Chapter 479: The Freebie Extras

The "unreliable" here referred to not being optimistic about the subject matter Miss Luo Quan chose, but no one questioned Miss Luo Quan's directing level and storytelling ability.

Her directorial debut, "Resident Evil"—the entire movie was written, directed, and starred in by her, and also included post-production dubbing, monster makeup guidance, and costume design; almost everything was completed by her alone.

This level of taking on everything couldn't just be called being a polymath; it could only be described as a human-walking movie-making machine.

It was hard to imagine a director being able to handle so many project tasks simultaneously and still do them so well.

It could only be said that Miss Luo Quan's wealth of knowledge and the proficiency of her related skills had reached a level that ordinary people couldn't imagine.

The explosive popularity of "Resident Evil" was the best manifestation of her talent. Now, movie fans all over the world were waiting and hoping for her to release the second one. It could be said that the prototype of a hot IP had already been established.

But Miss Luo Quan didn't seem to like counting money while lying on her laurels. Once she achieved success in one field, she would quickly jump out of her comfort zone to meet new challenges.

At the beginning, she would face some doubts. After all, her least controversial area was music; when she dabbled in other fields, she would more or less receive some distrust.

But now, basically no one doubted her talent anymore.

Since the Paris Fashion Week, Miss Luo Quan's level had risen from a musical genius to an all-around genius. She used to be the "Eastern Mozart," and now she should be renamed the "Eastern Da Vinci"—meaning she could do everything.

And movies were a field Miss Luo Quan had already proven herself in. "Resident Evil" now had over 100 million views on Netflix, and combined with the box office in China, it had earned over 1 billion USD.

This didn't even count the high copyright fees paid by horror-themed houses everywhere to obtain the right to use the zombie image.

In short, in the eyes of companies in the entertainment industry, the Miss Luo Quan brand was no different from walking US dollars; being able to cooperate with her was a profit.

However, Miss Luo Quan had always adhered to the principle of nepotism and keeping the benefits within the family in her cooperation; if she could do it with familiar partners, she generally wouldn't look for others.

Of course, Miss Luo Quan already had quite a few familiar partners now: Sony, Tencent, Universal—all were the biggest of the big names.

Who could get the cooperation depended on whose actions were faster.

As the saying goes, "the near water tower gets the moon first." Being in Tokyo, the moment Miss Luo Quan posted this tweet, people from Sony came knocking on her door.

The door to Miss Luo Quan's hotel room was knocked open, and appearing before her eyes was Miki.

"Miki, long time no see." Miss Luo Quan showed a pleasantly surprised smile upon seeing her old friend.

Compared to a year ago, Miki's appearance was a bit more stern and serious, which should be related to his promotion to management.

"You've finally returned. General Manager Ishimura and I have been thinking of you every day." Miki made a cheesy joke, while also implicitly expressing his purpose.

Thinking of her definitely didn't mean he was interested in her; wanting her to release a new album was the truth.

Just as Miss Luo Quan was thinking about how to express that she didn't have the energy to release new songs for the time being, Miki spoke up first:

"Originally, coming to find you this time was, first, to see an old friend, and second, to ask if you had any plans to release new songs recently."

"But on my way here just now, I saw the tweet you posted. You're going to film a movie next, right? Is it called 'Rurouni Kenshin'?"

Miss Luo Quan nodded: "Yes. Why, do you want to participate in the production or invest in it?"

Miki laughed: "If we could, we certainly wouldn't refuse. However, my main purpose is to secure the distribution rights for this movie—if you haven't made a suitable choice yet."

"You guys also dabble in this area?" Miss Luo Quan only knew Sony was very big in music and games, but movies didn't seem to be too famous.

Miki was a bit helpless: "At the turn of the century, Sony was the world's largest film company. Although it can't compare to top film companies like Universal or Disney recently, we still have quite a bit of energy in Japan, okay."

"As long as you are willing to cooperate with us, in terms of promotion and distribution, we definitely won't give less than Toei or Toho!"

Business is business. As a businessman, Miki never talked about any friendship when discussing business with Miss Luo Quan, only giving promises and satisfactory treatment.

