The Making Of…

Chapter 8

Was That in the Script?

After we had finished our scenes for the day, Viggo and I began to head back to the makeup trailers. As we were leaving, Peter jogged up to us. I had noticed that he had been intently watching Viggo and I all day, so I figured that this may have something to do with that.

“Hey Viggo! Ki!” He shouted to get our attention.

“Hi Pete.” I smiled as he caught up with us, “What’s up?”

“I was just wondering if you two could come back later tonight, I think I’ve had an idea… I’ll have to talk to Fran and Philippa about it, but if we’re going to film here, it’ll have to be this evening. Can I count on you two to be here?”

“Yeah sure.” Viggo smiled, “We’ll be here.”

“Fantastic, see you in your trailer at seven then!” He grinned, waving as he jogged back to the set.

“What do you suppose that was about?” I asked as we strolled back to our trailer.

“No idea.” Viggo shrugged, “He’s definitely plotting something though.”

“Yeah.” I agreed as we walked into the trailer and Lou began to remove my makeup.

After a few minutes, I saw Viggo check his watch.

“Hey Ki?”

“Hm?” I answered midway through brushing my teeth.

“It’s almost five already, if we have to be back here before seven, there’s not much point in going back to the hotel, do you want to just go out and grab a bite?”

“Yeah sure,” I smiled, leaning back in my chair after deciding that there was no point in taking my contact lenses out. I could just have green eyes for the next few hours.

After we had finished in makeup and had changed, Viggo and I headed back to his car, both wielding our swords. Viggo was trying to remember the routine he needed for his fight scene tomorrow.

“Don’t be trying to remember whilst driving; I don’t want to crash because you were thinking about swords!” I joked as I tossed my sword into the back seat and he did the same.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll remember it.” He smiled, “Besides, I think Bob will be on set tomorrow anyway.” He climbed into the driver’s seat and I jumped in the passenger side as he started the engine and pulled off.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“There’s a town just up the road here, I’m sure we can find something to eat there.”

***

Around half an hour later, Viggo and I were sitting outside a pizza restaurant, finishing off our meal in the evening sun. I took out my purse to pay when the waiter arrived with the bill, but Viggo stopped me.

“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned, “It’s my treat.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, sitting back in my chair and looking around the quiet street. “Hey, look at that!” I cried, pointing at an outdoor magazine rack that stood across the road from us.

“What is it?” Viggo asked as I stood.

“Come on!” I laughed, grabbing his wrist and dragging him across the street as he snatched up his sword (he had insisted upon bringing it to the restaurant). I picked up the movie review magazine, and stared at the title that had caught my eye:

‘Lord of the Rings Final Cast List Revealed!’

I quickly flicked through the pages until I found the article. I laughed as I saw the photographs of everyone, from the Hobbits right through to a shot of Peter, sitting in his director’s chair- and bam smack in the middle of it all, the picture of Viggo and I, the one where he was hugging me. I blushed a little as he looked over my shoulder and grinned.

“Oh look, we’re famous!” He smirked sarcastically as I began reading the article.

“Hey, are you going to buy that?”

I looked up to see the man who was running the stand address us in a heavy New Zealand accent. I quickly paid for the magazine as he stared at us.

“Do I know you two?” He asked, looking puzzled.

“Nope!” I shook my head, quickly closing the magazine, “I’m positive you don’t!”

Viggo and I rushed back to the car, holding back our hysterical laughter until the door was safely shut behind us. “He had no idea what was going on!” I giggled as Viggo started the engine.

“Yeah,” He grinned, “We should get back, Pete will be wondering where we are.”

***

We pulled up in the car park and saw Peter standing talking with Alexandra, one of the girls who was working in the wardrobe department.

“Hey guys,” He grinned as we walked over. “Let’s get you into makeup – now! See you later Alex!” He waved to the girl as he pushed us towards our trailer. As we sat down in our chairs, he began instructing Lou and Kevin as to what he wanted. Apparently we were to look ‘clean’, which was odd as we were supposed to look permanently filthy for most of the movie.

“What’s going on?” I asked in confusion as Lou tackled me with her fiendish makeup brush.

“Read this.” Pete said, passing Viggo and myself a couple of sheets stapled together, titled ‘Rewrites’. I began to read through them, at the top of the first page was the title ‘Aragorn’s Dream Sequence’, but it was the command further down the page that caught my eye and almost sent me into a panic attack.

“Uh… Pete?” I asked in a hoarse voice.

“Hm?”

“I don’t remember this scene from the script… Or the books.” I mumbled, my eyes still locked on the words.

