The Berkeley Method (23 page)

“You should ask James to hire The Zone Diet caterers,” Natalie is saying. “They are
totally
amazing. I lost, like,
twenty pounds
in two weeks.” She looks meaningfully at my figure. Next to Natalie, my slender curves look jumbo-sized. If she lost any more weight, she’d be auditioning for a concentration camp.

“Um. Well, I don’t think I have any influence on James,” I say, a little overwhelmed by her sudden friendliness.

She spots Callum and drops my arm suddenly.

“Wait,” she’s saying, striding towards him, “what’s going on with this set?”

I break into a wide grin to see Callum. He bounds over to me, totally ignoring Natalie, and gives me a big hug.

“So good to see you, Issy,” he beams. Then he lowers his voice to whisper in my ear. “With all the security, there’s not been time to construct the rehearsal set.
Ms. Ennis is going to flip!”

He looks delighted by this prospect.

“What do you mean?” I whisper, stifling a smile. I look over my shoulder to check Natalie can’t hear us. But she hasn’t noticed Callum’s slight and has wandered off to poke around the unfinished set.

Callum waves his hand.

“We’re doing the first newsroom scene today,” he explains, pointing at the cottage. “This should be an office. But with the security alert, there’s not been time to set it up.”

“Oh,” I regard the set. “Well, that’s no big deal, is it? It’s only rehearsal. I mean, at drama school, we often had to improvise with the sets.”

“Professional actors
can
,” says Callum. “
She
can’t.” He nods towards Natalie.

“Where’s Camilla?” I ask.

“Oh, she’s just behind the set,” says Callum. He raises his hands to his mouth, channelling his voice. “Hey! Cam! Issy’s here!”

Natalie looks around in annoyance at the sudden noise.

Camilla drifts out from behind the half-timbered set. She sees me, and her face lights up.

“Issy! James has said I can stay one more day. Isn’t that cool? We get to do some acting together.”

She’s drawn level with me now, and takes both my hands in hers, hardly able to contain her excitement.

“That is great,” I say, delighted to see her so happy.

“James will be here soon,” adds Camilla. “In the meantime, we should set things up, best we can.”

I notice that Natalie has planted herself on an antique sofa in the middle of the cottage set. Her legs are crossed under her, and her face shows displeasure.

Camilla approaches a table to the left of where Natalie is brooding.

“Should we use this, Callum?” Camilla shouts. “It could be the news desk?”

“Sure,” says Callum, who’s clearly had a lot of practise at this. “The desk can be the news desk, and we’ll move the sofa to make a corridor.”

Even the act of imagining this has brought a sparkle to Callum’s eyes. No wonder he’s such a good actor. The play-acting kid never left him.

“We can stack books to be the computers,” I say, getting in on the play-pretend.

Callum’s love of acting is infectious.

“What the hell is going on here?” Natalie’s voice rises suddenly above the scrape of furniture being moved.

“Watch out,” says Callum,
sotto voice
, “she’s about to blow.”

Natalie stands and stalks over t
o Camilla.

“Why isn’t this set made up properly?” she demands, waving her finger at Camilla. Since Natalie is so tiny, she stands about a foot shorter, and she has to tilt her head to look into Camilla’s calm features.

“Oh,” replies Camilla. “Well. With security yesterday, the set teams were diverted. So, this wasn’t done.”

“It’s your
job
to get this done,” hisses Natalie. “How am I supposed to do
my
job if
you can’t do yours
?” She’s staring furiously up at Camilla, who turns uncertainly to Callum. Natalie has obviously mistaken Camilla for a set handler.

Callum steps forward.

“Camilla isn’t a crew member,” he says, “she’s an actress. Please don’t talk to her like she is beneath you.”

Natalie’s face registers confusion. “Then
why
is she heaving furniture about?” she demands, after a moment of contemplation.

“Because she’s willing to work as a team,” says Callum. He looks as though he’s considering saying something else, and has thought better of it. “Perhaps you could help us too, Natalie. We’d get started quicker.”

Natalie tosses her long hair. “I don’t do the set changes,” she says. “My insurance would never cover it. I’m too valuable,” she adds as a parting shot, before repositioning herself back on the sofa.

Camilla and I are looking at one another uncertainly. But Callum simply rolls his eyes.

“Ignore her,” he says, under his breath. “The more attention you give her, the worse she gets. I only pray that James isn’t the type of director who panders to her.”

Somehow I can’t imagine that.

Callum returns to moving scenery, and I join him. Soon the three of us are all engaged, moving and naming things.

Once we’ve got the set to our liking, Callum turns to address Natalie.

“This is your desk, Natalie,” he says, nodding towards the reordered set.

“Yes, Callum,
thank you
,” she says, her voice heavy with sarcasm. “Now at last we can make a professional picture.”

She rises from her sofa to consider her make-shift desk. “Oh goody!” she announces, clasping her hands to her chest in fake joy. “My computer is a stack of books.”

Callum is interrupted from a retort by a slam of the studio door.

James has arrived. He strides purposely towards us with a thick script in his hand. The atmosphere changes immediately. Even Natalie starts neatening her clothing.

Once again, I’m struck by how gorgeous he is.

That man said he loved you
a few hours ago. Can you believe it?

I hug the knowledge to myself, hardly able to suppress a smile.

James greets us all, giving me a special smile all of my own.

Then he beckons us in for an actor’s huddle.

We stand in a wide circle, a foot apart from one another. I have Callum on one side and Camilla on the other. Natalie and James stand opposite me.