For such a sincere invitation to cooperate, and having cooperated so many times, Miss Luo Quan didn't know how to refuse:

"Then let's settle this matter. We'll talk about the specific split later."

After the movie matter was settled, Miki didn't stay long with Miss Luo Quan and hurried back to the company to make detailed arrangements.

After returning to the room, Junko lay on the bed reading "The Actor's Self-Cultivation" that Miss Luo Quan gave her.

This year, many members of Girls' Generation had taken on roles, mainly filming TV dramas, mostly as the female lead, with some hits and some flops.

But for these girls who had never learned to act, whatever they filmed was within expectations.

There was definitely no lack of roasting online, but fortunately, the girls were young, and their drive and motivation were quite sufficient, and they were constantly learning, polishing, and improving their acting skills.

However, for Junko and Yuner, the two of them hadn't filmed movies or TV dramas yet, basically focusing on variety shows.

So, although Junko had already self-studied quite a lot of theoretical knowledge, she hadn't truly engaged in real combat.

And this time, it was a big production with an investment of over 3 billion yen, and she had a particularly large role, playing the second female lead, with quite a lot of scenes opposite the first female lead, Quan-chan.

With such a heavy task, Junko's heart was still quite nervous.

Although she was born into a Kendo family, and her grandfather was one of the four great Kendo masters in Japan, she actually didn't care for Kendo, so she hadn't studied particularly hard.

As a result, now that she truly needed it, she suddenly felt stretched thin.

The only good news was that in this Kendo-themed action movie, she didn't need to show the sword skills she hadn't learned well; this was what made her most at ease.

It was quite ironic. As a descendant of the Yagyu family, she didn't even have the chance to show her family's sword skills. She didn't know if Quan-chan knew she was not well-versed in the arts, which was why she made such a design.

"Quan-chan, will there be any romantic scenes between us in this movie?" Junko, on the bed, put down the book and suddenly asked this.

Miss Luo Quan, who was typing away on her laptop, paused, then looked up at her and smiled: "Why, do you also want a wave of 'yuri' goodness?"

"I didn't mean that." Junko blushed immediately and hurriedly explained: "I just want to understand the relationship between the two of us in the play, so I can ponder the tone and expression used between the characters."

Speaking of which, the original protagonist was male, but now that she was playing it, the protagonist naturally became a woman, and the plot was modified accordingly.

But speaking of which, in the main storyline of the original movie, there weren't many romantic scenes between the male and female leads; it was more about friendship, protection, and bonds. So even if it was a combination of female lead and female supporting role, it wouldn't look particularly awkward.

Moreover, there were currently more women than men in Japan, and there were many girls' high schools, so the "yuri" trend was quite prevalent. The anime world had produced quite a lot of yuri works, such as K-On!, Dragon Maid, and Railgun.

With such a culture here, a movie with two female leads couldn't be considered non-mainstream.

Besides, the highlight of "Rurouni Kenshin" was ultimately the fighting scenes, and Miss Luo Quan definitely wouldn't focus too much on emotions.

Then, Miss Luo Quan told Junko about her arrangements, letting her ponder well in combination with the script, while Miss Luo Quan continued to formulate the filming plan for the movie.

Compared to "Resident Evil", the filming scenes for "Rurouni Kenshin" were undoubtedly more numerous, and the cost was also higher.

However, there weren't particularly many special effects that burned money; the bulk was mainly on costumes, makeup, props, and scenes.

Next was the extras. Besides those street thugs who had no skills, she also needed a large number of extras with a certain foundation in sword skills.

But she had made arrangements for this from the beginning.

Junko's family ran a Kendo hall; why look far away?

It was just that she didn't know what the thoughts of Junko's grandfather, the old master Yagyu Enzai, were now.

This Kendo master had always disliked his granddaughter abandoning her studies and family heritage to become an idol star. When she took Junko away from the Yagyu Kendo Hall, she had a sparring match with the old master, which was quite a lot of trouble.

Visiting again this time, and having to face Junko's father, she didn't know what kind of difficulties she would face.

But no matter how many problems there were, they would need to be solved sooner or later.

Although Miss Luo Quan was a "salted fish," she never procrastinated on planned itineraries.

