Playing all night long
We've had three days of night shoots so far. Unit call is 8 pm. It takes an hour or two to set up the first shot, and by the time we film, it's completely dark. Monday and Tuesday we filmed my baby. It's a scene that's in the book but quite short, which I expanded for the screenplay. To me, it's the centerpiece of the movie, and if I were an actor, it was the scene I would most look forward to. So I was highly anticipating it on Monday evening.
I walked onto set at dusk. In a clearing in the woods, the design department had set up the most gorgeous, detailed scenery. THere were paper lanterns, string lights, and candles, and it felt like entering Faerie. I felt so giddy, so euphoric, I sniffed my hot chocolate to make sure no one had spiked it with anything. Nope. Filming my favorite scene in the woods of England is a natural high, kids. The costumes ranged from gorgeous to out-and-out hysterical. I wish I could give you a play-by-play of the scene and all the highlights, but that would spoil it. I want you to come upon this scene in the movie fresh, with no expectations, and be delighted right out of your seats.
The scene is about four minutes long. I watched up close for the first few takes of the beginning, but had moved back a ways to the monitors by the time they did the first complete run through. Thank goodness. Because it was impossible to remain absolutely silent. I had both of my hands over my mouth and nose (to keep from snorting), my eyes were tearing up, I held my breath, but I could not swallow the laugh. So my laughter came out in tiny gasps and a kind of choking, gurlging noise in my throat. As soon as the 1st AD called "Cut!" all 60-some people on set let out a relieved and united guffaw. Many of us fell onto the ground. I wonder how that must have sounded to any woodland passers-by. It was a violent laugh. Our stomachs hurt with the effort not to laugh out loud, our eyes stung. And there was a heightened comraderie on set. "This is FUN!" people seemed to say, some with a little surprise. A night shoot! And it's fun!
What a great way to start a week of nights! No one was bored. There was a kind of festival atmosphere. Each take was hysterical. It wasn't until 2:30 am that I began to see people sitting back, looking a little fatigued. We finished shooting this mammoth of a scene Tuesday night, so got to revisit the hilarity yet again.
Last night we did two scenes, each quieter, smaller scenes with only two characters in them. It rained. I was well-coated, covered in a blanket, sitting in my chair and holding an umbrella over my head. The crane light cast an unearthly gray pallor on the trees. The rain was fine and thin and traced white scratches against the night air. The pattering sound of rain on my umbrella was as cozy as a fire's crackle. I was warm and dry, in the rain at 3 am, and completely content. One of the scenes is one of the outspoken favorites of many Austenland readers. Many of you have asked if that scene will make it into the film. I don't want to name it, because who knows if it'll survive the editing process (over which I have no control). But yes, we filmed it. And I got to see it from under an umbrella at 3 am.