I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 456: Jeanne d'Arc — A Certain Director-Master Really Has No Humanity
"You still want to keep acting in movies?"
Shinji genuinely hadn't expected Marie to make such a request.
After all, filming Prologue had not been a pleasant experience for Olga Marie. Even setting aside the dark history of Shinji secretly planting suggestions in the young Lord's mind, Olga Marie had gained far more negative experiences than positive ones during production.
Yet somehow, one round of that wasn't enough. Olga Marie actually wanted to do it again?
Don't tell me being scolded by me awakened some strange fetish in you? A masochistic kink, perhaps?
To avoid ending up taking a magic spell to the face, Shinji wisely kept that thought to himself.
"Ahem. Why exactly do you want to star in my movies again?"
"What, is that not allowed?"
Hearing his question, Olga Marie's face immediately showed disappointment.
"It's not that it's not allowed. I just... do you really enjoy acting?"
If the young Lord genuinely had a desire to stand in front of a camera, Shinji wouldn't mind giving her another role.
After all, Olga Marie was undeniably beautiful. Letting audiences admire a pretty girl on screen could hardly be considered a mistake.
As for her painfully terrible acting skills, Shinji honestly wasn't too concerned.
As long as the actor was attractive enough and the director skilled enough, a certain gap in acting ability could be compensated for.
Besides, Shinji wasn't just the director—he was also the screenwriter. Adjusting a role to better suit the actor was hardly difficult for him.
"So, can you tell me why you want to participate again?"
Resting his chin on his hands, Shinji asked with unusual seriousness.
"Why are you being so serious about this?"
Olga Marie was startled by his attitude. For a moment, she thought she had somehow upset him.
Shinji didn't answer. He simply continued staring at her.
"Well, it's like this."
Trying to remain composed, Olga Marie replied:
"This time, Prologue was very well received within the Department of Astromancy. People have been saying privately that I'm actually a decent person, and my support there has increased quite a bit. So I think this is a great opportunity to show everyone who I really am. I want to keep acting and gain everyone's recognition!"
So you're basically becoming an idol to save the Department of Astromancy?
The answer shocked Shinji so much that he nearly blurted out the thought in dialect.
"In other words, you want to consolidate support within the department?" he asked.
"Exactly."
Olga nodded vigorously.
I'm definitely not going to tell you that I only want to keep acting so I can settle the score with that flat-chested girl!
Unable to meet Shinji's eyes, Olga Marie awkwardly looked away.
To be honest, she didn't actually think acting was particularly enjoyable.
However, the anger she felt from Rin Tohsaka's ridicule easily outweighed all the unpleasant parts of being an actress.
How dare she say I'm completely useless? I'll crush her in acting and leave her in the dust!
Olga clenched her fists tightly, determined to defeat Rin.
After all, if they competed in magecraft or almost anything else, Rin would probably refuse to admit defeat and insist that her family background and social standing made her superior.
Acting, however, was different.
This was the one field where Olga wasn't relying on anyone else. It was something achieved entirely through her own efforts.
She believed that only by defeating Rin in acting could she truly make her acknowledge defeat.
Of course, little Marie overlooked one important fact: the only reason she had entered the film industry at all was because of Shinji's help.
Perhaps she simply didn't regard Shinji's support as an external factor. Deep down, she didn't consider him an outsider.
Or perhaps she felt that Rin had also received Shinji's assistance in film-related matters, making the playing field even.
Naturally, Shinji had no idea what was really going on inside Olga's head.
Instead, he was pondering which character in Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons would suit Olga Marie best.
In fact, the moment she made her request, Shinji had already run through all the currently unfilled roles in his mind.
And he really did find one role that fit her perfectly.
"Shinji, I know my character in FGO has already exited the stage for now."
Olga Marie assumed Shinji was hesitating about whether to cast her in the movie, so she immediately began trying to sell herself.
"Even if I can't play myself, that's fine. As long as it's a character in the movie, I can put on makeup and—"
"—I have a role."
Shinji suddenly interrupted.
"You just need to—wait, what?! You already have a role for me?"
A slight smile appeared on Shinji's face.
"Of course. And it's a fairly important role that's very well suited to you."
"Oh, really?"
Olga Marie leaned forward eagerly, desperate to know which character it was.
"She is a noblewoman."
"That sounds good."
"She has silver hair."
"Just like me."
"She has been misunderstood and misrepresented for many years."
"That's somewhat similar to my own experience."
"She has a good relationship with the protagonist and meets them at the very beginning of the story."
"..."
"But her death guides the protagonist and points the way forward."
"Hey! Shinji, isn't this character just me?"
