Cutscene: Directing is a Race
Directing is a Race
"Someone once said, 'I look at directing as a sporting event. It's a race, a marathon. It's great when it clicks.'
"I think that somebody was an American director named Michael Bay, but we can look past that and just focus on the point: the adrenaline rush.
"Knowing you created something.
"The thrill of putting the pieces together.
"The anxiety of never really knowing if you're making a masterpiece or a flop.
"Maybe the director never gets the appreciation or recognition they deserve, but that's fine. They know more than anyone else --
"They're the creator. They make and weave life. And everything great comes from them."
Daisuke Itami lets out a soft sigh as he leans back into the seat of his office desk. The vast, circular room is empty save for the man himself perched lazily at its center, his feet propped up unceremoniously on the edge of his expensive desk.
"I think I appreciate the directors most of all. The ones who know who to bring together to achieve just that spark are essential to creating a great film. Who can maneuver their actors to just the right point that everything can come together in a simple, blissful harmony of elements. What's the use if there's no chemistry, after all? No conflict? If you can't find the right person to inspire love, or hate, or sorrow... disgust... if you can't inspire that very same in your actors... then what's the point?"
The chair tilts back dangerously with the groaning protest of metal hinges. The front legs of the piece of office furniture lift off the ground; Daisuke Itami ignores his precarious position in favor of staring at a simple stack of papers in his hands. A copy of notarized legal forms. At the very top, it reads simply:
"It's really too bad things came to this," he admits ruefully as he rifles through the original copy - the one that spawned the many sent out throughout the members of the Yashida-kai less than a week before. "I was so interested to see where your directing could have taken you, Mariko-chan. You could have made a great masterpiece if you were just left to your devices. But this works too, doesn't it?
"A star that burns brightest should always burn shortest. That's just nature~.
"You've left things in such a fun state of possibilities for me, Mariko-chan, so..."
A spark illuminates the space around Daisuke in the dimly lit room. A tongue of flame from a simple lighter rises up, catches the corner of the papers, and spreads like an angry infection as the private investigator casts them into the waste bin and watches the burn with eager eyes.
"... thank you so very much for all your hard work, you magnificent human being~."
