made a suggestion: "With the current budget, I think we can spend a little more on the role of the teacher. This role can be outstanding." The so-called "outstanding" in Japanese jargon means being able to show off, and also refers to behavior that can add points when judging awards. As someone who had watched the movie in the previous life, Ping Qingshan naturally agreed with their views. He was not vague and directly gave the answer from his previous life: "How about Kitano Takeshi? When I designed this character, I followed his style." "Mr. Kitano Takeshi? But he doesn't seem to accept scripts anymore." The time now is 2010. If we go back 10 years, Takeshi Kitano might have taken over this script, but now, as he gets older. Kitano Takeshi's status is also increasing, and he is currently writing, directing and starring in the crime film "Outrageous". After comprehensive analysis. Everyone at the scene thought that although Takeshi Kitano was suitable, it was basically impossible for him to run for election. "What about Chiba Shinichi?" "He has a too fierce temperament, and I don't think his temperament matches Kitano's..." "A meeting with Gao Cang?" "Takakura does seem like a good choice... but since he won the Best Actor award two years ago, he has been reluctant to take on low-budget movies. If we hire him, the salary might exceed the budget, and his agent is not easy to talk to." Originally, Nakamura thought that someone of Takakura's status had no chance at all. But Ping Qingshan solved the problem they couldn't solve with just one phone call, which made him feel like he was back to normal. "It's okay to spend a little more on this role. We can ask the student actors to lower their prices... Besides, even if they don't give us face, they should give Shan-san face." "Yeah, then why don't we invite him to audition first? What about others? Are there any other suitable male actors?" "How's Abe Hiroshi?" "Abe Hiroshi may not be able to do it, but we can still call him over and try. Maybe we can create some strange sparks?" "Supervisor, what do you think?" "Just send out the auditions. Not all of them will come even if you send them out." Those who can sit in this conference room are all veterans in the industry. They are very familiar with the actors in the industry and quickly shortlisted some candidates. After careful consideration, Ping Qingshan also felt that Gao Cang Yijian was a good choice. Although he is a star that no one has ever heard of in his previous life, he is still quite famous in this world. He won the Best Actor Award at the Japan Academy of Film and Television two years ago, so his acting skills should be fine. She is in her 30s and with a little makeup, she should be able to match the image of Kitano in the play.
The casting process lasted a whole day. When it was over, everyone present, even Miyamori Aoi who was watching the whole thing, breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, they couldn't help but look at Ping Qingshan. After today's casting, they felt more and more that Ping Qingshan was no fancy man.