The Making of…
Chapter 41
Complications
It was set to be just another day filming out on the plains. Just filler scenes, floating around amongst the extras, very few lines, very little screen time – at least, that’s the impression I got at the beginning of the day. It’s funny how an on-the-spot decision can change everything, isn’t it?
At lunchtime, I was sitting in my chair beside Viggo, picking at a sandwich and sipping from a bottle of really gross strawberry-flavoured water. I mentally made a decision to go for the plain water next time... Or the lemon-flavoured at least. It was just another totally mundane day on the set – that is, until Peter walked up to us.
“Hey guys.” He smiled cheerfully at Viggo and myself, “Do you two mind doing an extra scene today?”
“Sure, what’s the scene?” Viggo asked as I sat forward in my chair.
“Well, remember the last kissing scene you did in the studio? The one I didn’t direct because I was editing?” I nodded simply whilst my stomach churned, “Well I was looking back at it and it just… Doesn’t seem right.” He waved his hand to accompany his explanation, “I was wondering if you’d mind doing it again?”
“Here?” I asked, gesturing to the area around us. It was pretty empty, apart from the small lake that sat about twenty meters away.
“Yeah, it seems like a better setting than the studio.” Peter shrugged, “So, are you guys ok with it?”
“Yep, we’ll be here.” I nodded, nervously glancing at Viggo. His expression was passive, keeping his emotions hidden. Peter walked away and I tossed the remains of my lunch into a nearby bin – trying to act as casual as possible whilst in my head I was repeating to myself, ‘It’s only another scene. It’s only another scene.’
For the rest of the day that we spent on the scheduled filming, I tried not to let my nerves – or my emotions – get the better of me. Ok, so it was a kissing scene. I’d done them before, why was this different? Well, mainly it was different because I now knew that I had feelings for Viggo… I’d been hoping that we wouldn’t have to kiss again until we started on The Return of the King, as I’d assumed that I’d have my feelings under control by that point… It seemed like that little plan had just merrily flown out the metaphorical window… I was so screwed.
*
Evening rolled around – just like it does every day, but it seemed to come too quickly for me. Cameras were packed up, horseboxes were town away, cast members retreated to their trailers and the extras went home. The set seemed empty, although there were still several people waiting for us to start our scene. Floodlights were lit as the sky darkened, and Viggo and I walked down to the shore of the lake, where we would be filming the scene. The reflection of the almost-full moon rippled on the surface, merging with the reflection of the white, artificial lights.
“Ready to go Ki?” Peter’s voice broke through my strangely observant haze and I glanced to the side, seeing him settling down in his chair behind the camera. He’d been talking to Viggo, giving him pointers about how to carry out the scene, how to make it better than last time. He was giving him advice on kissing me. The whole thing suddenly felt like a sick joke. A sick joke designed specifically to make me squirm inside. “Ok, let’s get going!” Peter clapped his hands together loudly, snapping me out of my daze and dragging me back to my inconvenient reality. I smiled weakly and went to take my place down by the waters edge. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the temperamental fog machine getting kicked to life, and it almost coaxed a laugh from my dry throat, but then I spotted Viggo taking up his position out of shot, and suddenly it seemed like my throat had closed over altogether. I forced myself to draw in a shaky breath, and then slipped into character. It was easy today, like slipping on an old, well worn pair of shoes. It was nice to escape reality and fall into Rana’s world – even if her world was as confusing as my own. “Action!” Peter called, and I felt the camera on my face, tracing my movements as I stared out at the lake.
