DISCLAIMER: Full credit goes to Nakamura Yoshiki, the creator of Skip Beat, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Height's, and Yoshishige Yoshida's Arashi ga Oka. A full bibliography of works cited will be included with Chapter 10. The only thing I own is the character O'Hara Cho (an OC).
My thanks to the wonderful OnePlotThickens for their help Beta-ing this story.
They've helped to give it a finesse I couldn't achieve by myself.
STORMY HILLS
2| O'Hara
Kyoko had raced upstairs shortly after her epiphany. There had been conflicting thoughts racing through her mind even as she spoke to Sawara-san about the offer. A tiny, illusionary Tusruga-san whispered of how disappointed he was of her duplicitous actions, while another- this time her Otou-san– affirmed that he was proud she had committed to the job, if in a somewhat skewed way. She decided that this time she would take Otou-san's advice over Japan's number one actor's, though she wasn't resolutely sure that she should have just listened to them both instead.
Now, she was sat in a nondescript LME boardroom surrounded by fellow actors, the directors, and a few of the costume and makeup department. Director Ogata had welcomed her warmly to the then empty room, ushering her close to the head of the table in the centre of the meeting space before the large drop down projector screen. Kyoko had been incredibly early, having already been helping various departments in her LoveMe gear, so the two chatted while other cast and crew members arrived. The staff from costume, hair and makeup were the next to file in, as were a few supporting-role actors.
They had been scheduled to begin talks at ten that morning. It was now edging ever closer to eleven, and they were all beginning to feel a little restless. Small talk had been eliminated with the first twenty minutes of waiting, as had the complimentary water jugs and fresh fruit displayed in the centre of the board room table. Longer conversations waned. Kyoko had flicked through her script maniacally once more while Director Ogata anxiously checked his wristwatch.
Ogata winced sympathetically as irritated whispers and hushed conversation filled the room; "I am very sorry for this. Usually Director-"
"Sorry we're late. I got lost carrying this giant box halfway around the office spaces. Luckily, I bumped into Kijima-san on my second tour of the lobby." A voice announced from behind a comically large carboard box. They tottered into the room on conservatively low heeled shoes, struggling to get the box past the doorframe. Kijima Hidehito, from the Akatoki Agency, sheepishly followed and closed the door behind him. He slipped into an empty seat across the table from Kyoko; nodding to her in greeting.
"As I was saying," Ogata continued timidly, "Director O'Hara is never usually late, extenuating circumstances aside."
"O'Hara Cho," the voice behind the box introduced herself with slightly accented Japanese. Their heavy load was dumped on the table top, causing the now empty water jug and fruit bowls to rattle. A tiny, vibrantly redhaired woman waved to them all, before bowing deeply in respect. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope we can all work well together- and before you ask, my father was Irish and I'm half Japanese."
Director O'Hara opened her giant carboard box, standing on tip toe as she delved inside, ignoring the curious whispers. Why her heritage was a qualm for them, those collected in the meeting room couldn't be sure; they politely tucked that piece of information away.
"I'm really glad you could all make it here this morning," She said, pulling heavy stacks of books from the box.
"As am I," Ogata chimed. "You may already know that this project is titled 'Stormy Hills', but we have gathered here to further elaborate on the project."
O'Hara divided the piles into smaller stacks and slid them to the person sat at each corner of the long edge of the table. "If you could take one of these and pass the pile along, I would be most obliged."
They all did so, and Kyoko ran her fingers along the spine and cover of the new text, which lay beside her script on the table top. The title and author were displayed in English on the front, and she suspected the entire novel was too. A bleak landscape depicted on the cover drew her in; through the swirling white and grey mist she could discern the blackened figure of a lonely house atop a hill. A weathered tree curled into and over the wall fencing the property away from the outside world.
"You may know that 'Wuthering Heights' is an incredibly popular and highly regarded classic text in England. Countless attempts to adapt the story have been made, but the text is so rich and sporadic that one cannot possibly include it all in an adaption," O'Hara drummed her fingers lightly on the cover of her own book. It had not been pulled from the carboard box, unlike the others, but from a small fashionable satchel slung across her body. The cover was worn, the spine cracked, and Kyoko could see the discolouration of the dog-eared pages from where she was sat. O'Hara's copy of the novel was well loved and read within an inch of its life. The implied passion the Director was obviously imbuing into Stormy Hills made Kyoko want to squirm.
"That being said," Director Ogata interjected softly, "I've gained a bit of a reputation for re-doing old, incredibly popular dramas, and when O'Hara-san approached me with this project- a re-interpretation of 'Wuthering Heights' loosely inspired by the movie 'Arashi Ga Oka', I couldn't help myself."
A few gasps rung through the room. Like with Tsukikomori and Dark Moon, one did not take on a project to upstage the earlier success of a film or drama lightly. The final result of a re-make had to be of a higher calibre than the original, or so entrancing that one wouldn't mind the obvious differences and limitations. Unknown to Kyoko, Akira Kurosawa had successfully adapted western texts to Japanese settings and film many years before her birth and rise into showbiz. He was the main example to follow and upstage. Yoshishige Yoshida's Arashi ga Oka had also been a big hit, though the young talent was not to know this. The other members of the meeting clearly thought both Director's insane though. O'Hara and Ogata were suggesting they do the very same as some famous directors before them, but with the influence of both a prior Japanese and English example and forgoing a solid interpretation of either.
O'Hara sucked in a breath, "We do want to make some changes though."
"'Wuthering Heights' is set within the eighteenth century, and 'Arashi ga Oka' the medieval era of our history," Director Ogata informed them gently. "While O'Hara-san was writing the script, we both felt that we should set the time frame within the later period of the Tokugawa Shogunate, perhaps even the late eighteenth-century. There are things we wish to keep from the original film, yet we wish to include the visceral graphic quality from 'Wuthering Heights' also."
"Beyond Cathy and Heathcliff- Kinu and Onimaru's difference in social standing, class and the laws of their world, we wished to make it clear that they are battling for a relationship. It transcends further than just their love for one another into simply being able to possess one another in a strict political climate," Director O'Hara sadly caressed the spine of her well-read book. "This is a period of fledgling modernity, yet still steeped in tradition and superstition. Our attempts to bring western and native together is difficult, and both of us ask of you to read the script and the novel analytically."
"Bring anything you can, any ideas at all on characters, settings, costumes; your input is welcome." Ogata bowed his head.
They would need it. With such a risky project came a small budget. It was likely that they would all have to chip in at some point with their insight or skills due to being short-staffed. Kyoko felt a rock settle in her stomach. The heavy weight stopped her from squirming uneasily, but it also held her down guiltily. Should she fail to embody a perfect Kinu, not only the livelihoods of the gathered actors, actresses and staff would be on the line, but the reputations of Directors Ogata and O'Hara too.
There and then, Kyoko felt a nervous, chilling sweat bead on the back of her neck.