In the evening, after signing the distribution contract for "Rurouni Kenshin" with Sony, Miss Luo Quan and Junko took a train to the Yagyu Kendo Hall at the foot of Mount Fuji.

Visiting for the second time, and having a request, Miss Luo Quan naturally wouldn't go empty-handed.

Learning from Junko that old master Yagyu Enzai was also proficient in tea ceremony and liked tasting tea, Miss Luo Quan specially bought several famous Chinese teas before coming to Japan, such as Longjing, Tieguanyin, and Da Hong Pao.

She didn't know much about tea, but she bought the most expensive and famous ones anyway; generally, she wouldn't go wrong.

"Grandpa, I'm home!" After returning home, Junko walked into the hall of her family's Kendo hall in a carefree manner.

Outside, she was a gentle and cute energetic idol, but at home, her personality was like a husky off the leash.

It was mainly because she grew up among men; her mother didn't live at the Kendo hall, and she often practiced sword skills with a group of boys, so her personality inevitably became like a man's.

Of course, she was only like a man at home; in front of Miss Luo Quan and Wen Xia, Junko was still as obedient as a kitten.

"You're back." Yagyu Enzai had long known the news that his granddaughter was coming back, so he had been waiting in the hall since this morning.

Like the last time they met, a set of exquisite tea sets was placed in front of him, and the tea inside was steaming hot and fragrant.

"Hello, Grandpa Yagyu." Miss Luo Quan stepped forward to greet the Kendo master, then handed over a box: "This is some tea I brought from China. A small token of my appreciation."

"Hmm, thank you." The old master Yagyu took the box and put it aside. "Speaking of which, you coming with Junko this time must be for something, right?"

Yagyu Enzai understood the principle of "no reason, no visit to the temple," especially since Miss Luo Quan had given a sincere gift upon arrival; it was impossible there were no other requests.

Miss Luo Quan laughed: "There is indeed one thing... I am preparing to film a Kendo-themed action movie, and Junko is the second female lead in this movie."

"Now the movie needs some actors with a foundation in sword skills. Since you run a Kendo hall here, I wanted to come over and see..."

The old master Yagyu was quite easy to talk to this time, nodding gently: "That's not a big problem. You can just explain your intentions to these disciples later. It's not like film crews haven't come here to recruit extras before."

"By the way, do you have any disciples here with superb sword skills? The movie has a character set as a master." Miss Luo Quan continued to ask while things were progressing smoothly.

"Gao Chao sword skills... besides me, there is only Junko's father." The old master Yagyu said, turning his head and shouting toward the inner hall: "Kota, come out!"

Soon, a tall man of 1.8 meters rushed out from the inner hall, and Junko went up and happily shouted "Father."

"Hello, Uncle Yagyu." Miss Luo Quan immediately greeted him upon seeing this.

When she came last time, she didn't see Junko's father.

However, from Junko, she had learned quite a lot about her father.

Junko's father was named Yagyu Kota, whose sword skills were deeply passed down from the Kendo master. When he was young, he won quite a lot of national Kendo competition championships and was known as the "Kendo Master of the New Era," much stronger than Junko, this half-baked one.

Of course, a title was a title, and his true level was definitely inferior to a Kendo master like Yagyu Enzai, but it was definitely enough for filming a movie.

After the greetings, Miss Luo Quan explained her intentions to this uncle who looked quite gentle.

Hearing that this was his daughter's first movie, Yagyu Kota showed great importance.

Compared to his old-fashioned father, Yagyu Kota's thinking was very open-minded and he had always been very supportive of his daughter's career.

And now Junko's idol career was booming, and he could often see news about her on TV and in the news. As a father, he was still quite proud of his daughter.

And now, his daughter wanted to film a movie, so he, as a father, would definitely help if he could. Moreover, the help needed was professionally aligned, so there was even less of a problem.

After the problem of the important supporting role was solved, Miss Luo Quan came to the practice field of the Kendo hall disciples and put forward her request to recruit extras. A large group of boys responded immediately, and the registration was quite enthusiastic.

Things were going very smoothly! Miss Luo Quan's heart was filled with joy.

The old master Yagyu watched from the side, his mouth twitching: This little girl talking to the disciples was even more effective than him, the master! ===== CHAPTER 480 =====