The Making of…

Chapter 47

Run, Run, Run…

Over the course of filming, we were expected to run a lot. Probably the most running that any cast members had to do on camera, involved the chase scene from The Two Towers, meaning it involved Orlando, John, Brett, Viggo and myself. John could count himself lucky that he was too tall for the main running shots and was only needed for his close ups, meanwhile we had no easy way out.

Viggo, Orlando and Brett would be running together, but I was pretty much legging it on my own, as Rana had started pursuing the Uruks before the ‘Three Hunters’. Although, they weren’t so much ‘hunters’ as ‘limpers’, all three of them were injured in some way – Viggo had his broken toes, Orlando had his rib, and recently Brett had popped his kneecap… Ouch. I almost felt bad for being perfectly healthy.

On most of the days that we were filming our wide-shots, I’d be made to run first, and then the others would follow. Right now I was standing at the top of a grassy hill with the three Walking Wounded. We were basically living off a sugar rush so we would have the energy to run the long distances, so Orlando was hiding a bag of sweets in his costume. I wondered if the people watching the film would have any idea that Legolas was secretly hoarding sweets (maybe he just got tired of the Lembas bread)…

The camera crew who were in the helicopter were communicating with us via radios, and we’d hidden ours in a nearby bush so the camera wouldn’t see it.

“Here comes the helicopter.” Viggo murmured, lightly touching my shoulder to get my attention. A few seconds later, the radio buzzed.

“Bzzt- Ok Kira – Bzzt –Go.” Was all I managed to pick up.

“See you in a bit.” I grinned, turning and sprinting down the hill. The terrain was pretty rough, so I had to watch out for rocks and things. I jumped over a small ditch and nearly lost my footing – I hoped that my stumble wouldn’t appear in the film. I kept my legs moving, waiting for my signal to stop. Someone in the helicopter waved at me and I slowed to a jog, then a walk, and then I flopped backwards onto the grass. I lay on my back as I waited for the others to appear, and only sat up as I heard their numerous footfalls. “Hey.” I smiled as they slowed down; Viggo and Brett instantly started limping and Orlando clutched his torso as soon as the camera was no longer on them. I smiled sympathetically as they gingerly sat down and waited for the helicopter to land. Viggo and Orlando sat on either side of me and I pulled them into a double-hug. “You guys ok?”

“Yeah.” Viggo nodded.

“No.” Orlando whimpered and I rolled my eyes.

“Eat your sweeties dear.” I smirked as he stuck out his bottom lip. There was no way I could take a pouty-Legolas seriously. I slipped my arm away from his shoulders and shifted closer to Viggo, nestling my face between his shoulder and neck as his arm wound around my waist. I could feel his pulse against my cheek – it was thrumming rapidly after the run, and his breathing was a little more irregular, the same as mine was.

The helicopter picked us up and we were flown to our next location. This process repeated for a few days. Dropped off – run – picked up, dropped off – run – picked up, until it was decided that we needed to do a few shots in front of a sunrise. Peter didn’t want to do it in front of the blue-screen in the studio, so we were debating over what time we would need to wake up at to get to the location.

“Well, if the helicopter ride takes us half and hour… And sunrise is at roughly 5am…” I counted off the hours on my fingers as we sat in Peter’s office, the early evening sun casting long shadows across the messy desk we were sitting around, “We’d need to set off before half four, and if we take an hour or so in makeup we’d need to be waking up at around 3am.” I groaned at the thought of the early hour and slumped back in my chair.

“Sorry guys, but I don’t see any way around it.” Peter shrugged apologetically as everyone else groaned.

“What if we were already at the location?” Viggo suggested.

“What?” Orlando mumbled in a monotone voice.

“What if we camped out at the location? Then we wouldn’t have to take the travelling times into account.” Viggo explained.

“I don’t know, it would be a lot of work…” Peter sighed thoughtfully.

“It could be fun though.” I smiled.

“Yeah, you were thinking of shooting the scene by one of the lakes, right?” Viggo turned back to Peter – who nodded in reply, “Well we could go fishing, barbeque, it’ll be great! Have an evening off before the early morning.” He grinned as I tipped my chair back until it was balancing on its back legs.

“Are we talking tents or trailers?” Orlando asked.

“Tents.” I replied instantly, “You can’t camp without a tent.”

“Well you could, but you might get rained on.” Viggo smirked.

“We’d need to bring the makeup bus up though…” Peter muttered.

“Come on Pete! We’ll manage! Please?” I begged, suddenly feeling enthusiastic about the whole idea.

“Alright,” He sighed – resulting in me cheering and giving Viggo a high-five, “Alright, but you guys have to organise it.”

“Fine by me.” Viggo agreed cheerfully, “When can we go?”

“Filming is scheduled for two days from now – meaning you’d be leaving tomorrow evening.” Pete replied, glancing up from the schedule he was holding.

“Brilliant.” I grinned.

It seemed that by late evening, most of the people on set had heard about our proposed camping trip – and the list of people wanting to come had grown dramatically. Karl, Miranda and Bernard had signed themselves up, along with a few crew members.

“What about the Hobbit guys?” I asked Viggo as I sat down on my bed. He was already lying back against the pillows; we’d taken to having impromptu ‘sleepovers’ in each other’s trailers.

