Chapter 226: Denis Villeneuve
Irisviel was an easygoing optimist who never really worried too much. She had no idea what was troubling Shinji and instead shifted her attention back to the Fate/Apocrypha film crew.
Watching the magi walking past the window of Shinji's temporary office, she brought up a concern.
"Shinji, are you really letting all these magi move freely around the set? Haven't you run into any problems?"
"In my Spy Among Spies crew, we only brought in a small number of magi, but even that was enough to make trying to keep magecraft a secret a complete nightmare!"
No matter how carefree and naive she was, Irisviel still understood the fundamental rule of the World of Magecraft—magic must not be exposed.
"Of course it's different."
Shinji shrugged and put on an 'I am the strongest' kind of expression.
"Oh? You got some kind of special trick?"
Irisviel leaned in, a little eager.
"In my crew, ordinary people are actually the minority. As long as I keep them in the dark, it's fine."
"...Huh. I guess that makes sense."
Irisviel deflated slightly.
Since Shinji's crew was mostly composed of magi, anytime magecraft was involved in filming, they just needed to keep the few ordinary people out of the way.
Her crew, however, was mostly normal people. That meant every time they needed to use magecraft for special effects, it was a huge hassle.
Take something as simple as an action scene between two Servants.
Shinji's crew could just clear out the ordinary staff, roll the cameras, and let the Servants go wild.
Of course, it wasn't quite that simple. Some special camera angles required careful planning, and Shinji had to set things up in advance. But overall, the only thing he had to focus on was the filmmaking process—hiding magecraft wasn't even a concern.
In fact, Shinji and his crew were so mischievous that they sometimes deliberately left ordinary staff on set.
Then, right in front of them, they would casually use magecraft for filming, passing it off as 'new technology'.
Shinji had already pulled this trick on Akiha once before.
Before she found out that Rider was actually stabbed for real, Akiha had been totally fascinated by what she thought was 'fake blood' made using new technology.
Whenever this happened, the magi in Shinji's crew would walk out of sight from the ordinary people and burst into silent laughter.
It had even become a tradition in Shinji's crew.
"I don't have the same kind of freedom you do!"
Irisviel sighed in frustration.
"My crew may have fewer magi, but we've had several paranormal incidents already. And since we're filming a spy movie, a lot of the crew thinks our set is haunted by the ghosts of dead spies!"
"…Your crew's imagination is way too wild."
Shinji rubbed his forehead. "And what about Diarmuid and Kiritsugu? Shouldn't they be keeping things under control?"
"Diarmuid's a nice guy, you know that. Since there hasn't been any real exposure of magecraft, he doesn't think it's a big deal."
Irisviel looked equally exasperated. "As for Kiritsugu… what do you expect him to do? Hold a gun to the magi's heads?"
"…Fair point."
Shinji let out a sigh as well.
Neither Kiritsugu nor Diarmuid were particularly good at managing people.
Diarmuid, for one, had undeniable charisma—unless something as catastrophic as what happened in Fate/Zero occurred, most people couldn't bring themselves to dislike him.
But he was too gentle. Unless someone violated his code as a knight, even if people joked about his life story, he would just smile and brush it off.
This personality really isn't suited for leadership.
'Should I find a strict guy to back up Diarmuid?'
However, Irisviel wasn't actually asking Shinji for help—she was just venting a little.
It seemed that, while things on the Spy Among Spies set were a bit of a hassle, they weren't a serious problem.
"Oh right, I almost forgot."
Irisviel handed Shinji a massive tote bag. "These are the raw dailies for you to check. The whole movie isn't done yet, but we've finished a lot of the key scenes. Take a look."
"Alright!"
Shinji nodded and immediately called in the crew to set up a viewing.
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"Not bad!"
After watching all the footage in the editing room, Shinji gave his assessment.
The plot was mostly the same as the Mission: Impossible that he remembered. Some scenes had been tweaked to avoid potential copyright issues, but overall, it followed the same basic structure.
Still, different directors meant different styles, and the overall feel of this Not-Mission: Impossible was pretty distinct from the original.
Comparing the two in his mind, Shinji noticed that both versions had their strengths and weaknesses, and neither was anywhere close to his personal favorite—Mission: Impossible 6.
'But considering the current state of the film industry, this level should be good enough.'
Shinji was confident that, as the series continued, the quality would definitely improve.
"Right now, the global action film market is still dominated by old-school action flicks—lots of violence, not much technique."
