I talked to her about the effects the ambush interview issue might have, but she thought it would actually boost movie sales. Halle seemed to be a true believer in the Hollywood mantra, ‘any publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right!’ I hoped she was correct in her assertion. Only time would tell.
I also confided in her that I had a scene where they had me sing. I’d heard Halle sing the National Anthem at one of our games, so I knew she was light years better than I was. She had sympathy for me.
When I was done with our call, it was late. I decided I would call everyone else another evening. I wanted to hear that everyone was okay back home. It was important that I get that reminder of what normal was so I could face Laurent tomorrow. He was starting to wear on me, and it had only been three days.
◊◊◊ Thursday May 19
Cassidy must have friends in high places because she contrived to be my security today. When I got to the set, Kitty and Anita met me and informed me we were shooting scenes on an old yacht. Laurent planned to do other scenes, so I didn’t have to deal with him.
It was an absolutely perfect day to be out on the water. There was a light breeze, which made the heat and humidity bearable. Cassidy looked like she planned to get some sun while I worked. She wore white shorts, a sleeveless blouse, sunglasses, and a straw hat with a scarf to keep it on her head.
The hotel had suggested that we not use their grounds for our workouts, so I’d asked Paul and Fritz to find us a dojo we could work out in. I personally thought they planned to play tourist, which was fine with me. Caryn begged off because she needed to follow up on arrangements for the restaurant grand opening. Megan was a big help, but Caryn was the one who knew the whole plan.
When we arrived at the marina, I was amazed at the effort they’d gone to. All the boats that might be observed in a shot were from the correct period. Floating out in the bay was a big yacht where most of the scenes would be filmed today.
Kitty set up a series of scenes where I walked down the dock and boarded a classic wooden Chris-Craft runabout to take me to the yacht. I fell in love with the boat. It had an inboard motor that made a deep throaty sound as it gained speed. The artisanship and care for this boat were obvious. It simply glistened in the morning sun. It just had so much more style than today’s fiberglass boats had.
The storyline for today was that I would meet with Stewart’s character, Callum Ascot. His job was to recruit my character to help MI6. Cici was the daughter of a key Cuban official. Callum wanted Rick to use his budding relationship with her to gain access to her father’s home office.
We filmed on the sheltered exterior aft deck. By noon, I was ready to die from the heat, as were several of the film crew. Kitty took pity on us after I sweat through my third shirt. As I wiped my brow, I started to wonder about Jim’s sanity for going to school in Alabama. I’d been there in the summer, and it was every bit as hot and humid as it was in Cuba in mid-May. I didn’t necessarily mind the heat; it was the humidity that was the killer.
Kitty let us all take a break to get drinks and cool off. I found Cassidy sitting on a deck chair near the bow. Getting out of the covered aft deck let me get some breeze, which made all the difference. I flopped down in the chair next to her.
“You stink,” was her helpful critique.
“You’re a brat.”
I snatched her hat off her head.
“Give it back,” she complained.
“Or what?”
“Do you really need me to spell it out for you?” she asked.
I tossed her hat high in the air, and the wind caught it. The next thing I knew, it had gotten stuck twenty feet up the aft mast. It had tangled itself in a rope.
“Get it for me,” she said as she shaded her eyes to see where it was stuck.
I practiced my one-eyebrow look and wondered why she would ask me to climb the mast to retrieve her five-dollar hat. This had all the earmarks of something my mom would yell at me for doing.
“I’ll buy you another one,” I offered reasonably.
“I like
She walked me over to the mast and jabbed me in the ribs when she thought I was delaying retrieving her hat. I tried to climb up, but my shoes were too slick. I took them off and was about to go up.
“Stop!” Kitty yelled.
Crud! She was probably worried about insurance or some other stupid thing they usually annoyed me with when I wanted to do something fun.
“Are you going to climb up to get her hat?” Kitty asked.
“Uhm … sure.”
“Let me get a camera,” she said, and then hurried off.
I kept hoping the stupid hat would work its way free and fly off into the Gulf of Mexico, but no such luck. Kitty came back with a camera operator, sound technician, and my makeup guy. They made me put on a dry shirt and fixed my nearly nonexistent hair.
