Chapter 131 The Last Tenderness of Showa
In the Showa era, there was only one female star named Nakamori. She had the impression that she knew one of them - Akina Nakamori, who was known as the Showa singer. She and her good friend Seiko Matsuda were the two brightest stars of that era.
At the same time, due to similar positioning and the media's deliberate creation of topics, the public is divided into the "Son of God" faction and the "Akina faction". The main characters get along well with each other, while the fans are incompatible.
However, the surname Nakamori is not uncommon, and because of her young age, the girl cannot be matched with the beautiful image that has been passed down in later generations. Therefore, it is really difficult for Su Yun to make a direct judgment now.
After asking the employee who was questioning her to help her find out some news about the Nakamori family, Su Yun went back to the office, set up the system data and let it run automatically, then took a car to Minouchi Suzue's home.
In fact, the fact that she was able to obtain the adaptation rights of "The Girl with a Thousand Faces" so easily was also inseparable from the good timing of the proposal.
Now, "The Thousand Faces of Girl" is just a girl's comic that has just been out for a year. It is only a small hit in the circle and is far from the classic masterpiece that was later hailed as the "Actress Bible".
Although this manga is not well-known in China, it is ranked alongside "Daughter of the Nile" as one of the two classic girls' manga in Japan due to its excellent quality and sales.
However, the current classic masterpiece is still a newcomer, and as the author, it is impossible for Miuchi Suzue to refuse the starring role that has the double halo of Oscar and Cannes Film Festival actress.
Moreover, Su Yun's films have always sold well, and she has no worries about sales. Although she is only filming a TV series now, with her connections, if she can find some friends to make guest appearances, the cast will be no worse than any big-budget movie.
With the excuse of "friendly guest appearance", those stars who focus on making movies don't have to worry too much about their status being affected.
After Su Yun expressed to Minuchi Suzue that she would rather play the second female lead, Himekawa Ayumi, Minuchi Suzue nodded in approval: "Indeed, you are more suitable to play Ayumi than the female lead, Maya."
Although she was quite surprised that Su Yun was willing to lower her status to act in a TV drama and play the second female lead, after careful consideration, Minuchi Suzue felt that this was the perfect approach.
When discussing the plot adaptation, Minouchi Suzue mentioned that the inspiration for the character Himekawa Ayumi came from Su Yun, and she said frankly that in the color version of the illustrations she designed, the second female lead Himekawa Ayumi's eyes are the same purple as Su Yun's.
Even the character of the heroine Kitajima Maya is based on Su Yun's poor background: in the comics, Kitajima Maya is a poor girl who works in a ramen shop. Because of her outstanding acting talent and her great love for acting, she was spotted by the retired former superstar Tsukikage Chigusa and recruited into her drama troupe.
Tsukage Chigusa owns the copyright of the classic drama "Crimson Angel" that all actresses want to play. She was also the lead actress of the drama when she was young and was well-known in the industry. Unfortunately, she suffered an accident that damaged her appearance and her physical condition is not good. Therefore, she has now established a drama troupe to find a candidate to inherit the lead role of "Crimson Angel".
Unlike the heroine Kitajima Maya who changed her career late in life, the second female lead Himekawa Ayumi is a talented girl from an performing arts family. In order to inherit her mother's wish to play the role of the Red Angel, she also participated in the competition for the successor of the Red Angel.
These two girls, who both have excellent acting talents, are enemies but also lifelong friends. In fact, this is also a typical drama with two female protagonists who are both enemies and friends. The reason why Kitajima Maya is the heroine is because the main perspective of the plot is on the character of Kitajima Maya.
Of course, another important reason why Su Yun chose Himekawa Ayumi for the second female role is that Himekawa Ayumi's acting style is a perfect combination of typical experiential and expressionist styles, which is exactly the same as her current acting style.
The acting of Ayumi Himekawa in the play is very close to the end of this road. Like a highly skilled rider, while controlling and guiding the mount to show the audience countless wonderful performances, he always holds the reins tightly in his hands, giving himself the greatest control steadily.
