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.

“No, we’ve set up a model here, because the waterfall works with the systems we already have set up.” Peter explained, leading us behind the Rivendell buildings and towards a strange grey structure that looked like rock, but upon closer inspection it appeared to be the cave under the waterfall, except it looked like it had been sliced down the middle, so there was only half a cave, with a small waterfall tumbling over one side. “We wouldn’t have had room to film in a real cave.” Peter said, picking up a script from a chair. “Right, Ki, we’re going to have a shot of you walking up to the waterfall, and then you jump through it and land in the cave behind it, alright?”

“Yeah sure.” I smiled, adjusting my cloak and walking over.

“Let’s try to get this done quickly.” Pete mumbled, sitting down in his chair and waving to the camera men as they positioned the camera outside the ‘cave’ in a way that made it look like it was a full structure. I had a final quick read-through of this part of the scene in my script, before giving Peter a nod.

“Action!” He yelled as I walked out from amongst a few trees and stopped beside the falling water, reaching out to let my fingertips pass through it and smiling, just like it had said in the script, before counting to three under my breath and jumping through the water into the ‘cave’. I landed on the fake stone floor just as Peter yelled ‘cut.’

“Ack! That water’s so cold!” I cried, jumping up and down as a droplet seeped through my costume and ran down my back. “Ugh… That’s nasty…” I groaned.

“Don’t worry; you don’t have to do it again!” Peter called from where he had been watching the replay, “We’ll stick with that take. Now we’ll film you walking through the cave and then throw Viggo in there.”

“Alright.” I smiled, tousling my damp hair a little and walking back to the ‘entrance’ of the ‘cave’ and positioning myself as if I’d just leapt through the waterfall.

“And… Action!” Peter cried and I stood from my half crouch and walked slowly along the wall of fake rock, trailing my fingers over the moist, glistening surface. It was supposed to be cold in the cave, but I was practically melting under the floodlights that were being used. I made my way to where the back of the cave was and stopped, slipping into a sad, nostalgic mood at the point where Rana would be thinking about Aragorn. Little did she know that he was about to come barrelling through the waterfall! Someone very deliberately snapped a stick somewhere behind me and I turned quickly, taking a half-step towards the water with a confused expression.

“Cut!” Shouted Peter, “Hold that position Ki, we’ll get Viggo in now!” He instructed me as I froze. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Viggo position himself outside the ‘waterfall’ and Peter rush around him, giving him last-minute instructions. “Action!” He yelled after scurrying back to his chair. I took another hesitant step forward and then stepped back in alarm as Viggo leapt through the water and slowly stood. I looked at him with an amazed expression, mixed with confusion and shock.

“Aragorn?” I whispered.

“Rana…” Viggo murmured as we both smiled a little.

“Cut!” Peter shouted, “Right guys, now we haven’t written much about your reunion in the script, just that you hug, but it should be really impulsive, and should seem like you really haven’t seen each other for years, so just work something out between the two of you… And be impulsive!” He smiled and I raised an eyebrow nervously; I loved on-the-spot improvisation, but I had never had to collaborate with someone on it.

“Action!” Peter yelled, not even giving Viggo and myself a chance to work something out.

I stared at him for a moment and he smiled, holding his arms out. I grinned and ran into his arms, hugging him tightly. He laughed a little and suddenly lifted me by my waist and spun me around in the small space. I couldn’t help laughing as he set me on my feet and hugged me again.

“Im gelir ceni ad lín.” I murmured softly the line that meant ‘I’m happy to see you again’, before pulling back and gazing into Viggo’s eyes. “I missed you.” I added.

“I missed you also.” He replied, and I noticed that his accent had almost gone as he slipped into character. He hugged me again unexpectedly, but I just went with it and relaxed into his embrace. “There was never a day when you were not in my thoughts.” He murmured into my shoulder.

“Cut!” Peter shouted, jerking me back to reality. “That was brilliant guys! Nice work with the lift Viggo!” He cried, grinning from ear to ear. I blushed a little as I untangled myself from Viggo’s arms. “I don’t think we need to do another take.” Peter smiled from where he was watching the replay, “I like how it’s so impulsive!”

“Well, that’s what you told us to be!” I laughed. “Do we have any other scenes to do today?”

“Just a scene where you’re walking through the forest and Aragorn is explaining to Rana about the Ring and how it came to Rivendell.” Pete replied, “But you can go get lunch now.” He smiled waving us off. As we walked away, I heard him telling the crew members to start taking down the ‘cave’. It always amazed me that something that looked so real, and appeared to have been sitting in a certain spot forever, could just be taken apart.

“Those were some pretty great takes.” Viggo murmured softly as we ducked our way through the Rivendell set to where some people were setting up a small lunch table.

“Thanks.” I smiled, feeling my cheeks redden at the compliment. “Most of it was down to you though; I wasn’t expecting you to lift me at all!” I grinned as we lifted some sandwiches from the table and went to sit down on some of the Rivendell steps.

“Well I suppose that’s what I would do if I was seeing my best friend for the first time in years.” He replied, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“I guess so.” I mumbled, looking around at the set. “It’s so weird that all this will be gone in a few days.” I sighed.

“Yeah, I think we only have a day or two left filming here. Hugo and Liv will probably hang around for a few days; I think they have a few extra shots to do.”

“Where are we going next then?” I asked curiously.

“I don’t know really.” Viggo smiled, “I think I have to go do my Weathertop scene with Elijah, Sean, Billy and Dom, I’m not sure where we’re off to next.”

“I see.” I murmured, finishing my sandwich just as Peter walked past, chugging a cup of coffee. “Easy on the caffeine Pete!” I laughed as he turned to us.

“Oh, it’s you two.” He grinned, “Want to go do those forest shots?”

“Yeah sure.” Viggo smiled, standing and holding out his hand to help me to my feet.

“Thanks.” I mumbled, blushing as we walked a little way into the forest, where a small path had been set up beneath the trees and was lined with a few cameras and lights.