The Making of…
Chapter 60
Epilogue
Let’s see… How long had it been? Two years? No… It was a little more than that. For the sake of argument, everyone was saying two years though. Two years since we finished the principal photography stage of The Return of the King, two years since I’d left New Zealand. And now here we were, back and in the middle of the last day of post production filming. Most people had already officially finished, but there were still a few scenes to go – for me, there was only one. One more scene before I said goodbye to Rana forever. It wasn’t a particularly important scene, just a battle in front of a green screen. Very little dialogue or interaction with other characters… Just another scene. Normally I would have had it in a few takes, but Peter had kept me going for nine.
“And… Cut.” I looked up in surprise from where I had been ‘stabbing’ one of the Stunties. It was over. “Well done guys, that was Kira’s last scene.” Our director announced, smiling at me. It was over.
I looked around as the people gathered behind the cameras started clapping and I smiled shyly, trying to hold back the tears that pooled in my eyes, blurring my vision as I turned back to the set, looking past the stuntmen and extras for one face. Viggo smiled at me as he sheathed his sword and walked over to me, and then I was in his arms, burying my face in his shoulder as he held me, comfortingly rubbing my back. He didn’t say anything as I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding myself to him. This was just as hard for him, only he had one more scene to do before he and Aragorn parted ways. He gently kissed the top of my head and pulled back, smiling at me and nodding in the direction of the cameras – meaning that Peter was waiting to speak to me. I nodded weakly and untangled myself from his arms, drying my eyes on the sleeve of my costume as I made my way over to our crazy-haired director. He hugged me tightly as I tried in vain to hold back my tears.
“Thank you Pete.” I choked as the tears came and I could do nothing to stop them.
“Thank you Kira.” He insisted, and I was instantly reminded of the last time we did this… It didn’t seem so long ago now. I knew he needed to move on to the last few scenes, so I pulled away and smiled weakly. “I’ll talk to you later, ok Ki?” He sighed, patting my shoulder as I nodded. Then he moved back to the cameras and started talking about the next scene. I knew this was Viggo’s one, but I had some time before they started shooting, so I headed back to the makeup bus.
As I dressed out of my costume for the very last time and got my makeup removed, I looked around at all the photos that surrounded me. The bus hadn’t changed at all since we’d left, apart from the fact that Viggo and I had added a few photos since we’d arrived back. I removed my contact lenses and sat back in my chair, looking at all the stuff we’d done in the past few years, and in the years before that. These films had been such a huge part of my life, and now I was leaving them. What was I going to do now? More films? None would ever be as big as these, but it was an option. There was no rush to move on though, I had my life with Viggo, and that was enough for now. I smiled and picked up my ring from the dressing table in front of me, slipping it onto my finger and staring at it as the light caught in the tiny faucets of the small diamond, sending glittering little squares dancing across the walls of the bus.
“Hey Ki?” Karl poked his head through the door of the bus, interrupting my daze. “They’re about to start Vig’s scene out there.”
“Ok.” I smiled, standing and following him out of the bus. Rylee was waiting for him outside and he slipped his arm around her waist as we walked back to the set. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans as I went and stood behind the camera as Orlando, Brett and Viggo received their final instructions from Peter, before he moved behind the camera and called ‘Action’. They were just doing another battle scene, but Peter kept asking for more takes. I was beginning to realise that there was nothing wrong with the acting… Pete just didn’t want to say cut. When he eventually did, the applause started, and I smiled at Viggo as he looked up. Orlando and Brett patted his back as he walked over to Peter and hugged him. After a few seconds, he pulled away, said something quietly to Peter and then walked over to me. He was clearly upset, we all were, and I pulled him into a tight hug. He hugged me back for a brief moment, before pulling away.
