Forever and a Day (22 page)

Joel heard Deacon ask for him and Johnny over his wireless headset to join him and Halo at his command tent. Joel quickly grabbed Johnny’s arm, “Dude, don’t even look at her. Don’t smile, don’t frown unless you are asked too. Fuck, don’t even squeak out a fart. Remember this is all on you now.”

“Yeah man, I gotcha, no worries! Hell, from here she looks like shit, doesn’t mean I would pass on banging her sweet ass!” He gave Joel a little punch to his arm, “I’d even fuck her with your dick!” Johnny laughed and wiped his nose with his hand.

“Shut the fuck up, someone might hear you!” Joel hissed.

Johnny chuckled at his friend, “Joel I bet you wish you could play with those titties, motorboat those puppies until your face goes numb!” He grinned enthusiastically at Joel.

“God dammit Johnny!” Joel hissed again.

“Fine, fine! I’ll only give her a little squeeze—just for you man!” Johnny chuckled and clapped Joel on his shoulder, “I’m just fucking with you man, no worries! You are paid up in full. Trust me I need that cash and this film.”

Joel wasn’t sure if Johnny was on the up and up or really just yanking his chain, “Just do exactly as Deacon tells you, please?” Joel pleaded.

“I am a professional, no shit Sherlock.” Johnny winked and began his walk to Deacon and Halo.

When he got to the tent he ignored Halo and her sour look completely, “Present and accounted for.” He stated to Deacon and smiled politely.

“Good, let’s go over the updated storyboards here on my laptop.” He pointed over to a stand that held his large screened laptop, “Halo, these are the storyboards you green lighted. I made some changes due to the environment and lighting. The changes reflect the differences in the set.”

Deacon flipped through each storyboard scene giving both his actors’ ample time to know what was coming up.

Halo watched the new changes and nodded when she had seen them all. She committed it to memory, “Fine.” She told Deacon.

Johnny followed her up with, “Got it.”

Deacon eyed Johnny and turned his attention to Halo, “We will close the set for all of scene 229. Is this ok, or do you want a closed set all the way through?”

“No matter.” She replied.

“What about your people, you want them cleared out too?” Deacon asked quietly.

“No, they are fine. JJ will keep them with her. Pasties up top are on and panties are tight, I’m good.”

Deacon acknowledged her with a nod, “Then let’s go do the walk through then we’ll start rehearsals.” Deacon gathered up his tablet and headed over with Halo following close at his side.

Johnny leaned over to Joel, “I hope you enjoy watching her get naked.” Johnny smiled and quickly followed Deacon leaving Joel with his mouth hanging open.

Deacon turned and addressed his crew with a shout, “Ok people! Listen up!”

He positioned Johnny by the table and seated Halo on the other side of the table from Johnny, “227 starts with Jake,” He pointed to Johnny, “talking on his satellite phone with Cap. Yada, yada… lines said.” Deacon pantomimed a throwing motion towards Halo and she pretended to catch it, “Throws Liz the handcuffs. Yada, yada more lines. Liz puts them on herself as ordered. Liz says her lines.”

Deacon paused and looked at the cameras and their angle and continued, “Jake is very angry, says his lines. Liz stands up afraid. Jake is very pissed off,” Deacon paused and dropped a brown beanbag down as a mark for placement, “Halo you back away to here.” He pulled her over to stand on the mark, “Camera one and two, how’s it look?”

Doug turned from talking with JJ and looked into his eyepiece, “One, looking good boss.”

Craig called out, “Two is good.”

Not satisfied with their answer, Deacon walked the short distance to the cameras and looked in each screen for himself. He raised his voice loudly, “Johnny stand in front of Liz and act it out with your knife.”

Johnny shrugged at Deacon with both hands out and empty.

“Dammit! Props!” He yelled, “Get Johnny his freaking knife please!”

The Prop master ran over to Johnny, quickly handed him a fake K-bar knife then quickly got out of camera frame.

“Ok do your thing Johnny.” Deacon watched through camera one’s screen as Johnny threated Halo with his knife, “Lighting looks good.” He went to camera two and was satisfied and quickly returned to his two actors.

Johnny returned to his first position and waited as Deacon checked his tablet, “Ok! Moving on. Jake is pissed off as usual, more lines. Threatens Liz with knife. Liz says her lines—is really scared now. Jake puts knife in the sheath at his belt and raises hand long enough for Liz to cry and get scared. Jake hits Liz—the dirty bastard!” Deacon laughed and the crew chuckled, “Liz falls back onto the sand. Ok 227 gets cut here and dolly tracks get laid down for 228.”

Deacon walked a few paces closer to the downed log and dropped another beanbag marker, “228! Jake is dragging Liz by her handcuffed hands over towards the tree there. Liz is crying. More yelling from angry Jake then drags her partway to the tree stops here at the middle of the log.” He dropped another marker.

Deacon motioned for Halo and Johnny to come over to his last marker, “Ok, camera one will be on the dolly with the track we marked out for an in motion shot while Liz is being dragged to here. With Liz on her back and Jake standing over her it is cut on 228.”

“Ok 229, Liz you lay down on the marker please. Jake you stand over her. Camera one will be on the dolly locked in place, camera two will be on the crane for an aerial shot above Jake and Liz.” Deacon returned and hopped the log again and stood next to his actors.