“I called them, but none of them can make it, their locations are too far away.” He replied, pulling me over to him as I adjusted my lime green boy-shorts and tank top pyjamas. “They’re pretty disappointed, so if they ask about it, tell them we had a really terrible time.” He grinned as I lay down beside him and played with the buttons on the front of his shirt.

“Sure.” I sighed absentmindedly as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “We have the day off tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, Pete said we could take it off so we could get all the stuff to the location.” Viggo smiled, rolling me over so he was crouching on top of me. “Meaning we get a lie-in.”

“I sense that you’re implying something.” I smirked with a raised eyebrow.

“I implied nothing, what exactly are you inferring?” He murmured, leaning forwards to brush his lips over my collarbone.

“Oh nothing…” I sighed, closing my eyes, “I was just thinking, we have all night and all day together tomorrow… We could get up to all sorts.”

“Indeed, all sorts of misleading things.” He played along, softly kissing the base of my throat.

“Terrible misleading things.” I agreed, “It’s almost too much to bear thinking about.”

“Really?” He smiled against my skin, “Because it’s all I can think about.”

“Viggo!” I laughed, playfully thumping his shoulder, forcing him to sit back as I sat up – my tousled hair falling into my eyes, “Such bad thoughts!” I looked at him accusingly from under my hair as he grinned.

“Are they really so bad if they’re all about you?”

“I’d be insulted if they involved anyone else.” I retorted, folding my arms across my chest and trying to hide my smile.

“Trust me – compared to you, anyone else is a major turn-off.” He smirked, reaching forward to sweep my unruly hair behind my ear.

“That is a matter of opinion.” I smiled as he cupped my face in his hands.

“Stop arguing.” He whispered in a tone that was unintentionally seductive, making my cheeks flush what I guessed was a deep red. “Can’t you just accept that your mere presence is enough to make me want you in a way that I’ve never wanted anyone else?” The shade of my blush deepened and I opened my mouth to protest, but I was swiftly cut off as his mouth crashed to mine, and my words were lost against his lips. I was about to wrap my arms around his neck to pull him closer – but he broke away and sat back, gasping for air. “Damn it…” He whispered hoarsely.

“Damn what?” I panted, running a hand through my hair in confusion.

“You.”

“Thanks.”

“Not in that way.” He sighed, holding out his arms and allowing me to crawl into his lap, where I wrapped my legs around his torso and linked my hands behind his neck.

“In what way then?” I asked, tilting my head to one side. He exhaled heavily and lightly kissed me – adding to my confusion as he pulled away and sighed.

“Kira, I know I said I’d wait for a while before we sleep together – but right now I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.” He smiled sheepishly.

“To be perfectly honest, I don’t really mind that fact.” I shrugged.

“I know, but I’m worried that I might go too far-”

“I think we’ll be fine,” I cut him off, “Unless you randomly decide to jump me.” I laughed a little as he wound his arms around me.

“I’m not sure if I could stop myself if it did come to that.” He murmured.

“And I’m not sure if I’d want you to stop.” I admitted softly, ducking my head and holding myself close to his chest. His heartbeat was rapid and irregular as I felt him kiss the side of my forehead.

“I will wait though.” He whispered, his warm breath caressing my ear as he spoke. “Just don’t make me wait too long – or I might actually jump you.” I could almost hear the smile in his voice as I laughed.

“It’s ok, I know self-defence.” I joked, “I’ll just go ninja on your ass.”

“Yeah? Well I’m freaking Aragorn.” He smirked.

“Rana’s more badass than Aragorn.” I protested.

“Aragorn’s manlier.”

“That’s because he is a man.” I rolled my eyes and looked up at him, brushing a strand of his hair out of his eyes. “I’d be just a little concerned if he wasn’t.” He smiled gently down at me and I smiled back. I noticed him checking my bedside clock over my shoulder and he sighed a little.

“It’s after midnight.”

“So?”

“So we should be getting some sleep – otherwise you’ll be grumpy in the morning. And the combination of you being cranky and having to organise a camping trip doesn’t sound like a good mix.” He ruffled my hair affectionately as I frowned.

“I hate it when you’re the voice of reason.” I huffed.

“Yep, and the voice of reason is tired and wants to go to sleep whilst cuddling you. Care to join me?” He smiled adorably as I sighed.

“Don’t refer to yourself in the third-person.” I muttered, untangling myself from his arms and sliding under the duvet as he followed me. I curled up against him as he wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on top of mine. “So what exactly are we going to do tomorrow?” I asked – unwilling to let the conversation drop.

“I don’t know… Campfire, barbeque, fishing… Stuff like that.” He shrugged, “I suppose you could swim in the lake if you wanted to…”

“Sounds good.” I smiled, winding my arms around his torso and holding myself close to his chest.

“Goodnight Kira.” Viggo whispered softly in my ear.

“’Night.” I yawned, suddenly feeling tired now that I was lying down. I suppose being horizontal does that to you. I seemed to fall asleep really easily around Viggo, it probably had something to do with the fact that his presence seemed to relax me. I nestled a little closer to him and yawned again as I felt myself drifting off to sleep.