Foreign

Chapter 9

The next day Hero and I rehearse his lines together under the willow tree. It's become my favourite spot. He is expected at make-up at one pm so we have plenty of time to go over his lines of the day and I got a text from Greg late last night that I could be his assistant the next day during the shoot. I'm meeting him when Hero is in make-up. Finally, this adventure can properly start! Today feels like a good day!

I still love rehearsing with Hero. I love seeing the transformation before my eyes when he gets into character. I'm amazed by how he does it, be one person one second and another the next. He really is an amazing actor! I might be biased but he is! It also seems to help him to rehearse a bit before the actual shoot. He likes to try different things.

It's a nice, hot day and the warmth makes us both lazy. Hero sits on the bench with the script and I lay down with my head on his lap with another. It's a romantic film so we really get lost in the script. It's about an English boy that has to move to America to live with his grandparents. He's very wealthy and used to live in London but he's really struggling with the Southern way. He falls in love with a girl from an old Southern family (Melany, yikes!) whose parents want her to keep dating the governor's son (Josh). She's really into the governor's son because he is rich and handsome but slowly she falls for the English boy.

"Oh god, that sounds so posh!" I start laughing. We're doing this scene where Hero's character meets Melany and Josh for the first time. Because of his proper manners he sounds so posh.

"Are you making fun of my accent, Miss Charlotte?" He makes his accent sound extra thick. I can't help but keep laughing to the point where tears well up in my eyes.

"Dude, you're mean," he says. "You deserve a punishment!" He starts tickling me and I start screaming. I try to jump up and run away but he keeps me down with one arm.

"Okay okaaay! You win! Again!" I say out of breath. I straddle him and wrap my arms around his neck. "You sounded very sexy," I tease. Just when he's about to start tickling me again, I spot Josh looking at us from a distance.

"Hi Josh!" I yell and wave at him. He waves back with a tiny smile.

"See you later!" He yells back and walks away. Hero frowns at me and starts tickling me again.

I'm a bit nervous when I knock on Greg's door.

"Ah, Charlotte, come in!" He lets me in and takes a seat. He offers me a glass of water and walks me through the scenes of the day. Basically, he needs me to check before every scene if all the props are there and in the right place. Another assistant has the job of writing down where the props where when we stopped filming so we can put them in the right place afterwards. I also need to call in the actors in time and manage the time of each scene. I need to make sure we don't fall behind too much. This really is the job I hoped for!

"Okay, here are the callsheets and the script. I'll walk you to the set of the day and tell you my vision. It's your job to help me get it right. You're responsible for the sets." I must look a bit terrified after this because he continues. "Don't worry, I trust you. Hero said you're kind of a control freak!" I smile because that sounds just like me. They're right, I got this! I follow Greg out of the trailer. Let the shoot begin!