CHAPTER 9
Filming of An Irish Inheritance – the new romantic comedy co-starring Spencer Torres and Afric Brooks – will get underway today at Mayo’s luxury Linford Castle. The cast and crew arrived at Linford at the weekend and will also stay in the Victorian-style hotel for the duration of the shoot.
While the American scenes were shot in Seattle in late April, the majority of filming will happen at the five-star castle hotel.
A spokesperson for the production company, Blue Star Studios, told the Daily Globe that two of the castle suites and all the common areas including the Great Hall, the orangery and foyer, as well as an outdoor set on its extensive grounds, will be used for filming.
“Oh my God, Jess! I thought you’d never get here!” Emily practically bounced over to Jess when she got to Linford Castle the following Monday.
Jess hid a smile and clicked out of the Daily Globe online article.
“Has something happened?”
Emily blinked. “So much! All the actors and the crew are here. And they’ve hired the runners – they’re basically helpers who run around and get stuff for you.”
Did that make her Chief Runner, Jess wondered. Though it sounded like they had all that already covered.
“And they have their own first-aid person, and an intimacy coordinator called Callie somebody, I can’t remember her last name.
Do you think there’s a lot of sex in this?
” Before Jess could reply, Emily added, “I’ve met Afric and Spencer.
Afric was flying in from London but Spencer was coming from LA, and he was super jetlagged.
But they seem so cool, Jess. Afric has this completely adorable white Toy Poodle called Diva.
And Lisa was taking some publicity photos of Afric and Spencer coming in the door and posing together, and they seemed so happy.
I kind of wonder if the rumours are true.
” She pulled a face. “I really want them not to be.”
“They’re probably not,” Jess said.
“I don’t know.” Emily sighed. “TMZ have an article today saying that Spencer only agreed to work with Afric if he got first billing and more money.”
“Emily, there you are!” Lisa Greensmith swept into the foyer and smiled briefly at Jess before turning her full attention to Emily.
“We need these photocopied and put up in the village.” She handed Emily a flyer.
“I don’t think I’ve distributed fliers since I was in middle school – Ireland is just so quaint. ”
Emily looked at the flyer. “It’s about the open auditions tomorrow for the three small roles,” she said, frowning. “But isn’t this the same one as before?”
Lisa shot her a cool look. “I’m gonna bet that nothing gets past you, Emily.”
“We’ll make sure they get put up,” Jess said hastily, wondering why Lisa hadn’t asked one of the runners instead. “I’m a bit surprised they haven’t cast all the roles yet, to be honest.”
Lisa’s smile widened fractionally. “We thought it would be good PR to have a few of the locals in these roles. We need one man and two women, and they literally have about two lines each. But they’ll get a credit.”
“Sounds exciting.” Jess glanced at Emily. “Why don’t you audition?”
“Me?” Emily chewed on her lip. “I hadn’t really thought about that. But yeah, maybe, if you think I should?”
“It’ll be down to Doug,” Lisa’s tone was dry. “If you can act at all ... actually, from what I’ve seen of you in the past couple of days, I think you’d probably be fine.”
Emily flushed. “You think so? I did tap dancing as a kid.”
Jess caught Lisa’s eye and felt a flash of annoyance. Luckily, Emily hadn’t picked up on the barbed compliment.
“Right,” Lisa said briskly. “We’ve invited the press along later today for a photo shoot with the writer and the rest of the cast, in front of the castle.
We’ll have security and a couple of our runners on the gates to check press passes.
” She paused. “Jess, Anthony gave me your number so I’m texting you mine now.
” Her thumb flew over the numbers on her phone and a moment later Jess’s phone pinged.
“Okay,” Lisa continued, “filming starts the day after tomorrow to give everyone plenty of time to rest. But I want to organise a photo shoot for tomorrow, get our two leads out and about, chatting with the locals, petting lambs, drinking Guinness – whatever.”
“I can point you in the direction of the local and national press,” Jess offered. “Have you got a press release you can –”
“All in hand.” Lisa turned away. “Later.”
Jess and Emily watched her leave.
“She’s so cool,” Emily said.
Jess flashed her a warm smile. “Actually, you’re way cooler.”
“I haven’t seen this number of paparazzi since the celebrity wedding last year,” Anthony said. He and Jess were standing to one side in the courtyard area at the castle, while the cast and author and scriptwriter, Deb Considine, arranged themselves for the photo shoot on the front steps.
Jess nodded absently. “I think there were more last year.” Half of which had ended up chasing her, after mistaking her for the celebrity runaway bride.
Jess’s thoughts drifted back to dinner the previous week with Robert.
A traditional music session had been in full swing in The Tin Whistle when they’d arrived, and they’d squashed in beside a few locals who all seemed to have heard of her.
Jess had been a bit wary of asking what they’d heard, and the level of noise in the pub had made any real conversation between her and Robert almost impossible.
Despite telling herself that there was no point getting involved with someone she probably wouldn’t see again once she returned to Dublin, it had been lovely to spend a couple of hours with someone who seemed to have zero expectations.
She pulled herself back to the present, studying Afric and Spencer as they smiled for the cameras.
Afric was taller than she’d expected, her trademark long, dark hair treated with red lowlights and a curly perm for the role.
