Chapter 10
It was mid-afternoon the following day when my sister and I left Missoula.
Luna came with us. It had been a whole thing where my sister begged for her to be included.
I was happy that Audrey was looking out for Lu and wanted to encourage her, so I asked Alex even though I felt a little awkward about it.
He was nice and said that we should definitely bring Luna.
We arrived on site and followed laminated paper signs with arrows to the wardrobe tent.
Alex had told them we were coming, and they had things prepared for us.
I was surprised by what we were wearing.
There were two types of clothing in the scene.
Audrey and I had expected the poor people's clothes, but the dresses that were waiting for us in the trailer were the fancy ones—at least hers was.
I saw a dress on a rack when we walked in, and it had a piece of paper on it with my sister's name.
The colors were still somewhat muted, but the dresses on that rack were made with tailored corsets and full skirts.
There was a lot of detail on the whole thing and several layers on the skirt.
I had to assume mine would be similar. I had to hope it would be, and not just because I wanted to wear it, but also that we could be standing together.
"Oh, I love this dress," she said when she came in behind me and saw her name.
"It's amazing." She turned and stooped nervously to speak to her daughter.
"Now, Luna, you just do whatever they tell you, okay?
" Luna nodded with wide eyes. We had already given her talks about how late she would have to stay up, and we made her take a nap in the car on the way there.
"Okay, is this Josie Wells?" a woman said, coming over to us when she saw us come in.
"Yes, she's Josie," my sister said, pointing at me.
The woman came straight over to me. "Congratulations, you got a role, my love," she said to me with a bright smile.
Fear and dread washed over me, and I wanted to deny that that could be the truth, but I simply stood there with a frozen smile. My sister patted my back as if agreeing with the congratulations.
"Have you been to the barn to be told what you're doing for the scene?"
"No, we just got here," I said, feeling thankful that my voice was working.
"Okay, look, I'm stuck in here and don't have time to walk you over there. But I know Cameron wants to talk to you before we fit your costume. I can tell just by looking at you that we'll be okay with your dress, though. Just wait right outside, I'm going to call Cameron and tell her you're here."
I made a surprised expression at my sister on my way out, but otherwise we didn't say anything to each other. I stepped outside, and within seconds, the young woman from the grocery store walked up to me.
"Josie?" she said.
"Yes."
"Hello, dear. I'm Cameron."
"Hi," I said.
"How are you? I hear we're going to have you dancing at the start of this scene."
"I don't know of any dance yet," I said, shrugging and smiling timidly through the nerves.
"Oh, I'll show you. You'll be with James.
He's good, and he knows what to do. He'll lead you.
Come with me, please. I'm going to take you into the building where we're filming tonight.
Some people call it the barn or the hall—it's a multipurpose building.
It's been so helpful for us. This place just got finished a month ago, and it looks like it's a hundred years old.
The Sutters did an amazing job." We went past the row of tents, and I could see the building she was talking about.
"Henry's parents had this built for us, if you can believe that.
We had this scene planned for Darby, but it's so much easier to get it done here. "
I knew some of what she was talking about from Alex.
I knew that Henry was their friend who was also a horse trainer.
I also knew that Henry's parents were the Sutter family, who owned this ranch.
I was working on keeping up with everything she was saying.
I followed her inside the wooden building.
There was a large door that was open on one side with a lot of camera equipment near the entrance.
"It's still light right now, but later we'll be filming in the dark, so these lights will be on. Okay, so, you'll be over here."
She started walking to one side of the room.
It was large and open, and everything inside of it was period-appropriate except for the filming equipment and behind-the-scenes stuff.
On the far side of the open space, there was a band of musicians setting up.
Their instruments and attire were also appropriate for the time period.
The whole set was professional and intimidating.
"Okay, we've got a couple of hours before we start shooting, but that's going to fly by.
So, I need you to try to get the assignment as quickly as possible and get back to wardrobe.
Listen to James and do everything he tells you to do.
Then, when you're done with that, when you feel comfortable with what he's given you here, which hopefully will only be fast, you should go back to the wardrobe tent where I just found you and work out your clothes. "
She stared at me as if wondering if I understood, and I gave her a nod. "Got it," I said, feeling more insecure than I let on. I wanted to give up. Wanted to tell her that I had no experience, at least warn her in some way. But I told myself to trust Alex and go with it.
"This is James." She gestured to a young man who came to stand beside us with a smile. There were about ten different people in the room when we came in, and he had been one of them. He was handsome and clean-cut, broad-chested. "James, this is Josie."
"Yes, Josie," he said with a bright smile. "Starting off the dance scene."
"We'll need her to go to wardrobe as soon as she's got a handle on what she's doing."
"Yes ma'am, I'll get her over there," he said to Cameron, even though they were about the same age.
He gave Cameron a little bow, and she started to walk off before coming back to talk to me like she had forgotten something. She smiled and put her hand on my arm.
"I forgot your hair," she said.
"What about it?" I asked.
"He wants your hair up. Alex mentioned that. If you have time, he said to get Barb to put it up."
"Oh, is there a certain style?"
