Chapter 15

We spent the weekend catching up with our old friends and on Monday I went into school and took my end of year exams, the results of which would count towards my A levels.

The production had booked all the principal cast and senior members of the crew into the Bellhouse Hotel in Gerrards Cross, about five miles or so from Pinewood and I was heading down there on Wednesday. Cal was planning to drive down on Thursday, after she’d been to a Tannhauser rehearsal and stay for the first week. I didn’t start working until the Monday so we could treat the first few days as a holiday and do some touristy things.

The hotel was magnificent, set in its own grounds and styled pretty much like I always imagined a Mexican Hacienda would be. They put me in one of their king suites, a very large bed with a separate lounge area with sofa, desk and a mini bar. Only fitting I suppose for what they were calling the star of the film.

I arrived a little before six, unpacked and then set off to the restaurant to eat. The food was good and plentiful, but overpriced.

Back in my room, I tried the TV but there was nothing but free to air channels on it, rang home to let the parents know I’d arrived safely then had a long conversation with Cal. She let me know that her rehearsal would finish about four the next day and that she anticipated being with me before nine.

Given the shortage of watchable programmes on TV, I took out my copy of Asimov’s Foundation and Empire and decided to read myself to sleep in bed.

I was up at six the following morning and decided to try out the hotel spa and gym. They had a couple of personal trainers down there and I spent an hour with one of them, a very attractive young blonde woman in her early twenties whose badge identified her as Cherry. My mind made the obvious joke and I think the smirk on my face gave me away.

“There’s only one way to tell for certain and you’ll never know,” she said.

Oops, caught red handed.

“It’s a pity I have a girlfriend and that she’s joining me today,” I said, “it might have been fun taking on that challenge.”

She laughed.

“The place is going to be awash with film stars next week, what makes you think a teenager would stand a chance against that opposition.”

“There’s only one way to tell for certain, but you’ll never know,” I parroted.

At least she did me a good exercise routine that should keep me fit and even build some muscle. Too much eating out was making me flabby, a perennial problem in my job. I spent all morning in the gym and finished off with a dozen lengths of the pool.

By the time I was out of the gym I was too late for breakfast, but at least the hotel had a coffee shop where I could get a coffee and a couple of doughnuts to put me on until lunchtime.

As I sat down, I saw two men hunched over what was obviously a film script, I walked over and interrupted them.

“Excuse me gents, is that a script for Space Academy 2?” I asked.

“Yes, it is,” the younger of the two replied, “how did you know?”

“Because I’ve got one upstairs in my room.”

He looked at me for a moment, then recognition kicked in.

“David, right?” he asked.

I confirmed it.

“Phil Norman,” he added, sticking his hand out to shake, “for my sins I seem to be responsible for steering the ship. David, meet our DP, James Peach.”

We shook hands all round.

“Please, join us,” Phil invited.

I sat down, took my cup and plate off my tray and put the tray at the side of my chair.

“What brings you down early, David?” James asked.

“Costume fittings, apparently. That and I had a few days to spare after my end of year exams, my girlfriend’s coming down and joining me this evening and staying a few days.”

“She didn’t come with you?” Phil asked.

“No, she has a rehearsal today, she’s driving down after that.”

“Rehearsal? She’s an actor too?”

“No, a singer, she’s singing the shepherd in Tannhauser on tour with Opera North. It’s a bit disappointing that I’ll miss her debut, but that’s show business.”

“You could always take a day off for that,” Phil said, “the schedule is flexible enough. We can switch around so that you’re not needed for a couple of days.”

“You can do that?”

“David, you seem to have forgotten, or maybe you never knew, you’re the star of this film, basically, within reason you get whatever you want.”

“I’m the star?”

“Yes, David, you’re the one that all the teenage girls are going to force their boyfriends to take them to the movies to watch.”

“I wish I’d known that,” I said, “I’d have demanded a higher fee.”

“See, Jimmy, I told you he had the big star mentality.”

They both laughed, which set me off.

“Has anybody asked Sam about that?” I asked.

“Sam?”

“You know, Sam Goldfarb, the producer of this epic.”

“Oh, that Sam,” Phil said, “I think I remember it being him who issued that order. But, that aside, I want you to do something for me. I want you to think, for Monday about how you see your character. What drives him, how does he feel about things, stuff like that. Can you do that for me?”

“I can try.”

“Good man,” he said, “I’m looking forward to working with you.”

“And I with you, both of you. Your work inspires me.”

“You’ve seen some of my work?” Phil asked.

“When I was told that you two were to be director and DP on this film, I looked you up on IMDB and got a few DVDs to watch. I do spend a lot of time alone in hotel rooms.”

“You actually took the trouble?”

“Phil, I may be only seventeen, but I take my job seriously. If you’ve been told anything about me, it’s that I always turn up on time and knowing my lines and it’s not often me that causes a re-take.”

“I have heard that about you, from more than one source,” he agreed, “and that you’re not fond of people who don’t honour their commitments.”