‘Rana kisses Aragorn.’

“Yeah, that’s because it’s new.” He replied, sounding as if he hadn’t just asked me to kiss someone that I’d known for less than I week. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to kiss Viggo, but this was totally unexpected! I’d had no time to mentally prepare myself!

“Right, you’re all done!” Lou announced, after she had finished pinning some of my hair back into a simple, yet elegant design, whilst leaving some strands framing my face.

“Great! Ki, get yourself over to wardrobe, Alex has an outfit ready for you.”

“Um… Sure.” I murmured, casting a glance at Viggo as he read the rewrite with a raised eyebrow, before hurriedly grabbing a packet of breath-mints from my bag, exiting the trailer and dashing to get my costume. I was wondering what Alex had in store for me as I opened the door and found her laying out a beautiful green dress.

“Oh, hi!” She grinned, “Come and get your dress on!”

*

“Wow…” I breathed, after I had changed into the dress. It was made of a translucent, light green material that was as sooth as silk, but somehow seemed lighter than that. It reached past my feet, and was sleeveless. It clung to my figure in all the right places and flowed out in others. My only worry was that it was a little revealing, due to its translucency. Would it be see-through under the lights?

“Alex, this is amazing!” I grinned, all thoughts of the kissing scene pushed out of my mind due to the excitement of the dress. However, all these thoughts came flooding back as I heard a knock on the door.

“Hey, can I come in?” Viggo said softly from outside.

“Yep!” Alex chirped, adjusting my dress a little as the door opened and Viggo walked in. I blushed as he stopped in his tracks and stared at me, his mouth slightly open.

“Kira…. You look amazing.” He breathed, walking towards us.

“Um… Thanks.” I stammered, nervously brushing a strand of hair out of my eyes as he smiled. Alex handed him an outfit in a plastic bag and sent him behind the curtain to change. After a few minutes he emerged, wearing a dark navy tunic with a subtle silver pattern over a pair of grey trousers. Alex quickly added belts and a few other details, including the beautiful emerald pendant that Rana had given to Aragorn when they were younger.

“Ready to go then?” He smiled, nodding towards the door.

“Sure!” I replied, trying to sound cheerful, but I was aware my voice was shaking a little. I followed him towards the set in the forest.

The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon as we approached ‘Rivendell’ and spotted Peter, who waved us over to a small alcove in the set, that contained a long ‘chez-lounge’ style couch and was illuminated by several lights, that glowed and flickered to imitate candles. Viggo and I sat down on some chairs for a moment to remove our shoes, as Peter had just told us that we were to do the scene barefoot.

“So, how are you with kissing scenes?” Viggo asked quietly.

“Erm… I’m alright I suppose… It depends on who I’m kissing I guess…” I mumbled.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, let’s just say the last guy I had to do a kissing scene with ended up with a black eye.” I muttered under my breath as Viggo chuckled quietly.

“What did he do to deserve that?” He asked.

“He tried to stick his tongue down my throat.” I answered bluntly. “And he was a total jerk… And a pervert.”

“I’ll try not to do that then.” Viggo smiled, “And I hope you don’t think of me as either a jerk or a pervert.”

“No… I don’t think that.” I reassured him shyly as Peter called us onto the set. A small flight of steps lead to the alcove, which was a circular shape, surrounded by walls made up of intertwining white vines. Pete began to talk us through the context of the scene, saying that at some point during The Two Towers, Aragorn would be on the brink of death – or something close to that – but he would have a dream about Rana, which would motivate him to not give up. It all seemed a little vague to me, but as long as it made sense to Peter… With a sigh I gave my lines a last read through – they were relatively simple, it was the kiss I was worried about. From what the script hinted, it was going to last for quite some time, and would get pretty intimate.

“Ready to go, Ki?” Peter asked as I closed my script. I glanced nervously at Viggo before nodding slightly. I’d had to kiss guys on camera before, why was this any different? I tried to set myself in the right frame of mind as I slipped into character.

‘Ok… You’re Rana, you’re in Aragorn’s dream and you’re kissing him because he’s in love with you but doesn’t have the guts to tell you how he really feels…That makes perfect sense. Not.’

I shook my head a little to clear my mind and watched as Peter gave Viggo a few last-minute tips.

“Now, Aragorn has been in love with her for a while now, but can’t bring himself to tell her this, he’s probably been dying to kiss her for ages, so once the kiss develops a bit, don’t be afraid to take control of it and…”

I tuned out as my heart started doing backflips and I inwardly yelled at myself to calm down as Pete stepped back and I moved into position, waiting for him to shout ‘Action’…