Hollywood Hills

Chapter Forty-Eight

Five days later, she was back in LA climbing again into Eli's truck after a smashing dinner with Julien. The whole affair was simply splendid, the kind of evening that made all the others, the not-so good and the bad ones, worthwhile.

"Do you get my point, now?" she said once she'd buckled up.

"About?"

"Julien is a year older than me ... your age, and the kind of things they say about him are what? "The young Turk," "brash newcomer," "enfant terrible," that kind of stuff."

"What about them?"

"Well, other than the fact they're mostly not true ... I mean, he's been in the business for ages ... why is it that a man in his forties is youthful and ...."

"A woman is past her 'sell-by date'?" He completed the thought using her pet phrase.

"Exactly my point," she said.

"It isn't fair," he agreed. "And you're right about Julien. There's nothing brash about him, though I don't know him professionally."

"You like him, don't you?" she asked.

"I do, actually. He's shockingly normal. And he doesn't have to pay me for any of the notes I made on the script. But haven't they finished filming already?"

"Just in Vancouver. They'll have another few weeks in France and Morocco, and then there'll probably be some reshoots. The overseas scenes are the real meat of the picture."

"I hope it goes well. Whoever wrote the script got the tone and terminology down right ... except for one or two sections. I don't care how he dresses, an American intelligence officer isn't going to blend into a working-class neighborhood in Cairo. Wait ... are they filming there?"

"Nah," she drawled. "Morocco is a stand-in for the entire Middle East these days."

"Oh, got it. But it's a shame you're not going to be working with Julien on this new film. What's it about? You never said."

"I'm sorry, too," was her calm reply. The audition process on the film Julien was scripting had not gone well, hadn't gone at all, in fact. She buried the ugly thought. "It's sort of a mix between horror and historical mystery. You know, historian solves old murder, ends curse ... that kind of thing."

"What role did they want you for? The sexy ghost? The brilliant exorcist?"

"No," she said with a laugh. "They were looking for someone to play the poor woman who owned the haunted property. I guess I wasn't it."

"Too gorgeous, again," he said matter-of-factly, "despite your extensive real-world experience."

She gave him a long look. "I don't know about that. They're probably looking for a bigger name. It's not the lead role, but it's a pretty meaty part." She wanted to talk about something else; the whole experience was still a little tender and annoying. But she said nothing about it.

"How was it the enfant terrible picked you out for this last picture?"

"Oh, it was very nice," she said, mentally thanking Eli for changing the subject. "I guess he heard from a friend of a friend that I was looking for work, and the friend, whose name I never got, said I hadn't gone to fat."

"Ha! You sure haven't."

"Well, it was sweet. It's only Julien's third film directing, and it's his first big one. He took a huge chance on me, especially for that scene. And the film's already getting a lot of buzz. If it's successful, there'll be more, and he's the kind of guy who likes casting the same people over and over. I wouldn't object to working with him again."

"How's business, otherwise?" he asked.

"Great." She gave a broad smile. "It looks like we'll meet our crowd-funding goal for the short, and if all goes well, we'll shoot the whole thing in April. We've already begun building an advertising plan. I'm pushing it with some friends from back in the day who help run a couple of small sci-fi film festivals, and I'll be flogging it wherever I go on the convention circuit over the next few months."

"Where are you going to find the time for all this? Aren't you going to be the voice for the pirate queen?"

"Eli, honey, I'm going to be one busy little bee the next six months or so. Ohhh ... I didn't tell you. The Germans want me for some more commercials. I guess they're launching a new line and they liked my look on the first commercial."

"Kate, you are Teutonic beauty."

"Yup. They did some focus groups, and I played well in all their major markets. Apparently, my 'I know her from somewhere' face is good for commercials. It tricks viewers into paying closer attention. And ... I guess I'm good looking."

"I could've told you that. You didn't need to bother the Germans."

"Funny guy. It might involve me spending some time in Europe later this year, but the exposure and ... whew, the money. I never thought I'd get offered that kind of work, least of all for such respectable coin."

"Oh, my God. Are you even richer now?"

"It's nowhere near enough for me to retire to my country estate, but it's enough that Georgie, who is highly money oriented, didn't think we needed to push back too hard when we countered."

"All that for just riding around in elegance?"

"No, there'll be some speaking involved in some of the spots. And I'll have to make a few personal appearances."

"How's your German?"

She grimaced. "Not so good, but they'll provide scripts and a diction coach." She gave her sweetest smile. "You could be my translator."

"Kate, hon, I know just enough German to get us into a bar fight."

She didn't believe that. Eli always poo-pooed his own abilities. If he said his German was weak, he likely could write in the language like Rilke. His modesty was one of the things she most loved and hated about him. It was only at that moment that she realized she didn't know where they were going.

"Where are we headed?"

"Oh," he said. A slight look of embarrassment crossed his face. "I wasn't really thinking about it. Where do you want to go?"

"It's still early. What time do you have to be up in the morning?"

"I don't have anyplace to be. What time do you have to be on set?"

"Not real early, but I should be there by 8:00 to get the lay of the land." It was her first day of voice-over work. "Let's go to my place, crack a bottle of wine, and watch a few episodes of Murder Bird."

"That is definitely a plan."