“Did you hear?” Halle asked excitedly.
“Saul is saying it might hit twenty-five million this weekend.”
“It’s doing three times that internationally. My mom is out-of-her-mind excited. We’re number one in Japan and China. It seems that someone is big over there,” she teased.
“David!” Rita must have grabbed the phone from Halle.
“Congratulations. It sounds like your first producing credit is going to be a success.”
“Thanks in no small part to you. You stepped up when we needed it.”
We told each other how great we were. Halle finally took the phone back.
“How is everything going there?” she asked.
“I hate my director and my love interest quit. Besides that, I’ve enjoyed Cuba.”
“Hey, I have to go. I know you, you’ll make it work,” Halle said and then was gone.
This film was a big deal for both Rita and Halle. I was glad it was holding its own over the holiday weekend. No one would expect our movie to take down a franchise film like X-Men. But the crowds to watch that movie were big enough over the holiday to help us do better than we would have done on an average weekend.
◊◊◊
When I returned to the set, Anita, our production assistant, met me.
“Two things: one, we have press that would like to speak to you, and two, I hear you have a medical bag.”
“Is someone hurt?” I asked with concern.
“No, but we’ve run out of supplies. We have the usual stuff like upset stomachs, headaches, and the like. Then there’s the issue of what heat and humidity does,” she explained.
I knew about heat and humidity. In fact, I’d gotten a mild case of jock itch. I was thankful Tami had packed some spray that took care of the problem.
“Ask Caryn to get it for you. It’s in my closet in the front hall,” I said and then tackled the other issue. “What do the reporters want?”
One advantage of being in Cuba was there were no paparazzi running around. Although, if the Cubans ever figured out they could sell actors’ pictures, I was sure all of us would be swarmed.
“I have no idea,” Anita said and then left.
I wasn’t scheduled to do a scene for a while, so I stepped into the hotel to the front desk. They pointed me to a reporter and cameraman sitting in the lobby. I guess that would account for the plural ‘reporters.’
“
“
We sat down and talked for quite a while. There were the expected questions about my thoughts about my visit to Cuba. I responded that I’d really enjoyed my stay and getting to know the people. I was careful not to criticize the government in any way. The first day we’d been here, we had a talk about topics to avoid here, and that was one of them.
The conversation turned to my new movie that had come out, and the one I was currently shooting. I explained that I was dressed to do a scene later in the day. Then we got to what Nino really wanted to talk about.
“
“
“
“
He told his cameraman we were done and had him leave. He then got an earnest look on his face and looked around.
“Is there someplace we could speak in private?” he asked in English.
◊◊◊
Nino and I took the elevator up to my suite.
“I’m Bianca’s godfather. I just wanted to make sure that your offer to her was legitimate. Since I heard that you had her strip down, I worried that someone was taking advantage of her,” he said, not looking happy.
“I haven’t made any offers to her. Bianca approached me to see if I could find her a job in the States. I explained that I didn’t have any contacts for dancers, and she suggested something either in the movies or as a model. Her command of English would limit her opportunities in the movies, so I called a friend of mine who has ties to modeling.”
“Adrienne?”
“Yes. She is both my agent and mentor. I trust her to give an honest evaluation of Bianca’s chances in the business. I told Bianca about my concerns,” I admitted.
He gave me a scowl.
“She is a beautiful young woman. How could you not think she is pretty enough to be a model?”
