CHAPTER 11
“It sounds nice. Long drives with your soundtrack of choice. Something energetic when you’re tired, and something calming when you’re contemplative,” Samara read her script, trying to run lines by herself, which wasn’t always the best idea.
She’d been in her trailer for the past hour, waiting for them to tell her that they had made their decision about who would play Bray or that they were delaying production until they could figure it out. While she didn’t want to delay anything, part of her could’ve used a break from the shitty hotel room and would’ve loved to be in her own bed back in LA until after Christmas, when they would probably try to get everyone together on a shortened timetable to film this thing that seemed like it might be a little bit cursed.
Earlier that day, she had done more wardrobe fittings, which was silly because this wasn’t even some period piece that required intricate costumes, and they’d already had all her measurements, so they hadn’t needed much more from her, but she’d gone to their trailer this time and tried everything on, including the new items they’d added to the mix, so that they could take polaroids of her in every combination for reference later. After that, she’d also done another makeup test before returning to her trailer around eleven. Breakfast had been cold and inside her refrigerator when she had arrived, so she hadn’t seen Dana, which had disappointed her a little. Knowing that lunch would be arriving at noon, though, Samara knew she would see her soon, and that thought made her smile.
“Keep it together. She works here. She lives here. She’s off-limits,” she told herself just as a knock came at her door.
She stood, walked over, unlocked it, and saw Faye and Bryce standing there.
“Can we talk?” Faye asked.
“Sure,” she said, fully expecting them to tell her that they were shutting down production for a while, and maybe forever, because sometimes, movies like this, with a very small budget, never got on the schedule again after a shutdown.
The two women walked in, and Samara sat down at her table, awaiting the bad news and thinking about what other indie film she might be able to do in order to meet the goals that had driven her to take this role. Bryce remained standing, but Faye sat down on the chair in the living area.
“We’re casting Dana in the role,” Faye announced. “Reed is calling the others now. We’re going to wait to call one of them just in case Dana turns us down, but none of the rest can pull Bray off, anyway.”
Samara’s face lit up and she said, “Really? She got it?”
“Yes,” Faye replied. “She was the best.”
“Maybe even better than Vanessa,” Bryce said. “I wish she had auditioned in the first place. She probably would’ve gotten itoverVanessa.”
“ShebecameBray yesterday, didn’t she?” Samara asked.
“She did, yeah.” Bryce laughed a little. “Weird for me to say that becauseI’mBray, but she did.”
“Do you think she’ll cut her hair?” Faye asked. “Bray has that short hair that Stella really loves. It’s a part of the story.”
“It’s notpartof the story.” Bryce shook her head as she ran her hand through her own short hair, probably thinking about her real-life girlfriend who loves it. “And I don’t know. Vanessa already had short hair.”
“Can I tell her?” Samara asked. “Please. I’d love to be the one to give her the good news.”
“You two have gotten over that whole food being too hot or too cold or whatever it was, huh?” Faye asked.
“I think so. She’ll be bringing my lunch soon. I can ask her to stay and tell her. Then, we can call my agent, and you can send the details to him. He’ll handle the rest.”
“She might say no,” Bryce reminded. “I’ve heard from friends that she’s someone who’s been talking about acting in a movie forever but hasn’t really tried.”
“She tried yesterday,” Samara replied. “And if I have to convince her, I will. This is too big an opportunity for her to pass up. It practically fell into her lap, but she’s good.”
“That, she is,” Faye said, standing. “If you want to tell her, go for it, but we’ll need an answer by the end of the day. Paperwork might take a little longer, but we’re offering her what we would have paid Vanessa so that it’s fair.”
“Sounds good,” Samara said. “We’ll be shooting soon, then.”
“Am I crazy, or did Dana memorize the whole damn script already?” Bryce asked.
“She did,” she replied. “I could tell. She was just nervous at first when she did the chemistry read, but she didn’t even need to hold the script.”
“Then, yeah, soon. We would need to get her measurements to wardrobe and see if anything they had for Vanessa would work for her, but Dana is only a little taller and about the same size, so just slight alterations, and we’ll be good, I think,” Faye said.
The two women continued to talk as they walked out of Samara’s trailer, but Samara picked up her phone, unable to wait any longer.
“Hello?” Dana said.
“Hey. Can you possibly get my lunch here a little faster?”
