Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 386 Christmas Eve Premiere

December 24th.

Shinichi Chiba, of course, did not participate in the filming.

—Although it's a big-budget film, the production cycle for "Reincarnation in the Demon World" was less than six months. The excuse of not having time on Christmas Eve was just a pretext.

Kinji Fukasaku was Toei's quick-draw director; even the biggest productions could be completed in a month.

This time, however, Shinichi Chiba hesitated for a moment as he stood in front of the movie theater.

The posters printed outside the cinema clearly featured Gu Ming's face.

"Aki Furuya."

Shinichi Chiba muttered a couple of sentences to himself, then suddenly said, "Sanada, go buy two movie tickets, the sooner the better."

"Yes!"

Hiroyuki Sanada, who was standing by Shinichi Chiba's side, immediately ran to the movie theater to buy tickets.

Chiba Shinichi was very satisfied with this disciple.

Hiroyuki Sanada was not only an actor he discovered, but also an actor that Sonny Chiba was focusing on training.

Hiroyuki Sanada has a natural affinity for audiences, a quality that most people don't possess.

Shinichi Chiba had a premonition that his disciple would become a very famous actor in the future.

Shortly after, Hiroyuki Sanada returned, holding two movie tickets in his hand.

"Master, these are the movie tickets for 4 PM."

"Four o'clock in the afternoon? How can it be so late?"

"Um... because it's full."

Chiba Shinichi's eyes widened in disbelief.

We're full!
How can it be so exaggerated!
Hiroyuki Sanada: "I asked some audience members in line over there, and someone said that during the filming of this movie, there was an accident where two college students went missing in the area. The film crew rescued them during filming, and it also uncovered a kidnapping case in a local village. The police officers in Nara even thanked Akira Furuya on the news."

Shinichi Chiba clicked his tongue.

Come to think of it, Akira Furuya is also from Nara, right? What a coincidence!

As a professional actor, Chiba Masato could tell that something was wrong.

Hiroyuki Sanada lowered his voice and gave a reminder.

“Master, I made a special inquiry, and it seems that many viewers came to watch because of this matter.”

Shinichi Chiba clicked his tongue.

Marketing, absolutely marketing. The whiff is too obvious.

He refused to believe that Nara was such an easy place to embarrass himself!
"How about we give it a try?"

Once the thought took root in his mind, Shinichi Chiba found it hard to contain himself.

Akira Furuya can even pick up a person while filming a movie in Nara.

It's not surprising that I, Shinichi Chiba, would pick up someone while making a movie!
……

……

At the start of the movie, Shinichi Chiba led Hiroyuki Sanada and another person into the movie theater. He deliberately chose to sit in the back row of the theater, so that he could see everything clearly from a high vantage point.

The movie officially begins with a scene of flower fields, paths, shady trees, and girls walking side by side.

Everything seemed so beautiful, yet the camera, peeking out from among the flowers, created a distinct sense of danger. This feeling of being watched naturally made people tense.

"This director is amazing!"

Shinichi Chiba was somewhat astonished.

This use of camera angles is a hallmark of Akio Jissoji's style, and it's a natural fit for thriller and suspense films. Shinichi Chiba leaned forward slightly, paying closer attention.

The plot continues, and soon, Zhen Zidan appears. Her crisp and clean punches and kicks keep Chiba Shinichi's eyes glued to the screen.

"Where did you find this actor?!

Shinichi Chiba couldn't believe his eyes.

Such agile skills, he's practically a born action actor.

If you were to ask Sonny Chiba to categorize action actors into different levels...

He has to consider himself at least at the first level; aside from Akira Furuya, he's not human.

And this young actor in front of me is definitely at the same level one!
"When the cast and crew list is played later, remember this actor's name."

Hiroyuki Sanada's heart skipped a beat.

I wouldn't dare try to poach people from there; I'd likely get beaten up!
The film continued to play, and Shinichi Chiba became more and more delighted with it, even Tatsumi Niyamoto seemed insignificant in comparison.

Although he still longs for Tatsumi Niyamoto, this young actor has clearly become Shinichi Chiba's new favorite.

As the movie drew to a close, Shinichi Chiba gave it a high rating.

The script is complete with no obvious logical flaws, and the action design is certainly beyond his capabilities, while the plot design also has its merits. However, the poverty of a mid-range production is still quite obvious, for example, there are not many scenes, the characters are not rich enough, and the makeup is only noticeable on the main characters.

Shinichi Chiba believes it's unlikely that a film like this can be compared to a big-budget production like "Reincarnation of the Demon World".

The film was nearing its end, and just as the twins were coming to terms with each other, Akira Furuya reappeared.

"The Azure Dragon Lord of the Eastern Wood, commanding 36,000 followers, is here to overthrow the Eastern..."

Brush Lala!
Chiba Shinichi stood up instantly.

The audience in the front row gave Sonny Chiba a disgruntled look, but when he looked over, their expression changed from dissatisfaction to surprise.

"Chiba... Mr. Shinichi Chiba!"

"No! It wasn't me, I'm not, you've mistaken me for someone else!"

In a panic, Shinichi Chiba grabbed Hiroyuki Sanada and ran away. The audience in the front row wanted to chase after them, but they couldn't bear to leave the movie behind, so they decided to stay.

Shinichi Chiba and his companion hid at the exit and watched the entire scene before leaving.

Throughout the journey, Shinichi Chiba remained unusually silent, while Hiroyuki Sanada had questions he wanted to ask but dared not speak.

Shinichi Chiba couldn't understand it, and he couldn't bring himself to say it.

He couldn't understand how a film with a medium budget could afford to include such special effects in the final scene.

“Akira Furuya isn’t that kind of fool! If that TV series was a money-losing project, I could understand it for the sake of reputation and future collaborations. But this movie is a film that he invested in entirely on his own, how could he possibly do something that loses money!”

Shinichi Chiba really couldn't understand it.

In the final scene, the special effects shot wasn't impossible to create, but in Shinichi Chiba's mind, it would require at least dozens of skilled craftsmen to depict it frame by frame.

"Impossible, impossible!" Chiba Shinichi slammed his fist on the table in anger.

"One second is 24 frames, and that shot is at least 50 seconds long, that's 1,200 frames! 1,200 hand-drawn frames, how did they do that! Could he really afford to spend tens of millions of yen on just one shot?! Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Hiroyuki Sanada hesitated, but then vaguely realized something.

It seems that even Shinichi Chiba has situations he can't handle.

……

……

The next day, Shinichi Chiba looked at the newspaper in his hand and kicked over the coffee table.

Sonny Chiba, the male lead of "The Reincarnation of the Demon World," was caught secretly watching similar videos, suggesting a lack of confidence in the project and potentially causing unforeseen problems.

(End of this chapter)