‘I didn’t like the shot we had,’ Buzz tells him. ‘It was too blatant and literal. If we film through the staircase, we can get a sense that we are imposing upon a genuinely private moment between Jamie and Constance.’
For the love of …
I stride over to them. ‘But looking down at the characters will remove their power,’ I can’t help but say.
Buzz shoots me a stern look. ‘I know that. If you were a man of vision, like me, you would understand that this angle will make it appear as if someone is secretly observing these two characters kiss.’
‘Exactly,’ I snap, my patience hitting rock bottom. ‘Shooting through a staircase will result in a point-of-view shot. And guess whose point of view it’ll be? Who is the only character upstairs at this time? The twelve-year-old daughter. So, if you shoot the scene that way, through the daughter’s eyes, trying to prove that you’re some artistic genius like “Uncle Harold”—whom you never miss a chance to mention—it’s going to come off as some weird fucking “perving on daddy” shit. Either that or it’ll shift the focus of the romance to how the daughter feels about it, which has never been a key part of the script. So, everything would have to be rethought and reshot, and we’ll be stuck here for all eternity doing fifty-seven takes of god-knows-how-many-more scenes.’
Austin stifles a snicker as Buzz lurches towards me. ‘Excuse me?’ the director barks. ‘Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?’
‘It’s okay, bro. Chill,’ Austin murmurs against my ear, carefully guiding me away from Buzz before I can lose my shit any further. The fact that Austin is holding his temper better than me says something about my current mental state.
‘Now, that’s more like it,’ I hear Buzz say behind us.
I twist around to see Evie inching back onto the set in a silky black chemise, and my breath snags in my throat. It takes everything I have not to let my eyes roam all over her, going where they want to, but I keep my attention fixed on her reddened face.
Buzz steps right up to Evie, his gaze welded to her chest, and begins yammering about the new camera angle.
With a subtle pinch in her brow, she crosses her arms over herself and nods. Across the shadowy studio, her gaze coasts left and lands on me.
I quickly look away, then back at her.
Evie’s eyes soften as her gaze burrows a little deeper into mine. A rush of heat streaks up the back of my neck.
Firefly.
Stop looking at me.
Stop looking at me, or I’m going to start looking back.
Austin shifts in front of me, obstructing my view, and the scorching blaze that’s flaring in my chest quickly dies out.
Austin and Evie trail me down the concrete stairwell leading to the studio carpark, our steps echoing through the hollow silence. The vibe between them has taken a nosedive since this morning’s shoot, and I’m not sure if that’s because of Buzz’s antics or the fact that their screen kiss didn’t exactly sizzle—probably a bit of both.
Now, I have the pleasure of driving them to a small, secluded beach nestled among the mansions of the city’s eastern suburbs so they can make out aforty-eighthtime, in this case for the paparazzi.
‘I’ll drop you guys off, but obviously, I have to stay far away from the cameras this time,’ I say while turning onto the road that leads to the coast.
‘Mmm-hmm,’ Austin grunts, his strained face reflecting in the window.
I reach across the console to give his thigh a light tap. ‘What’s up?’
His gaze plunges to my hand, and I return it to the steering wheel. ‘Nothing,’ he says, shifting in his seat to face me. ‘It’s just the movie. I think it’s going to be a fuckin’ disaster, and I had such high hopes for it.’
You’re just catching on to that, are you?
I keep that thought to myself, though. If this film flops, it could put the nail in the coffin of Austin’s career, and I worry about how he’ll cope mentally. Especially when his dad hears the news.
Evie leans forward from the back, propping her elbows on Austin’s seat. ‘I’m worried about the movie, too,’ she admits. ‘I don’t know nearly as much about filmmaking as you guys, but I’m pretty sure we’d have a better chance if Buzz would just shoot something straight-up instead of trying to do a weird take on everything.’
‘He’s the wrong director for this movie,’ I agree. ‘At this rate, he’s going to tank the whole thing. I’m not surethe studio execs are aware of how badly he’s screwing up. Or maybe they are, and they’re just crossing their fingers it all comes good in the edit suite because it would be too costly and painful to replace him.’
Austin side-eyes me. ‘So, what are you gonna do about it?’
‘Me?’
‘You told me that you were gonna get a whole bunch of buzz going for this film. At least then, it might have a chance.’
