Blake
I’m in my trailer waiting for wardrobe to bring in my costume, going over the call sheet and script changes for the day, and sweating about not having seen Kim yet. I thought maybe we’d run into each other in the kids’ room, but given how quickly her adjoining door shut when I opened mine, I gathered Kim was hoping we wouldn’t.
I squint at the script, not that it helps. I’m dyslexic, so I need more time with the script than most actors, and when they change the lines on me at the last minute, I’m always scrambling to keep up. I wish I’d brought Ivy to set today—she’s my go-to scene-reading partner, and she’s been reading scripts to me since she was five.
Sadly, today, I’m on my own.
My assistant, Cassie, pokes her head in to tell me that she’s working on her super-secret assignment, and I smile. At least that’s going right.
She ducks out again just as the wardrobe assistant arrives—a blue-eyed girl with blond corkscrew curls who looks to be in her early twenties. “Mr. Pless!” she says, “I am such a big fan . . . of your costume.”
I laugh. “Please. Call me Blake. Also tell me that you’ve somehow convinced the director that I don’t need to wear a visor with tiny holes in it in every shot.”
“Oh, no,” she says. “Your outfit wouldn’t be complete without it.” She reaches into her garment bag and extracts my nemesis—a golden semi-circle that will soon be attached to my face above my eyebrows. It’s full of pencil-width holes so that under the right lighting—and man, do the gaffers have to work on that lighting—the shadow casts pinpoints of light all over my face.The fans say it’s supposed to look like a constellation. I say it makes me look like an idiot.
I shrug. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“I’m Kelsey,” she says. “Andthisis Farpoint’s new and improved wardrobe.”
The pieces are familiar, though wardrobe has clearly made improvements, including sizing down the strange leather loincloth over the black leather pants to make it look more decorative than functional.
Farpoint doesn’t have a secret identity, and at the beginning of this film, he’s being catapulted into Miami from his home dimension of Astra Vel. We’ll do all the Astra Vel scenes back in LA at the studio during the second block of filming, so for the entire duration of the Miami shoot—all six sweaty weeks of it—I’m going to be wearing the iconic suit. Long-sleeve shirt, leather overcoat, knee-high boots, leather bracers, and all.
“Any chance this version will be any cooler than the last two?” I ask.
“In Miami? Ha!This thing is going to be an oven. But we did line the shirt with a water-wicking layer. And it could be worse. You could be wearing a silicone prosthetic suit or face mask. At least Farpoint looks human.”
“And he teleports, so I don’t have to run in it.”
Kelsey nods. “Exactly.Totally the editor’s problem.”
She sets about explaining to me the hazards of my costume—the loincloth on the front and the strategic butt covering on the back are now near-identical, so it’s easy to put the damn pants on backward. I imagine I will do this several dozen times, even after the warning, but I nod dutifully. Kelsey, true to her first statement, seems more in awe of my costume than of me, which I appreciate. I sort of fell into this whole acting thing, and I have Kim to thank for both the variety of my career and its longevity. Yeah, I’ve worked hard for roles, especially the ones I took to expand my range and evolve my brand.
But I’ve always felt like I’m just along for the ride.
“But hey,” Kelsey says. “At least it’s not a pair of underwear over fishnet stockings, am I right?”
I smile. I’m sure Kim doesn’t complain about her costume on set, but I’m equally sure she hates it.
Kelsey cringes. “Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned her.”
I blink. “Kim?”
The cringe deepens. “Yeah,Troy said not to mention you guys to each other, like, ever.”
Ah.The director is already trying to shield his set from potential drama. He doesn’t need to worry. Kim and I are professionals. “Don’t worry about it. I think it’s a lot more awkward if we pretend she doesn’t exist.”
“Oh good,” Kelsey says. “Then can I ask you all the forbidden questions? What’s it like being here with her? Is it weird? I bet it’s weird.”
I shake my head and fake a laugh, which I think sounds natural. It’s times like this I’m grateful for fifteen years of acting experience. “No. We have kids together. We have to talk all the time. It’s not really a big deal.”
I can see Kelsey bubbling with more questions, so to avoid continuing to lie, I turn it around on her. “What about you? Any exes lurking around the set?”
“No, thank god,” she says. “I have a thing for bad boys. Waaaaaay awkward when I have to work with them after. Especially the last one. He stole a bunch of money from me to buy drugs.”
“Yikes.That does sound like a bad guy.”
Kelsey shrugs. “Par for the course, really. Okay, you put on your costume and I’ll come back and check to make sure you’re good. Meanwhile I’m going to check out Ms. Watterson’s assistant.Mm mmm.He’s cute.”