"Of course not." Shinji shook his head. "She's Queen Marie."
Olga Marie: (≖_≖ )??
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Just as Shinji had said, Olga Marie and Queen Marie shared many similarities.
For example, they both had beautiful silver hair, prestigious family backgrounds, tragic life experiences, and, most importantly—they were both named Marie.
Originally, if the young Lord hadn't made this request, Shinji would have been preparing to summon Queen Marie herself.
But now that he had a silver-haired girl willing to act in the film, he immediately replaced the Servant with her.
The main reason was that Shinji had made certain adjustments to Queen Marie's characterization in the script.
Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons had never received an anime adaptation, so Shinji's screenplay was based solely on the game's text and the two manga adaptations.
Regardless of the version, Queen Marie was portrayed as a tragic yet wholly positive character.
There was nothing inherently wrong with that. Type-Moon's treatment of history had always leaned heavily toward rehabilitating so-called villains. Marie was far from the only historical figure to receive such treatment.
However, in Shinji's opinion, the way Marie had been rehabilitated went a little too far.
The portrayal almost made it seem as though she had been sacrificed by a bunch of unreasonable commoners who simply wanted someone to blame.
Shinji knew very well that while the famous "Let them eat cake" quote had nothing to do with the real Marie Antoinette, she certainly wasn't the flawless saint that Type-Moon depicted either.
As a result, he revised the character.
She remained a positive and tragic figure, but the focus shifted toward her acceptance of her own death. She clearly understood that the historical Marie had become an obstacle to social progress, and therefore willingly accepted history's judgment upon her.
It was precisely because of this understanding that the Queen Marie summoned into the Singularity chose to assist Chaldea. In her eyes, that was the path toward humanity's future.
However, after making these changes, the Queen Marie in Shinji's script was no longer completely identical to the Queen Marie of Type-Moon history.
The difference wasn't huge, but it was enough to place the character in an awkward middle ground.
Summoning Heroic Spirits required leyline resources and catalysts.
If a Heroic Spirit perfectly matched the script, summoning them was absolutely worthwhile—after all, their special effects came built in.
But if there were characterization differences, and the Spirit wasn't going to be used repeatedly, then factors such as acting training and various additional production costs had to be considered as well...
"Yeah, having her play Queen Marie is definitely the best option."
Looking at Olga Marie's costume photos as Queen Marie, Shinji became more convinced that his decision had been correct.
"You only think it's the best option because it saves production costs, don't you, Master?" Jeanne commented dryly.
"By your logic, that means you're only complaining about me because things didn't go your way."
As he spoke, Shinji winked at her.
The only response he received was a deadpan glare from Jeanne.
Still, Shinji wasn't merely joking.
On the very first day Jeanne joined the Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons production, he had told her this:
"Jeanne, Jalter is going to be very different from the image you've always had of yourself."
The Saint's director-Master was completely blunt:
"I need an evil, violent witch who kills without blinking. Not a saint who hesitates and questions her own atrocities."
"...Couldn't you just modify my Saint Graph directly?"
"I could. But even as an Alter, you're not that kind of utterly pure evil person, are you?"
"..."
Jeanne had to admit that her Master was brutally straightforward.
Unable to refute him, she spent her first day on set trying to act fierce and intimidating.
The problem was that scenes for Jeanne and Jeanne Alter were filmed alternately.
As a result, she had to switch constantly between acting vicious and acting gentle.
After a while, Jeanne felt as if she were developing a split personality.
"I was wrong. I shouldn't have laughed at the King of Knights before. Now I just want Master to split off a separate Saint Graph for me."
While enduring enough forced personality whiplash to potentially create an entirely new Saint Graph, Jeanne also met the actress who would be her primary co-star in the film: Olga Marie.
In the script, Queen Marie served as Jeanne's guide.
It was Queen Marie's death that showed Jeanne the path forward and strengthened her determination to fight Jeanne Alter to the very end.
Logically speaking, Jeanne and Olga should have spent a great deal of time together on set.
Yet Olga was constantly coming and going. Unless they were actually filming a scene, Jeanne rarely saw her.
"Nothing special. I just have to work on another set too."
When Jeanne asked about it, Olga shrugged.
"Shinji thinks my acting skills aren't quite good enough to fully carry the role of Queen Marie yet. So he has me doing minor background roles over on the The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II set next door as training."
Jeanne casually replied, "You've got it rough, then. Working two jobs at the same time."
"No, not really. The Case Files work is just an internship. It doesn't even count as a job. This movie is my only actual acting work."
"..."
At that moment, Jeanne swore that her Master was absolutely exploiting the young Lord's labor for free.
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