“Jake, kneel here next to Liz, thank you. Jake yet again hits Liz, more yelling and crying. Jake rips off bikini top. Liz quickly covers up. Jake is angrier, yanks off Liz’s shorts then tosses them on this side of the log. Ok, are these clothing items going to come off easy, Halo?”

“Yes, they are held by Velcro tabs. On 229, I will unbutton the top button; wardrobe says it should come off easy, same with the top. You boys will get to see my pretty pink panties.” Halo smirked.

Deacon ignored her comment, “So, Jake takes off his shirt and unbuttons his pants.” Deacon turned to Johnny and gave him a serious look, “You got your sock on your junk?”

Johnny smiled, “Yes, sir. They didn’t have one big enough, but what they had will just have to do…” The crew collectively groaned and Halo rolled her eyes. Deacon ignored it.

“Ok! People! Listen up, when Jake is on top of Liz, camera one will pan down so we only see a partial of Liz. We will see how that looks and change accordingly. Two will be aerial overhead on Jake. After some fighting, cursing and tussling Liz sees Jake’s knife in his sheath, pulls it out and stabs Jake in his groin. Yay for Liz!” He joked, “Cut. Then we will do the extreme close-ups of the drawing of knife and the stabbing, we will get this part done and over.”

Deacon kneeled down next to Halo who was still lying on the sand, “Wide shot here. Jake falls next to where Liz is and is writhing in pain screaming like a little girl. Liz jumps up and then camera one is filming Liz’s legs as she walks away to the table. Cut! Squibs placed around in the sand by Jakes chest. Action! Pop, pop! Camera one catches the sand popping up as Liz is a crappy shot with Jake’s gun. Camera two overhead at a mid-shot seeing Johnny from the waist up and catches Jake finally being shot in the chest and pop, pop, pop! Jake is dead and scene is fading out with Liz walking away.”

Deacon held his hand out to Halo who accepted it with thanks and got to her feet. She headed off towards JJ and her men as a flurry of crew began setting up for the first live rehearsal on the island.

Wardrobe and makeup met her there and quickly began brushing off the sand of her back, and began adjusting her top and shorts. Halo looked at JJ, “Looks like Johnny is a good boy today. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t get any stupid ideas as the week progresses.”

“No kidding, he knows how much it will cost if we have to shoot from the beginning. I wonder how far he will push your rules the last days of the shoot.”

Halo nodded and looked to her two giants and they both gave her a look of acknowledgement.

JJ leaned close and spoke quietly in Halo’s ear, “Maybe you can find a part for Mystery man when we film stateside.”

Halo smiled, “Mind reader!” She accused JJ and gave her a poke with her finger to her arm, “You have my vomit bag ready?” Halo declared a little louder than she intended.

Thomas immediately turned to her, “Halo, are you sick?”

She giggled, “Sorry, it’s a joke between JJ and me. We are almost ready to begin filming and Johnny makes me queasy.”

Thomas was quiet for a moment then added, “You should pay heed to your feelings.” He gestured with his large head over to where Joel was with Johnny, “We don’t like those two.”

“Thank you Thomas for your concern. So you understand now what is going to go on?”

“Yes. It will be difficult to watch, it’s not natural.” Thomas said looking to his cousin.

“It’s good to have real men around me.” Halo said as wardrobe and makeup applied their finishing touches and left to work on Johnny. Halo left JJ and the men and walked over to the prop master for a quick consult.

Ten minutes later, they all heard Deacon’s booming voice call out, “Places everyone, rehearsals!”

The rehearsals went well with only two full run throughs needed. The most difficult part for the crew was getting the tall lighting diffusers placed, as the large shades were ungainly on the sand with the light breeze blowing in from the ocean.

During rehearsals, the most difficult part for Halo was when Johnny slid off her shorts and Deacon called for a yanking. It hurt, as he had to pull her bum up off the sand by the waistband and rip them free. Then she felt incredibly nauseous when he was on top of her holding her down. His breath was rank and she worried that she would vomit; thoughts of her Mystery man came to mind as she was fighting Johnny and it struck her as odd… as it made her feel better.

Wardrobe and makeup busied themselves with Halo and Johnny getting them ready for actual filming. The Prop master, who doubled as the weapons wrangler, nodded to Halo as he began gearing up Johnny with the retractable knife, handcuffs and satellite phone. He turned to Halo and showed her the handgun she would be using. He did a demonstration on its use, he dropped the clip and ejected the bullets from the clip and showed Halo and Johnny each blank bullet as he reloaded the clip.

Finally Pete, the sound guy, came up and wired Halo with a mic and had her test it as it had to be concealed in her shorts. He reassured her as they were doubling up the sound with an overhead boom mic above the scene.

Deacon’s voice boomed out again, “This is it people! Let’s get our ‘A’ game on and get this done in as few takes as possible. All non-essentials can leave the set now!”

Deacon waved over to his actors and placed them in their start, ‘one’, positions for the first scene. Halo was seated on the bench across the old weather beaten table from Johnny who was standing on his mark, “Everyone! Listen up! Take the time right now to silence or better yet, turn off your cell phones! If I see any cell phones out during filming, that person will be summarily fired and will find themselves swimming home!”  Deacon looked at Halo and gave her a smile.