"But our Spy Among Spies ditched the tired 'guns, guns, and more guns' approach. Instead, we've integrated martial arts choreography with high-tech gadgets."
"The pacing is still a bit slow, but we can fix that in editing."
After patting himself on the back, Shinji casually pointed out a weakness.
"Eh?! Really?!"
Irisviel's eyes lit up with excitement. "So there aren't any major issues?"
"Yeah."
Shinji glanced at her. "The whole thing should be finished by the end of May, right?"
Like Shinji's own films, Spy Among Spies had most of its visual effects done during filming, so post-production wouldn't take too long.
"Of course! If everything goes smoothly, we'll be done by mid-May."
Irisviel wasn't just a mascot producer—she didn't handle the day-to-day details, but she always had a grip on the production schedule.
Shinji made the call. "Alright, then. I'll talk to Time Group about scheduling the release for late June or early July."
The timeline was a bit tight, but since this was a semi-plagiarized movie, Shinji was confident it would work.
Besides, if they wanted to grow the film company, how could they settle for just one movie per summer?
In the past, they didn't have the production capacity, but now that they did, they had to maximize output.
With Shinji's release schedule in hand, Irisviel cheerfully headed back to the set.
Meanwhile, after checking in on Diarmuid's progress, Shinji immediately went to check on the other Lancer's production.
Overall, compared to Spy Among Spies, the filming of Ultraseven X was progressing significantly slower.
Because Ultraseven X was a cyberpunk film, every single set had to be constructed separately, which significantly slowed down production.
But Shinji wasn't in a hurry—good work takes time.
The goal of Ultraseven X was to become a cinematic classic, so rushing and allowing mistakes would be the real problem.
Initially, Shinji had planned to submit Ultraseven X to next year's Cannes Film Festival.
But then, director Denis Villeneuve hit him with a surprise.
"At our current pace, we should have the final cut ready by August."
"Wait— August?"
Shinji asked, stunned.
"Yes." Denis Villeneuve nodded. "Mister Matou, didn't you want this film to compete in the Big Three film festivals?"
"Well, yeah."
Denis Villeneuve's lips curved slightly. "Among the Big Three, the latest one is the Venice Film Festival at the end of August. If we submit our application early and push right up to the final deadline for film entries, we can make it."
Shinji was floored.
"…Denis, when I said 'the Big Three,' I meant Cannes next year..."
"..."
Denis Villeneuve froze in awkward silence.
He had been pushing himself for months, working late nights to speed up production—only to find out the deadline wasn't even that tight?!
"…Should I, uh… slow down?"
Still processing the situation, Denis suggested something completely ridiculous.
"Forget it. Just keep going at your pace."
Shinji shook his head. "Venice works too. In fact, Ultraseven X might actually be a better fit for Venice than Cannes."
Even though all three major film festivals claimed to promote cinematic art, each had a different focus.
Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival) was a Cold War-era festival, so it leaned heavily towards politically charged and socially conscious films.
Cannes was all about discovering new talent, which gave Denis an edge as a fresh director.
But Cannes' awards were unpredictable—winners were decided by a jury, and whether a film won depended entirely on whether it resonated with the jury president.
Meanwhile, Venice was much more straightforward.
Venice had one criteria for awards—pure artistry.
That said, Venice wasn't opposed to innovation—especially in technology.
In fact, in the future, Venice would even introduce a VR Film Competition in 2017.
Another key difference: Venice didn't discriminate against VFX-heavy films—as long as they were artistic enough, even blockbusters could win.
Shinji was pretty sure that the sci-fi romance film The Shape of Water had won the Golden Lion at Venice.
"The real question is… will those old Europeans consider Ultraseven X 'artistic' enough?"
Shinji rubbed his chin, frowning.
Compared to other Ultraman films, Ultraseven X was undeniably a work of cinematic art.
But compared to actual arthouse films? Ultraseven X was still an action movie at heart.
"Ah, screw it. If it doesn't win, I'll just send it to Cannes next year."
Shinji gave up worrying. He scratched his head, his expression shifting into mild frustration.
"As long as it gets into one of the Big Three and gains major exposure, that's all that matters."
Shinji realized he was overthinking things. He clapped his hands together, a grin spreading across his face.
Winning an award at a major festival was almost impossible for a sci-fi film—it was all up to fate.
Even in his past life, Blade Runner, despite being hailed as a sci-fi masterpiece, had only won a visual arts award.
So if awards were a long shot anyway, then forget about them—just getting the film into the festival was enough.
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Tn: Spy Among Spies is this world Mission: Impossible
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