Second Nature (His Chance 2)

I thanked him for the ride and grabbed the makeup case from the back of his SUV. Then he made a three-point turn and drove past the street that was blocked off at both ends for filming. A small crowd of onlookers had already gathered at the barricades, and I heard one of them exclaim, “Oh my God, I think Dallas Jaymes was in that Bronco!” A buzz of excitement went through the crowd, and I sighed on Phoenix’s behalf. It must be a total pain in the ass to look exactly like a celebrity. He basically got all the inconvenience and none of the perks of being famous.

I hung my crew I.D. around my neck and lugged my makeup case through the temporary village of trailers and RVs until I found the one reserved for hair and makeup. Since I was the first to arrive, I got to work turning on lights and setting up folding chairs at each of the four workstations inside the RV. Then I went around and opened all the windows, because it was musty and smelled a bit like dirty socks.

When Gina, the lead makeup artist and my boss, arrived maybe half an hour later, she frowned and said, “It smells like a used jockstrap in here.” That, too.

“I’ve been trying to air it out. It’s either slightly better now, or I’ve just gotten used to it.”

She put her huge case on the table at the first makeup station and shot me a look over her blinged-out sunglasses. “You’re early. If you’re trying to suck up to me, keep doing that. I like it.”

Gina was pretty awesome. She was probably in her mid-fifties and had been in this business about thirty years, which basically meant she had zero fucks left to give and didn’t take shit from anyone. She was nice to me though, and I liked her. When Will requested me as his personal makeup artist for this film, she could have refused, since I was jumping ranks in a big way by actually being allowed to make up one of the lead actors. But she’d chosen to give me a chance, and she really didn’t have to do that.

“I got a ride with Will Kandinsky’s assistant,” I explained. “He needed to get his client here for a nine a.m. meeting with the director.”

I tried to downplay the fact that Will and I were friends, although not much got past Gina. It seemed like a cheesy way to get ahead in this business, by exploiting friendships, but Will and I had actually met for the first time at the start of this production. We were friends now, but I didn’t want her to think that was why he’d asked to work with me exclusively.

Then again, Gina was going to reach her own conclusions. There wasn’t much I could do about that.

She paused to check her short auburn hair in the mirror, and as she went to work setting up her station, I asked, “Can I bring you some coffee, or something to eat from craft services?”

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks, though. You’re not actually scheduled to start for another hour, so just relax. Or maybe look around the set and get familiar with the layout, up to you. We’re only at this location today, just long enough for them to film three outdoor scenes. You know how to find tomorrow’s location, right?”

“Yeah, I have a map, and I think I will take a look around,” I said, as I headed for the door. “I want to check out the vintage cars they brought in for today’s shoot.”

Gina grinned a little and said, “You make me feel old, kid. This film is set about ten years after I graduated from high school, but sure. I suppose they are ‘vintage’ cars. At least you didn’t call them antiques.”

The first thing I did when I left the RV was make sure I knew where the makeup crew would be standing by during filming. It was our job to do touch-ups between takes, and Will was my responsibility. According to the production schedule, in the first scene of the day he’d be walking down the sidewalk and having a conversation with two of the lead actors. Given the director’s love of multiple retakes, it would probably take half the day to shoot what would end up as two minutes of the movie.

After I determined where I’d be while the cameras were rolling, I strolled down the center of the street where filming would take place. I wondered what it took to get the permits to close off a city block like this, and how they got the local residents to actually agree to it.

After I snapped a few photos, I sat on the curb and sent them to Gabriel with the caption ‘Happy Halloween, circa 1994’. He replied a minute later with: That’s really cool. How’s it going so far?