On the contrary, Kitajima Maya's acting style is to immerse herself in the play and become the character in the play selflessly, in order to completely eliminate the distance between the actor and the role and achieve a "lifelike" reproduction of the role. This is a standard method school.
It can be said that the performance of the second female lead, Ayumi Himekawa, is perfect and beautiful, while the performance of the heroine, Maya Kitajima, is vivid and wild.
Because of Kitajima Maya's personality transformation, which is like she is wearing a mask of the character she plays, this "The Thousand Faces of the Girl" has another translation name, which is called "Glass Mask" or "Glass Mask".
Su Yun believes that she cannot perfectly portray the role of the heroine Kitajima Maya, who completely puts on a mask and selflessly becomes another person, so she will inevitably choose the role of the second female lead, which is more suitable for her current acting style and personality.
What's more, although Su Yun can play the imperfect heroine and perfectly restore the second female role, if she chooses to play the heroine, it will be difficult to find a supporting actress for the second female role who can surpass her current level.
In contrast, the most appropriate and stable approach is for her to play the most difficult female role, which is close to her peak from the beginning, and then find a potential newcomer to play the gradually growing female lead.
So after Su Yun learned that the girl who often delivered ramen to her family was really called Nakamori Akina, she looked at her schedule again and again, planning to squeeze out an afternoon to go to the Nakamori family ramen restaurant to discuss it in detail.
To show her sincerity, she asked a staff member who was familiar with the ramen restaurant to deliver a visiting card to the ramen restaurant one day in advance.
The content of the visiting card was very simple, just Su Yun's business card and a simple invitation written on it, which not only indicated the identity of the visitor, but also stated in advance the reason for the visit.
"Mary Sue wants to ask our child to film a movie?!" Su Yun's movies are very popular in Japan. The Nakamori family has obviously seen her movies, so they were surprised when they saw the business card in the appendix of the visiting card.
As a mother of six children, Chieko Nakamori looked at the visiting card and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
The visiting card said that Su Yun had taken a fancy to their fifth daughter, Mingcai, and wanted to come over for an interview tomorrow. If she passed the interview, she would be the heroine of a big-budget TV series. Thinking of her long-cherished wish of becoming a singer, Chieko Nakamori looked at the visiting card with mixed feelings.
The fifth daughter, Akina, was a very well-behaved and obedient child. She even aspired to be a singer since she was young, just to inherit her mother's wish.
But for lower-class people, except for those who are discovered by scouts with extraordinary talents, the path for girls is never as easy as that for boys - they can join the emerging Jennis firm to seek development.
Girls, on the other hand, can only debut through singing competitions and the like.
If they can first gain fame through the acting field and then switch to singing, it would be a good shortcut; and Su Yun can also write music, so maybe she can give their child a theme song or an ending song to sing.
However, Akina's character is too honest and weak. She does whatever she is told and only moves when pushed. She is far inferior to the youngest daughter, Akina, who is very opinionated at a young age.
The most important thing is that Minghui also saw the visiting card and said that she also wanted to be a big star and wanted to have an interview.
The eldest and youngest children in a large family are always the most favored, while the middle children are easily ignored. Moreover, Akina is particularly noisy - so, before Akina finished delivering the takeaway and returned home, the family had to secretly discuss a plan.
Let Mingcai deliver the takeaway tomorrow. When Su Yun comes and sees that Mingcai is not there, she will definitely wait inside the ramen restaurant.
So now is the time for Minghui to strive to perform well.
What they didn't know was that late that night, Minghui, who slept in the same room with Mingcai, secretly took out the meager change that her sister had saved up.
The next day, two hours after the agreed time, Akina Nakamori still hadn't returned home.
The people from the Nakamori family looked at Su Yun who was sitting by the window and forced themselves to smile.
Su Yun quietly watched their hypocritical and perfunctory attitude, and smiled slightly: "Excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom."
"This way!" the girls directed hurriedly.
Su Yun walked into the narrow restroom with a meaningful smile, then took out the mobile phone that was like a self-defense brick from her bag and dialed a number: "Hello, is this Sister Baihui? Yes, it's me, Mary..."