I don’t like how close she stands to him.
I try and push down the unwelcome flash of jealousy.

“If you haven’t worked with me before, my methods will be new to you,” James begins explaining, looking at each of us to check we understand.

“Before we begin, I like to have everyone explain their reading of the script,” says James. “To check we’re on the same page.”

I’ve never experienced this before, but it seems like a good idea. Natalie gives a large yawn.

James fixes her with a look, and she shuts her mouth and straightens her posture.

“Ok then,” says James. “Let’s each sum up the movie. Camilla, you start.”

“Right,” says Camilla, sounding a little nervous. She tugs a battered notebook out of her back pocket and begins to leaf through it.

“It’s a comedy format,” Camilla says, after a moment consulting her notes. “Things are in their wrong places to begin with. Then they untangle at the end.”

I am impressed. Camilla must have studied classic plots.

Then I notice something. On the back of Camilla’s battered notebook is a name, ringed by love-hearts.

Ben Gracey.

Camilla catches me staring at the back of her notebook. She visibly flushes, and stuffs it back into her pocket.

Did something happen with Camilla and Ben Gracey?

I remember that I haven’t called Lorna for a few days. The whole situation makes me uneasy suddenly. Ben and Lorna. Ben and Camilla.

I realise I haven’t been paying attention, and James is now asking Natalie to give her interpretation. I switch my attention back to the room.

“Comedy,” Natalie is saying in a bored voice. “Girl goes undercover into a top newsroom to try and get dirt on the editor. She wants to blackmail him not to run a story. My character helps her.”

“Callum?” asks James.

“Romantic comedy,” says Callum. “Girl tries to blackmail a cranky editor. They wind up falling in love. He stops being cranky, and she stops being such a control freak.”

James smiles. “Great. You’ve picked up a lot of the character points already. Isabella? Your reading?”

“Um. Girl wants to protect her father from a bad news story,” I say. “She enters the newsroom, thinking the editor is a monster. Then she realises he’s misunderstood. And her love for him changes them both.”

“Nice,” says James thoughtfully. “Nice.” He’s looking at me as though he’s remembering something.

“Issy, you had another reading, which might be good to share.”

I did?
Everyone is looking at me expectantly. I feel myself beginning to blush.

“The fairy tale aspect,” James prompts, encouraging me.

“Oh. Um. Yeah right,” I say, spilling over my words.

How is it that I
find acting so easy, but it’s so hard to speak in front of people?

“It’s like… Like Beauty and the Beast,” I say. “Beauty goes into the castle to protect her father. Just like Grace goes into the newsroom to stop her father being exposed in the press.”

Unwelcome memories of drama school are flooding back. I always hated the part where we had to present to the group.

I take another breath, rushing through the last part of the explanation.

“Beauty meets the Beast,” I say. “The editor in this case. And she redeems him. Because she is pure enough to see he has a good heart. Despite outward appearances.”

I give a final, embarrassed smile.

Natalie rolls her eyes, but Camilla and Callum are smiling. I risk a peek at James. There is something compelling in his eyes. I look away quickly.

“Did anyone have any more questions,” asks James, “before we begin?”

“Yeah,” says Natalie, suddenly more animated. “Who’s the male lead? Who is going to be playing the editor?”

James gives a half smile.

“You don’t need to know that yet,” he says. “None of the scenes we’re rehearsing call for the editor.”

“But we should still know who he is,” protests Natalie, “so we can get an idea of who we’re working with.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t want you to know,” says James.

Natalie scowls.

Maybe he’s casting a complete unknown
, I think,
and he thinks Natalie will make a fuss.

“At the moment,” says James, “we don’t even know if the movie will go ahead. If it does, you’ll find out the lead in under a week. In the meantime, let’s get on with the first rehearsal.”

Natalie rolls her eyes at me but doesn’t reply to James.

“Alright then,” says James. “Let’s do a quick run though. Places everyone. Take your places. Scene 4, Grace arrives in the newsroom.”

We move to our positions on set. Natalie and Callum are newsroom staff. She is a call girl, who writes about her exploits under a secret identity. Callum is a kindly hack.

Camilla is a tea-girl, and she arms herself with a book to act as a tea-tray.

I play Grace, the lead, and this is my arrival on the newsroom floor.

“And… Action!” says James, clapping his hands. With no film set-up yet, there’s no need for a count down.

We all move into life, running through the short scene.

I arrive, make friends with Natalie, earn Callum’s sympathies, and make a few comedy mistakes.

As much as I dislike Natalie, she’s great fun to act with. Despite her claim to a perfect memory, she hasn’t learned her lines perfectly. But, she ad-libs through the gaffs, and they’re not noticeable.

Callum exudes a charisma which reaches about ten feet from his body. He’s warm, likable, and hilarious. We bounce off each other, racking up the comedy.

Camilla has only two lines, which she delivers perfectly.

“Cut!” James sounds pleased.

I turn to see that everyone on set is staring at me. Camilla has a wide-eyed expression, like awe. Callum is giving me a giant grin.

Natalie’s hard green eyes are whipping back and forth over my face, as if they’re assessing something. She looks furious.

Callum is the first to speak.

“Why
, Isabella,” he says with mock gravity. “You really are an amazing actress.”

I blush deep red. “I’m working with the best,” I mumble, uncertain of how to take the praise.

I turn to James; he gives me an admiring smile.

“Let’s go again,” he says.

The rest of the day passes in a whirl. And I’m loving every minute. We race through several scenes, and with James’s direction, each of us learns something new.