I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 464: Shinji: "This Part Is Left to the Actors to Improvise"
In truth, it wasn't just Arturia who was dissatisfied with this hillside.
Even Shinji, who had chosen it as the filming location, wasn't particularly fond of it.
In his original vision, the final battle of Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons should have taken place on a vast, open grassland.
Only an environment like that could truly convey the scale of the war between the dragon army and humanity's forces.
As for why it had to be a grassland?
Simple.
Once the Heroic Spirits tore up the turf during battle, the black earth beneath would be exposed. The stark contrast between the lush green grass and the scarred black ground would make the devastation they caused immediately obvious to the audience.
As the climactic battle of Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons, Shinji had drawn heavy inspiration from the final battle in Avengers: Endgame.
The Marvel films certainly had their flaws, but as the culmination of the Infinity Saga's first four phases, the climactic war between the Avengers and Thanos's army was undeniably excellent, with plenty worth learning from.
The two stories even shared several similarities.
Each important member of the protagonists had a counterpart.
Many of the villains' elite officers died rather unceremoniously amid the chaos of battle.
And, in both stories, the protagonist ultimately chose to sacrifice themselves together with the final boss in order to secure victory.
Ironically, however, Shinji believed that the hardest part of the finale to film wasn't the grand battle between dragons and humans.
It was the showdown between Jeanne Alter and Jeanne d'Arc.
The reason was simple.
There was absolutely nothing he could use as a reference.
Although he possessed both the game's script and two separate manga adaptations, the battle between Jeanne Alter and Jeanne was practically a blank slate.
In Kawaguchi's manga adaptation, the duel between the two Jeannes happened simultaneously with Siegfried's battle against the dragon.
At the end of one chapter, Kawaguchi showed Jeanne and Jeanne Alter facing each other in a dramatic standoff.
Then, in the following chapter, he spent the entire time illustrating just how awesome Siegfried was and how spectacularly he slew the dragon.
By the time Siegfried—boosted by a Command Spell—finally defeated Fafnir...
The Jeanne vs. Jeanne Alter fight was already over.
That's right.
When the perspective finally returned to Jeanne, she had already impaled Jeanne Alter clean through with her banner.
How had she done it?
Why had it happened?
Why wasn't it Jeanne Alter who had stabbed Jeanne instead?
Kawaguchi offered absolutely no explanation.
He simply presented the result.
It was like watching one of those videos where two beautiful women were about to fight.
The foreplay built anticipation perfectly.
You were completely invested.
Then, when the actual fight finally began...
It ended faster than rabbits mating.
(Rabbits only mate for a few seconds.)
Anyone would feel utterly cheated.
As for Shiramine's manga adaptation...
That version was even more outrageous.
Jeanne and Jeanne Alter never fought at all during the final battle.
Siegfried simply unleashed his Noble Phantasm and instantly killed both Jeanne Alter and Fafnir in one attack.
"What? Doesn't that make Siegfried ridiculously overpowered?"
No problem.
Just have Jeanne Alter stab him in the back at his weak point before dying, forcing this overpowered protagonist to leave the stage after completing his mission.
There.
Satisfied now?
As for the game's original script...
Let's just continue discussing the manga versions instead.
Back when Shinji had first read the manga, he had been deeply dissatisfied with how both adaptations handled the climax.
The biggest attraction of Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons was supposed to be the confrontation between Jeanne Alter and Jeanne d'Arc.
Yet somehow, neither version actually let them have a proper fight.
Now that Shinji himself had become the story's screenwriter, however, he could more or less understand why Kawaguchi and Shiramine had made that decision.
From the perspective of story structure, Jeanne had two major opponents during the final battle:
Jeanne Alter and Caster Gilles.
To defeat Gilles and help her Master, Ritsuka, restore the Singularity, Jeanne ultimately activated her Noble Phantasm, Luminosité Eternelle.
Through self-sacrifice, she ensured humanity could continue moving forward toward a brighter future.
Whether considering her character growth, the film's central themes, or the narrative's progression, Jeanne's self-sacrifice was unquestionably her defining highlight.
Since Jeanne was already guaranteed one major spotlight moment, giving her another spectacular duel against Jeanne Alter to further demonstrate her growth risked becoming repetitive character writing.
Given that the latter battle couldn't simply be removed, minimizing the focus on Jeanne Alter became a reasonable alternative.
Of course, Shinji also felt the issue could be viewed from the standpoint of the characters' established abilities.
If one looked back over the protagonists' lineup in the final battle, Ritsuka had seven Heroic Spirits under his command:
MashKiyohimeJeanne d'ArcElizabeth BathorySiegfriedMozartGeorge
Seven Servants sounded impressive.
But Elizabeth and Mozart had to deal specifically with the giant Elizabeth and Sanson.
George and Kiyohime were occupied clearing out the lesser wyverns.
Mash needed to support Siegfried in slaying Fafnir.
And Ritsuka using a Command Spell to empower Siegfried was an indispensable part of the plot.
When all of that was taken into account...
Jeanne was left to face Jeanne Alter entirely on her own.
Not to mention that Shinji had buffed his version of Jeanne Alter by making her an Avenger—even under the original setting where Jeanne Alter was a Ruler, Jeanne would still lose in a one-on-one fight without anyone helping her.
At the end of the day, the protagonists only had so many people.
Jeanne was supposed to be a support Servant, yet she was being forced into the role of the main damage dealer.
Could she really win?
She'd be hitting nothing but -1. She simply didn't have the stats for it.
The thing was, Kawaguchi and Shiramine had avoided the headache of the Jeanne vs. Jeanne Alter fight by simply glossing over it.