"You happen to be free now? That's great. I want to ask you a favor..." Su Yun recalled the takeaway address she saw on the table outside, and then gave it out briefly, "A friend of mine got lost near the reservoir bridge, but it's not convenient for me to go look for her now. Could you please help me find her?"
After getting a response from Yamaguchi Baihui, Su Yun recalled the appearance of Nakamori Akina and the back that passed by her hurriedly, and briefly described the appearance and today's attire of the person she was looking for.
Very good. Originally, she thought that if Yamaguchi Momoe was not available, she would have to ask other people for help. Now that Yamaguchi Momoe, who is Akina Nakamori's idol, has stepped forward, it seems that Akina Nakamori, who was deceived by her family, should come back as soon as possible.
After coming out of the small bathroom, Su Yun sat back in his original seat with a normal expression.
"It looks like Akina may not be able to come back before dark, unless she is lucky enough to get a tip and has enough money to take a bus back." Nakamori Akiho stood at the door and looked at the sky, with a worried expression on her face.
Su Yun just looked at her with a silent smile, without saying anything. He just sat there quietly as before, waiting for an important person, occasionally taking a sip of tea.
The afterglow of the setting sun fell on the earth. Akina Nakamori found that there was no money in her wallet. She finally realized that she might have been tricked by her family. She sat on the grass, which was slightly golden in the setting sun, feeling aggrieved and feeling very complicated.
Maybe my sister was right. She had bad luck and courage, so even if such a great opportunity fell upon her, she wouldn't know how to pick it up and hold it in her arms.
"How can you be sure that you will fail if you haven't even tried?" Someone suddenly sat down next to me.
From the slender shadow and the familiar female voice, Akina Nakamori knew that this was her sister who came to comfort her with good intentions, so she could only helplessly raise her head from her knees: "You don't understand - Baihui-chan... Miss Yamaguchi?!"
Looking at those eyes that were as gentle as autumn chrysanthemums, Akina Nakamori raised her hand and pinched her left cheek hard, letting out a slight cry of pain: It hurts!
So this wasn't a dream, she wasn't talking to the poster on the bedside table as usual, but her idol was really talking to her next to her!
"Although time has passed, the person who may want to find you is still waiting for you." Yamaguchi Baihui smiled and looked at the sunset in the sky. "Waiting is not what makes people angry and sad, but not being able to wait is."
As if she was awakened, Akina Nakamori stood up suddenly and asked, "Are you... the lady who asked me to come?"
Yamaguchi Baihui smiled and said nothing. She just nodded slightly, then grabbed one of her hands and stuffed two bills into her palm.
"Go ahead, come on!" Yamaguchi Baihui winked at her, "If you want to be mine."
Akina Nakamori nodded vigorously several times, gritted her teeth and bowed to her idol with tears in her eyes, then turned around and ran towards the station not far away, holding the banknotes tightly in her hand.
The last bus stopped at the station. Su Yun, who was sitting by the window of the ramen restaurant, watched quietly. It was not until he saw the people getting off the bus and the bus starting to move in opposite directions that he let out a sigh.
"I'm so sorry!" Nakamori Akiho came up again. "Ah, I said Akina couldn't make it back. I'm really sorry. Do you have time to come for an interview? Or..."
Her expression showed a tentative look, but her tone was still filled with guilt and uneasiness: "Or you could try to find a girl who is about her age?"
"Yes, Minghui and Akina are only one year apart in age, and they look very similar!" The people from the Nakamori family said with sudden enlightenment.
Seeing Su Yun looking at them calmly, Nakamori Minghui gritted her teeth and said, "I'm just proposing a small solution for you. If you think it's inappropriate, I don't have to take over my sister's interview..."
"Please, please let me interview! Just give me a chance! You can choose the one you think is the best..."
Some people are destined to be unforgettable at first sight.
Just like Akina Nakamori who hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd and ran back to the ramen shop like a wolf at this moment - she will never forget the first time she looked carefully at the girl who was called the legendary myth of Hong Kong.
"Don't worry." The beautiful girl stood up from the window, walked over slowly and tidied up her messy bangs, then smiled at her with a smile that seemed to contain all the tenderness of the evening, "I've been waiting for you."
"There is no one else, you are my only choice."