It changed her completely, Jess thought, but it was probably more comfortable than wearing a wig.
By contrast, Spencer Torres seemed a bit shorter in real life. Although Jess figured that if Antonio Banderos and Salma Hayek had a son, he’d probably look like Spencer.
Unconsciously, she found herself trying to read their body language. These pictures would go out around the world. If they were acting right now, they were doing a brilliant job.
“Can we just have the writer and the two leads!” shouted one of the photographers.
The rest of the cast stepped away, as more photos were taken. Jess watched as Afric held out her hand to Spencer. Had he hesitated a moment before taking it? She really had to stop listening to Emily.
In fact, the making of the movie should hardly impact her day-to-day life at all.
Technically, she might be here to troubleshoot, but she figured Frank and Anthony viewed her as a sort of safety net.
In reality, she couldn’t imagine there’d be much to do.
Which meant she could just get on with the rest of her job as marketing manager for the Irish hotels.
Emily appeared from the direction of the orangery, coming over to stand beside them. “Hey, Jess, hi, Mr Neary.” She grinned and Jess grinned back. “Look at all these reporters. Wild, right?”
“Wild,” Jess agreed. “What’s happening inside?”
“Oh, they’re setting up for a scene in the foyer.” Emily leaned closer to Jess and dropped her voice. “I met one of the cameramen, Dermot. He’s from Donegal – like, I’d listen to him reading his shopping list. And he’s way fit!”
Jess glanced over at Anthony to see if he’d heard but his face was inscrutable. She stifled a small sigh. Emily had a dramatic history with boyfriends. Not that she was in a position to judge.
The reporters had started to shout out questions, and Lisa quickly took charge.
“We’ll take five minutes of questions and then that’ll be it for the day.” She pointed to one of the raised hands.
“Dan Twomey from the Daily Journal. Spencer, is it true that you only agreed to work with Afric on this movie if you were offered more money and top billing?”
Spencer Torres was smiling and shaking his head. “Who are you guys listening to?” He pushed a hand casually into his pocket. “Afric and I are great friends. As you know, we met on the set of Why Don’t We Do This? and we’re both really excited to work together again.”
“So the report in TMZ isn’t true?” the reporter asked.
“Next question, please!” Lisa called.
“Cathy Cairns from the Gazette,” another reporter called out. “Spencer, you’re gonna be turning thirty-five while making this movie. Have you planned a celebration? Will your girlfriend, Megan Wilson, be coming over for it?”
Jess and Emily exchanged a glance.
“Hey, if you keep following me around like this, I might have to take pity on you and ask you out again.”
Jess turned to see Robert beside her. “So, it’s pity!”
She laughed as he threw a friendly arm across her shoulders and briefly pulled her close before releasing her.
“Robert, this is Emily O’Brien. She’s one of the receptionists here but she used to work in head office with me. Emily, Robert is a structural engineer who’s overseeing the building of the movie sets.”
“Hello, Emily.” Robert nodded briefly at her.
“Have we met?” Emily regarded him with interest.
“I don’t think so,” he said coolly.
“Only you look a bit familiar.” She shrugged, smiling. “So, why do they need a structural engineer for the sets?”
Robert’s lips thinned briefly. “Because they have to take safety seriously. And because all the sets are being built on and near a protected building. Linford Castle isn’t just a hotel – it’s a heritage site.”
“Cool beans.” Emily nodded, folding her arms as her attention flicked back to the photo shoot.
“What brought you down from head office, then?” Robert asked her. “Bit of a step down, wasn’t it?”
Jess shifted uncomfortably, aware of Anthony nearby, but Emily seemed unfazed as she turned back to Robert.
“God, no! Have you seen the whole castle? It’s massive, like.”
Jess hid a smile at Robert’s perplexed expression.
As the press conference wrapped up, the cast headed back inside. Then Lisa and a number of assistants ushered the press down the driveway.
Jess released a small sigh. Compared with last year, it was all so ... civilised.
A young woman, wearing an earpiece, and dressed casually in black jeans and a black T-shirt, approached Anthony.
“Mr Neary? We’ve a craft truck arriving this morning. Mel Winters wants it outside the orangery, if that’s okay?”
Anthony nodded. “Let me know if I or my staff can help in any way.”
“Maybe I could be an AD if they don’t need me to be an extra,” Emily said, after the young woman left.
A sudden breeze pulled Jess’s hair across her face and she pushed it away. “What’s an AD? And what’s a craft truck?”
“Assistant director,” Emily said. “They’re the runners I was telling you about?”
“Small food truck,” Robert said at the same time. “The ADs are glorified gofers. They tend to be young women.”
“Exactly!” Emily said.
“You seem to know a bit about the industry,” Jess said, glancing at Robert.
He shrugged. “You pick up random bits of information when you do my kind of work. Plus, I’ve a friend who’s a videographer – she’s worked on some small indie films.”
Jess thought quickly. “Is she busy at the moment or would she be free to put together some social-media videos for me?”
“I can give you her number and you can ask her yourself,” Robert said. “Look, I’ve finished up here for the day. Do you fancy going for a drink later?”
Jess hesitated. Was she seeing too much of him? Who cared? She wouldn’t overthink this – and Robert wasn’t putting any pressure on her.
“Actually, I’d love that.”