I show up in Prospect Park near the boathouse to help the Londinium crew with their first scene of the day. It is gorgeous out and not too hot, although that could change as the day wears on. Thom informs me that the scene is between Richard and another actress playing an actress in the film as they have a clandestine meeting in a tunnel. ‘Lisa’ is playing Ophelia in the Royal Court’s production of Hamlet and has slipped away during rehearsals to meet with him. When he produces a coin her rehearsals slip by the wayside. The last thing we see are Richard and Lisa walking away together sealing a deal that may be of the flesh. In a previous scene (see All of Brooklyn’s a Stage entry), Catherine (Judy) performs Queen Gertrude’s monologue from Hamlet. The dots begin to connect. Catherine knows this young woman Lisa, played wonderfully and with great sensitivity by Cooper Harris. That thought and the sexual game-playing begs the question: Is Catherine involved in this rendezvous? Is she also involved in the outcome? As the camera tilts upward a man watches the pair from his perch on the bridge. The whole thing is creepy. Parks (or woods) and murder seem to have struck a deal in a hotter than normal place in hell. That’s why it seems the brambles and brush seem to belch up more corpses than other locales. Whit is dressed in his top hat and frock coat looking dashing. As he channels Richard he oozes with charisma and I can see why these women will over rule their better judgment to go along with him. It’s the Ted Bundy effect. I am instructed to stand on the other side of the lake with a walkie-talkie and convey instructions from the AD who is just of camera in the woods. I can see Whit and Cooper chatting for a moment and then the Director steps in and gives a few notes. We wait a moment until she can get around the lake and take her place in front of the video tap. ACTION! She says. ACTION! I say into the walkie. ACTION I hear Thom’s voice echo through the woods on the side of the lake. Lisa, stunned, dirty and unkempt wanders a bit aimlessly towards the water. She has been attacked and apparently suffered some kind of trauma. She hums a child’s nursery rhyme and then plants herself at the water’s edge. Still humming, she dips her hands in the water and the dots really connect in this thick skull ‘o mine. Lisa and Ophelia are the same---contemplating suicidal thoughts from different traumatic events. And so I am stunned when we move to the next set-up and Cooper goes into SFX make-up and wardrobe. She makes a lovely corpse with a huge slash across her neck from ear to ear. She is wearing a medieval robe and Jules is placing different types of flowers in her stiffening hands. Flowers that Gertrude makes reference to in her Shakespearian monologue. The jib arm is assembled, Cooper is laid out in the grass and Jules straightens her robe before taking a post-mortem image of her with his motion picture camera. Murder? Did someone say Murder? Who Dunnit!? Was it Richard? Was it Jules? Or was it the voyeuristic man on the bridge?
That question remains unanswered through most of the movie.
We pack up quickly and caravan back to the Brooklyn brownstone where another scene between Richard and a prostitute takes place. I hang out as Whit changes costume.
“So isn’t Judy in this scene?” I ask.
“No man.” He says distracted.
“It says here in the sides that she’s behind that screen watching.” I continue.
“Dude we already shot that. Don’t you remember?” He replies.
“That’s a bummer.” I mumble.
“She was shot out yesterday.” Whit adds as he starts tying his shoelaces.
“WHAT? And no one told me?” I bellow. The indignity of not being notified! “But I didn’t get to say goodbye.” I whimper foolishly.
“You’ll see her at the screening.” Whit says as he picks up his script and looks it over with a seering intensity. Elisa Gierasch shows up to wardrobe. She will be playing Gert, the prostitute that Richard rustles up at the behest of Catherine and her voyeuristic game-playing. At that moment the Director taps me on the shoulder and says I have to clear set. Again, they are shooting a sensitive scene and she wants to close the set to all non-essential crew. Damn! I wish I could ‘Hollywood’ a light or hold a boom pole or wrangle cables or something. I look over the sides as I am relegated to the stoop with Ed.
“I think it’s time for a five minute power nap.” He says.
“It says plainly that Richard ‘fornicates’ with the prostitute while Catherine looks on.” I say to no one in particular. And then I watch as Ed stretches his six foot plus frame out on one of the steps and closes his eyes for a minute.
“Jees. Someone is gonna think you’re dead or passed out.” I warn.
“Not if you stay right where you are.” He replies. “If the landlord comes by tell him I had a diabetic sinking spell and I’m waiting for my insulin to kick in.”
“No way!” I exclaim. “I don’t want anyone calling an ambulance!”
“You’re a little high strung, aren’t ya, Sean.” He says. “If someone comes by I’ll jump up.” In thirty seconds flat Ed is snoring and I nervously read the New York Times on my blackberry. We look like a couple of swells on skid row. As we all know by now I am writing these blog entries well after the shoot. And since I am continuing to write even after the wrap of the film I have been given the opportunity to watch a few edited scenes as they come about. I got the chance to watch the edited scene of Richard and Gert and it is truly provocative. I have to give credit to the director who has created a seductive, sensual movie with no nudity. Some of the actors who have been given the opportunity of a sneak peek think that they have seen nudity but the reality is that there isn’t any. The power of the mind is amazing and a lot more visceral when you ‘think’ you’ve seen something that in turn creates a scintillating type of emotion. Elisa is stunning. She has ‘it’. ‘It’ is that quality that made Lauren Bacall a film classic. The smoky come hither look is innate. It cannot be learned. The scene might make some people uncomfortable but the director is fine with that. “I want people to feel something when they watch this story and if it happens to be uncomfortable then they’re paying attention.” She says.
We break for a meal and wait for Keith to arrive for the last scene of the day. In this scene Richard arrives to an interview with Charles Thornton. In a previous scene Charles asks Catherine if she can refer a starving artist to paint his wife’s portrait. She suggests Richard. Once again the dots start to connect this time on screen. Richard is led to a parlor by a servant to wait for Charles. He begins observing the pictures and mementos on the fireplace mantle. At the very end he is stunned to find an image of the kind woman who tended to him on that fateful snowy night in the street. It is Victoria. His face melts into hers as he remembers that night. It seems as though fate has stepped in and brought them together. Charles interrupts Richard’s daydream and the two men sum each other up. This is the first hint we have as to why Charles is in an arranged marriage. Charles decides to hire Richard at which point Richard suggests that it might speed things up if he is able to meet Mrs. Thornton. Mrs. Thornton, by the way, does not know Richard’s name and has no idea that she is about to be reunited with him in her very own home. And so the dots keep connecting until the whole picture blooms before our very eyes!
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