“Why are they interested in me?”
“Well, the story we’ve pitched is essentially about Joseph’s choice of you, a relatively unknown Broadway stage actress, as his ‘next big thing.’ So it’s as much about him as it is you. We’re planning on teasing viewers with small glimpses of you, building on the whole ‘mystery woman’ angle, but we need to get your face out there a bit at first—to create the initial interest.”
I nodded, appreciating the difference between stage acting and movie making. Since arriving at 6 a.m., I’d gone through makeup, wardrobe, and a preproduction meeting with Elijah, Joseph, and most of the technical crew.
“Here’s the deal,” Emily said, sitting in the chair next to me. “I spoke with one of the producers for Entertainment Tonight, and they’ve agreed to come out and tape the first interview with you here on the set. Joseph’s given us permission to do this at any time when they’re not filming, but what I need to know is if you’re okay to sit down to a taped interview with ET.”
“I don’t know why not. When would they do the interview?”
“Well, now,” Emily said, laughing.
“They’re here now?” I said, suddenly anxious about being in the national spotlight.
“ET is currently interviewing Elijah. Once he’s done, they’d like to do a sit-down with you.”
Emily left to work out the last-minute details. It had only taken a day for me to learn that making a movie is like waiting for something at breakneck speed. I ran over my lines, noting the most recent script changes.
I’d kept my pledge of keeping my cell phone nearby at all times, set on silent mode so it wouldn’t be a distraction to others. I glanced to where the phone rested on the arm of the canvas chair. One text and one phone message awaited me. I opened the text.
Harper, didn’t want to bug you.
Praying it’s a good day to make movies. Luke
Suddenly Luke didn’t seem so far away from Hollywood. I put the cell phone against my ear and listened to the voice message. It was from Sydney.
Harper, I have news. You, my dear, are officially red-hot in Hollywood. You may have already heard about the press coverage, so I won’t repeat Emily’s news, but two calls came in this morning, one from Warner Brothers and another from Paramount. And I got a lunch invitation from Paul Weiss, a friend and action pic director who wants to talk about you. The latest grist for the rumor mill is that William Berken Productions is buying the film rights to Apartment 19. They’ve already made a preliminary call regarding your interest in the film version. Get this—if you are willing to audition! Anyway, long message, Harper. I know you’ve got a busy day. I’ll tell you more when I see you, but you’re looking at a year and a half to two years of back-to-back film work, easy. That’s why they’re calling. They want to lock you in now before you’re completely booked up. Ciao!
I wasn’t sure how to take the head-spinning news, but I knew exactly what I needed to do next. I tapped a text message to Luke.
Luke, hope it’s a good day to chop wood.
:)
A temporary media tent had been assembled on the set; the blue canvas room was big enough for five or six adults to stand in. Elijah was just finishing his interview—his millionth, no doubt, as evidenced by the ease in which he handled it. Emily prepped me on what to expect and how I should answer. “Just keep it light, and let everyone know how excited you are to be making this movie.”
I stepped into the tent just as Elijah’s promotion was ending. The woman interviewing him shook his hand. “Thanks, Elijah. That was great. I’m a huge fan of your work.”
Elijah nodded. He was energetic and charming on camera, but quickly reverted to his introverted, unconventional personality when off camera. Emily politely tapped the woman on the shoulder. She turned.
“Hi, Benton, this is Harper Gray; she’s Elijah’s costar on Winter Dreams. Harper, this is Benton Stuart, a producer from ET. She’ll be the one asking questions for your spotlight piece.”
“Hi, Harper. I’ve heard a lot about you,” she said, shaking my hand. “If you’ll just have a seat, Jeremy will get you miked, and we’ll run through a couple of questions. I’m just going to ask you about the movie and about the character you play. If any other questions come to mind, I may shoot you one off the cuff, but otherwise that’s all we’re looking for.”
Over Benton’s shoulder I could see Elijah watching Jeremy carefully clip a miniature microphone to my costume. Elijah’s trademark scruffy beard and moustache were gone, replaced by smooth skin for his role as Angel. He retained his debonair persona and his almost shoulder-length hair. I was surprised that he didn’t just disappear back into his trailer. I said a quick prayer, asking God for wisdom that I might honor Him with my words.
“Okay, looks like we’re ready. We have audio, picture,” Benton said, and then after a couple beats of silence, she asked her first question. “Harper, you’ve come a long way in a relatively short period of time. How did it feel learning that you were Joseph Hagen’s new leading lady?”
“I was thrilled when I learned Joseph had picked me to play the role of Meredith Bancroft. He and I had met briefly at a party in New York, but I knew nothing about the movie until I arrived in California.”
“About the character of Meredith Bancroft, she’s someone who’s lost it all and really can’t go on anymore, until she meets up with Angel, played by Elijah Navarro. Did you do anything in particular to prepare for this role?”
I laughed. “Funny you should ask. I feel like I’ve spent the last year of my life preparing for this role, and preparing for real life …”
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Emily shaking her head, disapproving my answer. She was monitoring my interview with the sensitivity of an EKG machine. I tried to steer back to a more general reply.
