I just stared at her. Frank had taught me I shouldn’t be baited into making a comment without thinking it out first. Frankly, she’d made a statement and hadn’t asked a question. Something else that had me a little worried was I wasn’t in the United States right now. I was in Cuba, and I’d been warned not to make negative comments about Castro or Cuba while I was there. So, I waited her out.
“What are your views on that?” she asked, getting frustrated with my silence.
Frank had written me a quick blurb to use if I was asked anything potentially controversial about Cuba. It was time to use it.
“Ma’am, I don’t mean any disrespect, but I can’t answer your question. I’m a guest in this country and working as an actor. When I get home, I’ll be a high school student. I have neither the training nor the understanding of all the issues to be able to give you an informed and reasoned response. So I’m not in a position to answer that.
“I will say that I’ve enjoyed my stay here. The people of Cuba have been nothing but hospitable, and I feel privileged to have received the opportunity to visit this fine country.
“I also hate to say this, but I don’t think this is the time or place for this discussion. We all lost a colleague yesterday, and that should be our focus,” I said and saw Nino nod to me.
I’d argued that it didn’t sound like me; the ‘reasoned response’ line sounded like I was fifty. Frank assured me it was a good nonanswer and would get the interview back to being focused on Laurent and not my opinion. Once again, I was thankful I’d hired him.
Then she hit me with one I wasn’t prepared for.
“In your latest movie,
I just stared at her.
“What do you have to say?” she asked, getting impatient.
“I’m sorry; I thought you were making a statement. What is your question?” I asked, getting a chuckle from the other reporters.
“Did you actually have sex in the film? Is that clear enough for you?” she asked.
Everything in me screamed
“I’m assuming you’re talking about the scene between my character and Diana. Leah Johansen is a fantastic actress who helped me through that difficult scene. After filming it, I understand when actors say that romantic scenes are some of the hardest to do.
“And it’s not like you’re alone. Even if they clear the set, there’s the director, videographers, sound technicians, and in our case, the producer, all of whom remain there. On top of that, I’ve heard horror stories of an actor’s family or significant other being in the room while they shot.
“So you get an idea of how hard a scene like that is. Leah helped me every step of the way. We had to do several takes to get what they wanted on film. I’ve not seen the final product, but people have told me it came off as very realistic. That was all Leah,” I said and then stood up and stepped away from the microphones.
After the interview, Nino stopped me to find out if I’d heard anything from Adrienne. I had to tell him I hadn’t. I assured him I would let them know when she got back to me. Adrienne was either looking for something for them or wasn’t interested. She would let me know when she was ready.
◊◊◊
We took the elevator up to my suite, and I had Paul download his bodycam footage of the last question and response and sent it to Frank. It took him all of five minutes to call me.
“Well, shit. I guess I should have warned you that Leah has been asked about it several times. You’ve not been exposed to the American press, so I wasn’t worried. I suspect that by the time you get back, some other big story will dominate the news rather than whether you had sex.”
“Are we good with the answer I gave?” I asked.
“No, no, I mean, yes. You did great. I’m not sure I would’ve answered the same way, but you put the focus on the process. They’ve heard some of the same stories you have, and they’ll believe you didn’t really have a chance to do it,” Frank said.
“Can you get word to Leah so we keep our story straight?” I asked.
“I already sent it to her people. We’re all good.”
◊◊◊
Coach Conde had two more pitching prospects for this afternoon. It was a good distraction for me while the movie sorted itself out. They were both raw, and I had to eat dirt a few times when pitches got away. But it was good practice for me nonetheless.
I had fun when Coach Conde held practice for the team. He ran them through drills where they had a runner on, and I got to be that runner. I was able to show them that if you kept your head up and paid attention, you could pick up extra bases, and that extra bases turned into scores.
