LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 33 – Casting
After I looked at all of the audition documents Ichigo gave, I found nothing interesting. I don't see any familiar faces or anyone that triggered my guts. I asked him to provide me with all the audition documents of the girl he rejected.
"It'll be a lot, you know..."
"It's okay... you can give the data to Miyako."
"Alright..."
There was a justification for asking for those documents because I saw Sora's profile in those documents. I wondered if there was anyone that I knew who had tried to join our company. I was maybe surprised when I saw Tokino Sora, but it was because she wasn't any character from manga or anime. Since she wasn't the first character outside Oshi no Ko that I saw. There was one, and it was a long time ago.
If I thought about it, I learned about this stuff shortly after being stabbed. I needed a long time to recover before I heard about another good child actor who came from nowhere but may have rivaled Arima Kana. When I heard that, I thought about Korukawa Akane, but to my surprise, it wasn't her. This new actress was another girl from another anime named Sakurajima Mai, from an anime called Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai.
I suppose it only took two years for Mai to become more well-known than Kana, especially after Mai got the lead character in the morning drama, which made her even more famous. She started appearing in various movies, tv-shows, and commercials. Honestly, I wouldn't say I'm underestimating Mai or anything like that. Still, I don't think there's any difference between the two regarding skills.
Unfortunately, there could only be one role. In other words, the role could be to get by only one of them. At first, it seemed their work divided, and slowly the work began to fall to Mai and caused Kana's fame to decline. Then at the same time, Mai was quite lucky due to the incident that I received. Because of the incident, Ruby, who usually gets advertising offers, was getting less and less, plus Ruby was increasingly focusing on appearing in children's shows, especially those with dancing and singing themes, following her dream of becoming an idol.
That's why Mai's fame went up while Kana's went down. What a poor girl...
Well, if you looked at Kana's past story in the Oshi no Ko manga and if you looked at Mai's storyline. It would be easy for me to guess what happened to the two of them even though they have the same abilities because there is only one job for either two of them. It makes their work divided between them. The difference between the two of them is their parents or both of their mothers.
Of course, both are terrible moms. However, try to imagine which one would be better at doing business. A cold, calm, and calculating mother who used her child to make money. Or a narcissistic mom who wanted to be an actress and used her daughter to fulfill her dream. Who, thanks to her child's fame, can meet her favorite entertainers and get invited to private meetings.
Between the two mothers, Mai, whose fame was on the rise, began to match Kana, while on the contrary, with Kana, Mai's presence made her work decline. Under such circumstances, the calm and cool mother worked well. Meanwhile, Kana's mother, who was very sensitive about her child's fame which for her was a dream, became a very irritating person who started to force her sales on others and always insisted that Kana's screen time be increased and caused trouble for anyone.
It comes as no surprise that the careers of these two children took different paths. I thought that way when I saw the data provided by Ichigo through Miyako that I got a few days after the talk about creating a new idol group. Since it was Ai and Miyako who vouched for my opinion, in addition, the members chosen were also basically already liked by Ichigo. Therefore there was no problem for Ichigo to hear my opinion, and it seemed that he had already started making plans to create a new idol group.
Mem-cho and Tokino Sora were confirmed to be joining, while Ichigo was probably still looking for one or two more members to complete the new idol group. I still remember him saying that he didn't want to create a large group like B-Komachi again.
Ichigo seemed quite excited, though, Mem-cho and Sora may already have signed the contract or something. To be honest, I was kinda excited to meet them, but too bad for me. I needed to talk with Taishi, especially about the casting for the movie we made.
At this point, Mai was already more famous than me. Maybe… Well, honestly, people quickly move on in this industry. No wonder some entertainment was desperate to stay relevant in this industry.
This movie was made by Taishi, who, as a director, won several awards. Of course, when the news about him makes another movie. A lot of actors and actresses were immediately aware of and interested in his new works, especially when people knew that he might look like a child actor.
Mai's mother, who is Mai's agent, moved quite quickly and contacted Taishi about her daughter's interest in playing in his movie, someone who is told in the story as someone who is hungry for money. She is quite a calculating person. I mean, even though she knew Taishi wouldn't pay the actors much. She remained calm and confident that if Mai was cast in a Taishi movie, it would be good for Mai's career. Especially adding good movies to Mai's portfolio.
Too bad for her that even though it was a good deal to be able casted Mai in such a cheap deal, I was also quite interested in meeting and getting to know her. But it would be a problem if she were cast in this movie.
Well, It may be good to talk with Taishi when we meet next time…
"Hm... Sakurajima Mai... Huh... She's good, and I got a low price. Isn't that great?" Taishi answered my question with a smile on his face. He said so even though he knew what I was thinking.
"This movie is about my return to acting after all. To be honest, I want the spotlight to be all about me. That's why I don't think it's a good idea to put such a famous actress when I try to do that…"
"Ahaha, this guy… still young, but already making such a calculating move."
"Well, I couldn't help it. It has been a long time since I've been acting. Even though I may be quite confident with my acting, I want my job to be easy, you know..."
"Really... it might be good to act next to an actress like her. Also, of course, if he had her, it would be good publicity."
"That's another good point, but we're good if we get someone as good as her. We may not get as much buzz if we got Mai, but ain't Kana still around…"
"Ah… Arima Kana. Huh… She's good too, but her mother is a pain in the ass…"
"That's quite brutal… Itself. Anyway, Kana is good, and don't forget that she's much smaller than Mai and me. So from that point of view, Kana will be a much better-fit role to become my little sister."
"Well, this time, I will help you to come back. Especially this is your movie after all, but next time you wouldn't get this much help for me."
When I heard that, I breathed a sigh of relief. I honestly felt sorry for Mai. But when I think of Kana, she is also in a sad position because Gorou asked me to take care of her and Akane.
My conversation with Taishi continued. To be honest, I don't really care about other castings except for sibling roles. In the end, movie casting was all about the director and producer. I felt sorry for Mai, but this was the reality of the movie industry.