“… I imagine everyone can relate to feeling like they’ve lost everything and wish they had an angel to help them sort things out.”
I looked over at Emily again. She lifted both hands palms up, gently pushing them toward me and mouthing the words, “Go easy.”
“In what ways do you relate to that?” Benton asked.
“Well, God does show Himself in hard times, and whether that comes in the form of an angel every time … well, I can’t say. But when He showed up in my life to rescue me, He did it by answering my prayers. I’m here today because God rescues the lost.”
I saw Emily Long roll her eyes and silently slap her palm to her forehead. This was not how carefully planned interviews were supposed to go. But the Spirit of God wasn’t concerned about movie interviews or box-office receipts. He wanted me to tell them about Him.
“So are you saying this can happen in real life?”
“I believe that it’s only because God reaches out to help people find Him in real life that a movie like Winter Dreams can even exist. It’s a good story because it’s a true story.”
I glanced over to watch Emily step out of the tent, all her work torpedoed by a newbie who couldn’t walk in the time-honored footsteps of a thousand other actors who are “thrilled to be working on this picture, the director is a genius, I can’t wait for audiences to get a look at what we’re doing.”
Elijah and I locked eyes again, costar to costar. He raised his paper coffee cup to me in silent salute, a gesture saying, You’ve got more guts than I do.
At one in the afternoon, Elijah and I were finally called to the set for our first scene. Joseph had taken over a real outdoor café, the Montebello, on Santa Monica Boulevard for this scene. It called for rain to sweep through as Angel and Meredith are talking in the café. Since the real rain had been replaced by a natural California sunshine, the production team had constructed a rain machine over the top of the cafe, a high metal rigging with hoses and showerheads that could bring down as many gallons of rain as the script called for, from gentle summer mist to a d
eluge of biblical proportions.
I felt nervous, fidgeted over my memorized lines while talking through the scene with Elijah. We sat together at our table, while the crew worked around us, waiting for the final cue from Joseph.
“First film, right?”
“Yeah, first film, first day. When you walk out onstage in theater, the butterflies go away in a minute. That’s not the case in movies. We’ve been here almost seven hours, and I still feel like I want to throw up. What number film is this for you?”
“I don’t know, twenty-three or something. I don’t count things like that anymore. I have people to do it for me.”
He smiled, underlining his dry sense of humor. “I enjoyed your interview this morning. It was raw, honest. Don’t worry, they won’t use most of it at this point in your career. They’ll wait until you’ve been photographed coming out of a nightclub at 2 a.m., or when your fiancé walks out on you, or when the LAPD stops you for driving under the influence.”
“I’m not worried,” I said. “I never worry about telling the truth. If it’s my first and only film? I’m okay with that too.”
The tech team had solved their small problem, and everyone was returning to their positions. Elijah lowered his voice.
“You really don’t care whether or not you make another film? Congratulations. You’re the first actress in Hollywood history to feel that way.”
“I’m not sure how I feel; I only know I don’t have any control over it.”
“Well, there’s certainly some truth in that. This business is fickle. You sound just like your character in the film. Maybe you’ve been typecast,” he said.
“That’s what I’ve been thinking since I first read the script. What about you? Are you an angel, or at least heavenly minded?”
“You don’t know my reputation, do you? My, you are new around here. No one’s ever confused me with an angel before.”
“So why’d you take the role?”
“I liked the script. I think it’s a positive message. It will go a long way toward rehabilitating my image with the public.”
“That’s why you’re doing this movie? For your image?” I asked, making an involuntary face.
“Do you think I decide which movie I’m going to make solely based on its story?” Elijah asked. “My agent would break my arm if I did. No, I decide which movie I’ll make based on fee, location, and notoriety first, story second.”
“I’m so naive. I’m only here because it’s what I think I’m suppose to be doing.”
“That’s why they call it your first day.”
Joseph approached us wearing a white short-sleeve shirt with a V-neck T-shirt visible underneath. He removed his Louis Vuitton sunglasses to talk with us both with his words and his eyes.
“Okay, finally we are to begin shooting this scene. Elijah, you are complimenting Meredith on her beauty, encouraging her as a friend, but Angel feels more than that. Harper, you are responding to his message, but realize you have fallen in love, so there is conflict in the story.”
“She’s in love, so there’s conflict?” I asked.
“Darling, where there is love there is always conflict. Okay, let’s shoot the scene.”
Joseph returned to his seat on a movable camera jib. I’d heard he was a martinet when it came to filmmaking, that the entire direction was chiseled in his head on a stone storyboard. I could see the intensity in Joseph’s eyes now. This film was the focus of all his concentration.
“Action,” Joseph yelled.
Angel: Why so sad? You’ve succeeded when everything around you said you’d fail. You have a new life, a new career. I’d say my work here is done.
Meredith: Remind me to never ask an angel if he understands a woman. If you knew what I know, you wouldn’t think everything’s so wrapped up.
Angel: What don’t I know?