“I take it you’re referring to the education debacle in Canada,” I said.

“I had heard about that, too,” he replied, “David, we’re going to work with you on this one, not against you. I have a feeling that with a bit of luck and the studio’s backing we could be attending the Oscars next year. If we can get the beast out in time.”

“Well I’ll try my best to not cause any delays, just, please, don’t ask me to watch the dailies.”

“That’s right, you don’t like seeing yourself on screen.”

“True,” I confirmed.

“So how do you know when you need to do better?” James asked.

“Telling me that is Phil’s job. I just stand there and deliver my lines the way I’m told to.”

“Why am I having great difficulty believing that?” Phil asked.

I just put on my innocent little boy look.

“You seem to know a lot about me,” I said.

“Blame Sam, he waxes lyrical about you every chance he gets. If you ask Sam you’re the next Charlton Heston, Humphrey Bogart and, well name any Hollywood star you like from the past and you’re the next one of him too.”

“Bugs Bunny?” I suggested.

“Maybe him too,” Phil said, with a smile, “but Sam really does think that you’re a rare talent and a once in a lifetime find.”

“Then I’d better make sure I don’t let him down,” I said, “but for now, you guys have work to do and I’m keeping you from it. It’s been great talking to you.”

“For us too,” James said, “and if we don’t see you before, there’ll be a bus leaving here at eight thirty on Monday. If you’re late it’s a long walk to Pinewood.”

“Everything else will be revealed on Monday morning,” Phil added.

We shook hands and I wandered off to drive in to Gerrards Cross and see what was there.

The answer turned out to be not much. Unlike a lot of towns in Buckinghamshire this one was an artificial town made in Victorian times out of three adjoining villages. There was a Tesco Superstore, a few pubs, no means of entertainment apart from the Odeon Cinema, which didn’t look particularly good. Maybe Cal and I should explore a little further afield.

I found a nice café, called Fego and, since I’d missed breakfast settled for brunch there, Scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and something called labneh, which is, they told me a middle eastern yoghurt cheese, which they made in-house. It was quite tasty, in a salty sort of way.

Back at the hotel, I spent the afternoon relaxing in my room, since I didn’t anticipate getting a lot of sleep that night and, at three-forty-five I got a text from Cal to say she was setting off. I guessed at around four hours and booked a table in the restaurant for eight-thirty.

She arrived at seven-fifteen, which meant that she had time to shower and change before we headed downstairs to eat. I was surprised that, while I thought that the first thing Cal would want was a shower, I thought that her mind would be on something other than food after it. It wasn’t until bedtime that I noticed the reason, apparently Auntie Flo had come for a visit.

“I’m sorry,” she apologised, “I had so many plans for what we were going to do tonight, but it’s two days early.”

“Well,” I replied, “that’s at least a lot less worrying than two days late. And it doesn’t matter, I’m just happy that you’re here.”

The next morning I spent an hour in the gym before breakfast, went back to the room where Cal was showered and dressed, had a shower myself and then we went down for breakfast.

“What do you want to do today?” I asked as we ate.

“Can we go to London?” she asked.

“I don’t see why not,” I said, “there’s a station in town and it’s only about twenty minutes into the city. We can get there and spend the day doing whatever you want.”

“Could we go and see the two opera houses?” she asked, “and some of the concert venues?”

“We can see whatever you want,” I said, “we could go every day if you want. Or we could go to the seaside, Chichester isn’t that far, or Brighton.”

“How about London today and Brighton tomorrow.”

“We can do that,” I said, “or just about anything else we want to.”

“Then London now, Brighton tomorrow,” she said, “then we should be able to do the good stuff in a couple of days.”

“Good stuff?” I asked.

“Yes, you know,” she said taking my wrist and placing my hand on her crotch, “this good stuff.”

“Ah, that good stuff,” I said, giving her a quick rub.

After we finished we had a quick trip back upstairs to grab her bag and my camera and I drove us down to Gerrards Cross station where we caught the Marylebone train and just over the advertised twenty minutes later we alighted at Marylebone station. A quick trip down to the underground took us to the Bakerloo line to Paddington, changed to the district line and got off at South Kensington. It was a five minute walk through the pedestrian tunnel to the science museum.

“I thought we were going to the Opera House,” she complained as she saw the huge quasi-gothic façade of the building.

“We are, but later,” I said.

Instead we went to the IMAX cinema. I’d heard about the system, they had it installed at the Media Museum in Bradford, but I’d never seen it. It lived up to its hype in one way at least, it was big. The screen was about sixty feet high and eighty wide, but apart from the very high quality sound that was about all that could be said for it. It was great for documentaries, but until somebody bit the bullet cost wise and started making films with a story line in them, I didn’t see it ever being more than a curiosity, limited to museums and theme parks.

“Where to now?” she asked as we came out of the museum and headed back to the underground.

“I thought we’d go down to Covent Garden get some lunch and then see if we can get into one of the west end theatres.”