The Making of…
Chapter 6
That’s Not a Cave…
I woke up reluctantly on the morning after my stunt training, called back to consciousness by the repeated buzzing of my alarm.
“I swear this can’t be good for my sanity…” I mumbled, looking at the time. “Yeah, no normal person wakes up at half four… And I’m already talking to myself…” I groaned, ignoring the temptation to collapse back onto the pillow and dragging myself into the shower.
Half an hour later, I was washed and changed into a comfy green hoodie and jeans, just as Viggo knocked on the door.
“Coming!” I yelled, grabbing my script from where I had been reading it on the bed and my sword from the corner and dashing over to the door. “Hi.” I smiled as I saw Viggo.
“Ready to go?” He asked.
“Yep!” I grinned cheerfully, trying to hide my nervousness as I closed the door and started walking down the hallway. I had been awake for most of the night, agonising over the fact that I was doing my first scene with Viggo. What if he didn’t think I was a good actress? Or what if I screwed up? I wasn’t even sure why I was so anxious, I hadn’t been this nervous about my first scene with Hugo… I was abruptly jerked back to reality by Viggo waving his hand in front of my face.
“Hello?” He asked, “If you don’t hurry up, the elevator doors are going to close.”
“Oh, sorry, I spaced out.” I mumbled, hurrying through the reception into the car park. We clambered into the car and I put my sword into the back seat alongside Viggo’s before we pulled off.
As we climbed the steps into the makeup trailer after we had arrived, I found Lou and Kevin – our two makeup artists chatting.
“Is no one else here yet?” I asked, sitting down in my chair.
“They all have the day off.” Lou explained, as she and Kevin started working on us.
“Why do you need to wear those?” Viggo asked as I popped in my contact lenses.
“Have you not read the books?” I laughed.
“Of course I have.”
“Well you should know that Rana has green eyes, but I don’t.” I cast a glance in his direction before looking back at the mirror, “And Aragorn has grey eyes, but I suppose you’re close enough.” I said as he blinked his steely blue eyes and laughed.
“Great, because those contacts don’t look comfortable!”
“Believe me they’re not.” I muttered as Lou started pinning in my extensions and straightening them along with my hair.
After we had finished in makeup and had changed into our costumes, Viggo and I made our way towards the set, which was virtually deserted apart from a few camera crews.
“Hi guys!” Peter called from across the set, jogging towards us in his trademark shorts. “Everyone has either the day off or is filming elsewhere, because we only have a few more days left on this set.” He explained as I nodded, “All ready to go then?”
“Yeah, where are we filming?” Viggo asked.
“Come over here,” Peter said, gesturing for us to follow him as he walked across the set. “We’re filming the scene where Rana and Aragorn are reunited in the cave.”
“The cave? I thought we would be doing that down in Weta.” Viggo wondered, referring to the special effects team based in Wellington that was behind the movie. I had also thought that we would be working in a model in a warehouse or in front of a green screen.