Meredith: Do angels have hearts? Can you feel pleasure or pain? Have you ever longed to be with the object of your affection, knowing they’ll never return your love? I think a better question is, what do you know?
Angel: Angels have hearts, Meredith. I can feel love and hate, compassion and apathy, but I have only one purpose ever present in my mind—carrying out the work I’ve been entrusted with, which means seeing you revived.
Meredith: You’re so faithful to your work, you don’t see how leaving might destroy rather than revive me.
Angel: Meredith, if I should go away, you won’t be destroyed, you’ll only be made stronger.
Joseph called for a second take. I shivered as a light spray of mechanical rain fell from the sky. A makeup woman touched up my face and hair, combing the mist from my bangs.
We filmed for two hours, changing camera angles, lighting, and varying the emphasis Elijah and I placed on words in the script. The assistant director called for a half-hour break while the crew changed camera lenses and I tiptoed back to my trailer through an archipelago of small puddles. A crowd of tourists and onlookers had formed, watching us work from behind a barricade across the street. A young boy waved to me, and I waved back.
Then a face appeared from out of the crowd, and out of my past. At first I couldn’t place him, seeing him so out of context. But that only lasted a moment. Even after more than a year, a slight weight gain, and a dramatic shift to the California look, I’d know Sam anywhere.
He offered a slow wave to say he wasn’t just any onlooker but someone who knew me and knew me well. I stepped to the edge of the production lot, staying inside the security barriers. Sam raised his cell phone, suggesting in pantomime that he needed to talk to me. I raised my hands to say, “No phone.” Then he mouthed three words: “I miss you.” He smiled, an attempt to reassert his charm, and I thought of all the hurt I’d gone through and what I thought I’d say if I ever saw Sam again. I searched my feelings, raking over my heart with a fine-toothed comb, and found nothing. The pain was gone. I watched as Sam lifted his phone one more time, waving it in his hand like a treat he was tempting me with.
“Sorry,” I mouthed back, then turned and walked away.
Once inside the trailer, I kicked off my shoes and ransacked my tote bag looking for my cell phone. There were two new texts, one from Luke.
Let me know when you’re ready for another ride in my plane. Luke
And one from Avril.
Harp, call me. avril
~ Twenty-nine ~
I punched Avril’s number on the speed dial and held the phone against my ear. It rang four times before switching over to message. I spoke after the tone.
“Hey Avril, it’s me. Just calling you back. Want to have dinner tonight? It’s a rainy first day of shooting, and I don’t think we’re scheduled to go that long.”
I hung up. After more than nine hours on the set, I was tired and wanted to curl up for a nap on the bed in my trailer. I thought better of it. Instead, I took my phone with me to the catering trailer and asked the friendly ladies working inside for a cup of tea. I sent Luke a text while I waited for it to cool.
Where could we fly to? Somewhere beautiful i hope where we could be alone.
harper
The sun was California perfect, though much of the street was wet from our rain machine. I stepped through the jungle of electrical cords and cables snaking over the street. The ET media tent was gone, folded up like a traveling newsstand and off to chase the next day’s feature story.
“You must be on a break,” Sydney said.
“Yeah, I’m just calling because I got your message. Have you spoken to Avril today?”
“I haven’t seen Avril since the two of you moved into your apartment. How’s that going?”
“It’s beautiful, a place on the beach. Avril’s doing so well. No one knew how exhausted she really was. When she’s ready to get back to acting, she’ll be breathtaking.”
“I hope that’s soon. People are asking about the both of you. I’ve never had it so easy.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “I feel like I’ve been going a hundred miles an hour for the past two months. When do I get a break?”
“I know you’re kidding when you say that because you’ll be going that speed for the next two years. We want you to make three films a year. That means about ninety days per film and a couple of months for publicity, and of course, some time off here and there, for good behavior.”
“Yikes, I don’t know if I can do that, Sydney.”
“If I know you, you can. You’re worn out now because it’s the first day, but you’ll find your rhythm. Movie star is not a bad career choice, Harper. Believe me when I say, no one’s ever turned it down.”
Maybe not, but I bet more than a few had been chewed up by it.
I saw my phone light up with a new message. It was an understatement to say I was enjoying flirting with Luke.
Too bad you aren’t coming on my trip to a lonely, beautiful island.
Perfect. Luke
Back in my trailer, I opened my MacBook and logged onto LoveSetMatch.com. Since Luke and I were communicating entirely via cell phone these days, there was no activity on my personal page, with the exception of a one new message from James. I clicked to open it.
Dear Harper,
Thanks for your message about being in California. Yes, I’d love to meet you sometime. Any plans to come to San Diego, or as my six-year-old calls it, “Sandy Eggo”? Remember I have a large house on the ocean, five bedrooms, and you’d be a welcomed houseguest.
I’ll give you my home number, as my membership to LoveSetMatch.com expires this week. No love connection! But I think you know why. After much prayer, and I know you understand this, I’ve decided to stay unmarried indefinitely. So if we ever do meet up, you’ll know without a doubt I mean it just as friends.
Take care of yourself, Harper. I hope your match in Alaska works out. I pray you find love.
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