They took the easy way out.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't nearly so lucky.
The biggest selling point of Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons was the confrontation between the two Jeannes.
If the fight ended before Black Jeanne and White Jeanne even properly clashed, it'd be an even bigger case of false advertising than Batman v Superman.
But if they did fight, how exactly should it be handled?
In a 1 v 1 duel, Jeanne simply wasn't capable of defeating Jeanne Alter.
Audiences might not expect airtight logic from a commercial blockbuster, but there still had to be some logic.
Especially since Shinji himself had his own standards and obsessions when it came to filmmaking.
"...How am I supposed to handle this?"
Staring at the section of the script that was still completely blank, Shinji fell into deep thought.
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"Master, how exactly am I supposed to play this scene?"
As filming progressed, the moment when her black-clad self and white-clad self were supposed to fight was fast approaching.
Yet Jeanne still hadn't received a detailed script.
Unable to wait any longer, she confronted Shinji with the question.
"I've actually already finished the first draft..."
Since the moment of truth had finally arrived, Shinji stopped hesitating and handed over his draft.
Jeanne took one look at it.
Her face immediately darkened.
[The entire battle from this point onward shall be improvised by Miss Jeanne. The only required outcome is that White Jeanne stabs Black Jeanne to death.]
"...What is this supposed to mean?"
After passing the script around, Jeanne and Enkidu—who was serving as the temporary actor for Jeanne Alter—looked at each other in disbelief.
Throughout filming, Shinji had often told them to "improvise" during action scenes.
But that kind of freedom always came after he had outlined the general flow of the battle and explained the important points to pay attention to.
This time, however...
He had only provided the ending.
Everything in between?
Completely freeform.
Was he kidding?
"Master... what exactly do you mean by this?"
In the end, even the normally easygoing Enkidu couldn't help asking.
"I mean exactly what it says."
Shinji answered with complete confidence.
"I trust Jeanne's ability to choreograph action scenes. So this battle is entirely up to you two. As long as it's exciting, anything goes."
"...Master, aren't you always saying that clients who don't give any requirements are the worst kind to work with? Then why are you—"
"Hey! Shinji Matou! Don't run away!!"
Under Jeanne's orders, Enkidu used the Chains of Heaven to capture Shinji, who had already started making a run for it after spouting his nonsense.
"I seriously don't have any better ideas!"
Unable to shrug because he was tied up, Shinji simply flopped onto the ground and gave up.
"I honestly can't figure out how Jeanne is supposed to win."
"So just think of some way for your left hand to beat your right hand."
"As long as the logic is internally consistent, I'll accept it."
Watching Shinji wriggle around on the ground like a giant caterpillar, Jeanne finally lost her patience.
She kicked him straight down the hillside.
"You useless Master! Fine! I'll figure it out myself!"
Accompanied by Shinji Matou's miserable scream echoing down the slope, Jeanne decided to roll up her sleeves and handle the problem herself.
In truth, if Shinji had really wanted to design the fight himself, it wasn't as though he couldn't.
After making action movies for so many years, choreographing a battle between Jeanne and Jeanne Alter was well within his abilities.
The reason he hadn't produced one was because he wasn't satisfied with any of his ideas.
The true difficulty wasn't simply designing the duel itself.
The challenge was that the fight served as the lead-in to Jeanne's final confrontation with Caster Gilles.
It couldn't be too flashy, or it would overshadow the climax that followed.
But at the same time, this duel was also the movie's biggest promotional highlight.
That meant it absolutely had to look spectacular.
Finding the perfect balance between those two goals was anything but easy.
No matter how much Zack Snyder's fans praised the story of Batman v Superman, very few of them had the nerve to insist that the actual fight between Superman and Batman—which only lasted a few minutes—was thoroughly satisfying.
At most, they'd compliment its bold visual style and the way it was staged.
It couldn't be helped.
People genuinely wanted more.
Shinji's situation wasn't all that different from what Zack Snyder had faced back then.
Since he couldn't come up with a version that he himself considered perfect...
He might as well let Jeanne figure it out herself.
Whether Jeanne ultimately came up with something good or not, at least it'd be authentic.
What?
You think it'd feel fake?
Then go challenge Saint Jeanne to a one-on-one duel yourself.
You're sure to come away with a valuable lesson.
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"Master is always dumping troublesome jobs on me."
Even as she complained about Shinji's habit of relentlessly exploiting her, Jeanne knew she had to seriously think about how to make this fight both exciting and restrained enough not to overshadow the climax.
"But you seem pretty happy about it."
Her partner, Enkidu, glanced at the smile on Jeanne's face.
"Hmm... maybe because this is something I wanted as well?"
Jeanne lightly tapped her chin with a finger as she answered thoughtfully.
"Even if it's only a movie, it's also a conversation with another version of myself."
"When we were filming FA, I kept asking myself..."
"Do I truly not hate them?"
"Is it that I genuinely don't harbor any hatred, or is it simply that, after becoming a Heroic Spirit, I'm no longer allowed to hate?"
"Perhaps this is the perfect chance for me to find the answer myself."
"A willing sacrifice, huh?"
Enkidu smiled softly and offered his encouragement.
"Then give it everything you've got."
Jeanne's smile became even brighter.
"Yes, Mr. Enkidu."
'This really is a wonderful opportunity!'
Jeanne believed that if she could successfully create this scene herself...
Then she would truly deserve to be called Saint Jeanne d'Arc.
As for the Master who had dumped all the responsibility onto her...
Jeanne was now completely convinced that Shinji was exactly what Arturia had described him as—
A thoroughly unscrupulous scoundrel.
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 476: Shirou: I'll Take Both[1]!
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