“Also in play was the revolution. In 1957, the US imposed an embargo on Cuba and withdrew its ambassador in protest over the brutal means President Batista used to subdue insurrection. The US was even less happy when Castro’s revolutionaries took power. The US then attempted to achieve regime change but failed, most notably at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. Because of the US’s hostility, Castro turned to Russia for support.
“The storyline for the script was originally based on Sir Richard Jackson’s accounts of his time in Cuba as a teenager. Lord Jackson has helped us as an advisor. The reason for the secrecy is that some of the events that happened had been classified, and we needed to get permission to show them in our film,” Laurent explained.
I remembered reading the Richard Jackson saga, though I only recalled a brief description of him in Cuba, where he met some Soviet missile soldiers at a hotel in Havana.
“Lord Jackson has allowed us to take great license with his story and expand the role that Rick plays in events. We’ve gone far enough off the original story that it bears little resemblance to what really happened. We did that because we wanted to expand the scope to include much more of the actual history of what occurred during that turbulent time,” Laurent further explained.
“Tomorrow, we’ll get started early. I will need the actors to be on set first thing so we can get costume sizes confirmed and give you all period haircuts,” Kitty announced.
Hearing that someone as successful as Lord Jackson was involved in this project made me happy. He’d actually been a movie star in his youth. I really hoped that I would get to meet him at some point.
◊◊◊
After dinner, I was relaxing in my suite when I heard a knock on the door. I looked out the peephole and saw it was Caryn.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I have some DVDs and was deciding what to watch. Rita is determined to educate me on what makes a movie good.”
“Pick something out, and I’ll be right back,” she said and left.
I had the choice down to three when my door opened, and people started to come in. Along with my group were the two other actors who had flown in today, Stewart and Heath. There was also a girl, about my age, who Cassidy had found. It turned out she was Kimberly Fillmore, who would play my love interest.
“What are our choices?” Heath asked.
“I thought something with a little action. I have
“Those are all good,” Heath acknowledged.
I decided that we would watch
Heath browsed through my movies.
“All of these are great.”
“Rita James sent them with me in the hope that I would learn something.”
“I didn’t know you knew her,” Heath said.
“I met her through her daughter, Halle. Halle and I were in
Heath had been in movies for nearly forty years and had great stories about the business. He’d gotten his start in
The movie was soon over, and everyone left because we had to get up and be on set early in the morning.
◊◊◊ Monday May 16
I woke with a start. Sometime during the night, the air conditioning had failed, and I was a hot, dripping mess. I felt trapped in my sheets because they were stuck to me. After I extricated myself from the bedding, my very next action was to open a bottle of water and down it. I needed to buy a fan because the room was stifling even at this time of day. If it was this bad now, I hated to imagine what it would be like by late afternoon.
I took a shower, and even the cold water seemed warm. The other problem was that the water pressure made me think I was back in LA; it barely got me wet. I decided that shorts and a t-shirt would be the dress for the day.
I heard a knock at my door. It was Paul; I guess he was there to walk me to breakfast and then to my fitting.
“Last night was nice,” he told me.
“I think everyone had a good time.”