"Barb will help you. When you're in wardrobe, mention to Evelyn that you need your hair up. Or go see Barb first. He likes the neckline of that dress you're wearing—he wants to see it. He said it makes sense with the shot to have your hair up."
"Okay," I said, nodding, and trying to remember everything she had said.
"Thanks," she said, waving and turning to James.
I could hear various musical sounds in the distance—people getting their instruments tuned.
"I'm James Blanchett," he said. "I'm from Missoula.
I'm actually staying in one of the big tents with some of the other cast. I've been doing musical theater since I was twelve.
There's not much dancing in this series, so not a lot of these people are really trained to do it.
But tonight's dance looks good. It's going to be really beautiful.
And you have the opening sequence, aren't you excited? "
He paused and looked at me, and I had to stifle a laugh at the shock and fear I felt. I would grin and go with it until I felt like they gave me something I couldn’t handle.
"Yes, I'm excited," I said, trying my best to seem like I was telling the truth.
"Okay, so you're at the very beginning of the scene. The camera's going to be here, and when the scene opens, you're going to be over here against the wall. There are others around you, but you need to stand at this table here. There's a little speck."
He pointed downward, and I stepped onto the black mark on the wooden floor, trying to center my body over it.
"That's good if you can find that spot. If not, just remember where you are in relation to this table."
I turned and looked out at the room from where I was standing.
"Yes, like that. You'll be standing here, looking out.
Cameron might come by and re-position you before we get set for the scene.
But I know you'll be here, and I know you won't be facing the wall.
You'll probably be looking at the dance floor.
The scene is going to open with the camera panning from outside and coming along this track, inside the door.
The music will be playing, and the people on the floor will already be set in motion.
A group of main actors are going to come through the door, and the camera will pan to follow them.
Just as they're crossing this line, they are going to disperse, and then eventually, you'll be asked to dance.
You're in the background of the shot as it pans…
so just like this… take my hand, and come with me. "
James bowed to me and then swept me up, and we began dancing. His movements were certain and solid, and he was a large man. He held my hand and my waist.
"Put your other hand on my shoulder," he said to me.
I positioned my hand on his shoulder as we danced.
I moved along with him, following him with no resistance whatsoever.
James was a confident dancer, and he made my job easy, pulling me along.
He did a twirl, and then we moved for a few more strides, dancing fluidly together along the edge of the dancefloor before he stopped, letting his shoulders sag.
"And that's basically it," he said, smiling at me.
"We'll that same move over and over again.
I'm not sure how long this song is. I know I'm with someone else on the following song. "
"Busy man."
"Yeah, I'm pretty good at being in the background." He laughed. "No, we'll only be in the shot for a minute or two, until the Tommy character starts talking again and they focus on his table. There's a whole scene with him and his sister after that."
"Okay, so that's all?" I asked, feeling relieved.
"Yes. That was great."
"I just let you do all the work. If that's all I need to do, then great. What do I do about my facial expressions? Should I just keep them neutral?"
"I would start with that, but they'll tell you if you need to change something. We've been working with them for two days. It's a good team. The director likes it done a certain way. He's got a vision. Are you doing any of the outdoor scenes coming up?"
"I don't think so."
"I think he's already notified everyone who's doing it."
"Oh, no, I'm… I don't live here. I live out of state."
"Really, where do you live?" He gestured toward the door. "I'll walk you to wardrobe."
"Oh, we're done? Should we try it one more time?"
"Sure. You did great, but sure."
I tried to imagine that the music was playing. I stood on my speck and imagined everything he told me about how the scene would open. I stood in a neutral pose while James took a few steps away and then turned to walk up to me. He spoke quietly.
"May I have this dance?" he asked, like a gentleman.
I gave him a slight nod and put my hand in his. He swept me into his arms. I got a little more tripped up this time than I did the last time. I resisted him when he tried to turn me, and he ended up going the other way instead.
"Sorry about that," I said when he stopped.
"No, don't be sorry. We just adjust and go with it. You'll do fine. And they'll do another take if they need to."
"Okay, you sure?" I asked, nodding.
He smiled and bowed to me. "Yes, I am, and thank you for the dance," he said. "I'll walk you to wardrobe."
"Thank you, James," I said.
I wanted to tell him how scared I was. Or better yet, I wanted to tell him that I just couldn't do it at all and that he could find someone else, like maybe my sister. But I knew I wasn't going to chicken out, so I told myself just to smile and pretend I was okay.
James took me into the trailer that was next to the wardrobe tent. I followed him even though my sister and niece were in the other place, and I was pretty sure my dress was too.
"Hey, Ms. Barb, she needs to get ready, and Cameron said Alex wants her with her hair up. Her dress is next door, but I heard them say she needed to come see you and her hair up."
"Braids or what?" Barb asked.
James looked at me, and I shrugged.
"Is she a townsperson or a traveler?" Barb asked.
"A townsperson," James said. "She's a featured dancer in the opening scene."
Barb sighed and looked me over as if these answers meant we were on a time crunch.
"That's why I brought you in here first," James said to me when he saw her expression. "Bye," he continued. He tapped my back to say goodbye. "I'll see you on set."
"Yeah, sounds good. Thanks, James."