Chapter 116: Choosing the Cast

As the old saying goes, it takes three years for an apple tree to bear fruit and five for a pear.

While buying an apple or a pear at the market is the simplest thing in the world, growing a fruit tree is a far more complicated endeavor. One must select the right soil and saplings, cultivate them from their infancy, and tend to them with care. Even if the tree eventually blossoms and bears fruit, there is no guarantee that the produce will be sweet rather than sour. The entire process is an incredibly long, tedious, and risky undertaking.

Ye Zhao felt that making a film was much like planting such a tree. Writing the screenplay was akin to purchasing the saplings; securing a studio and filming locations was like choosing the right soil; Yukihiko Tsutsumi and the technical staff were the agricultural consultants. Once the "tree" successfully bore fruit, it would still need to pass through the distribution channels of a film company before finally reaching the shelves of convenience stores and markets.

The original film version of *Kirishima Thing* was shot at the Chuo High School in Kochi City, Shikoku. However, traveling from Tokyo to Kochi takes an hour and a half by plane, or nearly nine hours by train with a transfer in between. If one were to take a night bus, it would be a grueling eleven and a half hours.

Beyond the prohibitive travel time, the round-trip expenses were astronomical. Even the cheapest night bus ticket cost 12,500 yen. Considering the travel costs for the actors and the entire production crew, Ye Zhao decisively abandoned the idea of sticking to the original location and began diligently scouting for schools around the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Chubu region.

"In short, it’s best if it’s a school in the countryside, the more dilapidated the better. Schools will start their summer break around the 20th. I want to ask if they can lend the campus to our crew for a month of intensive rehearsals... Of course, we don't need to live there for the entire month. I hope we can use the classrooms, club rooms, the playground, and the rooftop. It would be even better if the students could help out as extras. Those are the conditions. If it’s hard to find a place nearby, we can consider the Chubu region as well." Ye Zhao relayed his requirements to Toshi Takeda, who was tasked with negotiating with suitable schools.

This was no small task. It is easy enough to find a school for location shooting—given the sheer volume of dramas and movies produced every year, schools are indispensable sets, and there are even schools in Tokyo that exist almost exclusively for filming.

However, finding a school that would allow a crew to hold month-long rehearsals, one that looked suitably run-down, and where students could be recruited as extras was a different matter entirely. Takeda took on the assignment and set out with two new staff members hired after the agency’s recent expansion to make inquiries.

Ye Zhao, for his part, was not about to play the part of an absentee boss; he had another daunting task awaiting him: organizing auditions for the main cast. A clever housewife cannot cook a meal without rice, and a film crew is nothing without its actors.

Since the story of *Kirishima Thing* is set in a high school and revolves around club activities, all the characters—with the exception of a few teachers played by bit-part actors—were high school students. Therefore, the target for casting was clearly defined: teenagers between seventeen and twenty years old. As for the teachers, they could be selected from the pool of seasoned extras who frequently appeared in television dramas.

Of course, if an actor’s image was a perfect fit, the age requirement could be relaxed slightly. After all, Masahiro Higashide, who played Hiroki Kikuchi in the original film, was already twenty-four at the time.

The "Kirishima" in the title of *Kirishima Thing* is much like Godot in *Waiting for Godot*; though everyone is searching for him, he never appears from beginning to end.

As for the other characters, the key figures included Ryoya Maeda, the director of the film club whom everyone viewed as a loser; Hiroki Kikuchi, a member of the baseball team, a popular rich kid, and Kirishima’s best friend; Kasumi Higashihara, a badminton club member quietly noticed by Maeda; Mikami, Kasumi’s teammate; Risa Iida, Kirishima’s girlfriend who was always waiting for him; Sana, who always clung to her boyfriend Hiroki despite only ever receiving indifferent responses; and Aya Sawajima, the brass band leader who silently watched over Hiroki.

Although at first glance it seems Ryoya Maeda is the protagonist—since most of the plot is presented through his eyes, and he is the one who delivers the only line with a true coming-of-age flair: "Let’s fight. This is our world. Because we have no choice but to live in it"—Ye Zhao felt that the true protagonist of the film was actually Hiroki Kikuchi. As someone who was close to Kirishima and attended the same cram school, he was the person most affected by Kirishima’s sudden departure. With his life centered around Kirishima and having grown accustomed to following in his shadow, the inherent emptiness of his existence was laid bare the moment Kirishima disappeared.

Ryoya Maeda is more like an ideal figure in a teen drama; although perceived by others as a loser, he possesses a precious quality that no one else has—the ability to pursue his dreams at his own pace, regardless of the outside world. The character of Hiroki Kikuchi is the projection of the absurd youth within the story. That is why, when praised as "really cool" by Maeda, Kikuchi bursts into tears; he realizes that everything he possesses is nothing but an empty shell.

Regarding the choice for Ryoya Maeda, Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s top pick was undoubtedly Tsuyoshi Domoto, even though Ye Zhao had stated beforehand that he did not intend to have a sparkling, top-tier idol play a loser.

Tsutsumi was somewhat skeptical of Ye Zhao’s view. After all, it is difficult for an actor’s public image to perfectly align with the character they play. Is it really a joke to say Louis Koo is "ordinary-looking"? Would you believe Kyoko Fukada has no boyfriend, no job, and no savings? How could Yui Aragaki not be needed by anyone? How could the seasoned veteran Gen Hoshino be an older virgin?

But if one were to actually cast an ordinary-looking, unwanted, unemployed, penniless older virgin to act, that would truly be a disaster.

Even so, Tsutsumi knew that hiring Tsuyoshi Domoto was not realistic.

Although he was nominally just a Junior, he had already starred in his own television dramas, held concerts at the Budokan, appeared on Music Station before his official debut, and had countless devoted fans. His schedule was packed from year to year. For such a low-budget film—and with a director who wasn't exactly a festival-trophy machine—the invitation would likely be shredded by his agent before it ever reached his hands.