Hearts' Desires

by Anke Napp

  “He is a farmboy, and you are my daughter! You won’t see him again, or I’ll send you back to Belgium on the very next plane!”

  “You are a backwards racist! A tyrant! And I hate you!” She swirled around.

  Alison kept her eyes fixed on Vance. The transition from patriarchal anger and display of power down to shock and desperation in the blink of an eye! Wonderfully captured… Vance‘s performance was skilled and flawless, and she watched him acting with growing amazement.

  “Camilla!” Marens caught his daughter by the shoulders; she turned around—

  “Cut!” Alison spread her arms and shook her head. I bet she did this on purpose! It’s the second time! “We have to shoot that last scene again! – Lauren! When you turn around, you raise your hand! You do NOT place it on his chest! He’s your father, not your lover!”

  Someone from the crew laughed.

  Lauren displayed repentance. “I moved too quickly, I think. Shall I leave my hands at my side?”

  “No, I want that message of surprise and fear in this sequence,” Alison answered. “Camilla is afraid her father is exactly the violent person, Louis’ father described! If you leave your hands at your side, it would destroy the impact of the scene! – Okay, once more! Positions everyone!”

  The crew had gathered around the dinner tables, except some younger guys including Thabo, relaxing in a football match with the village children.

  “Look at those youngsters,” Jake said to Vance, leaning back with a glass of beer in his hand. “They never get tired! I tell you, my back is killing me! - By the way, I heard you’ve made quite an impression on Alison already?”

  “I do my work.”

  “She labeled your performance as ‘intriguing’. That’s close to an Oscar nomination, you know?”

  Vance shook his head with a little laugh. “Rumors on a set, Jake. Even more treacherous than a mirage in the desert.” But he felt good. He had impressed her? Mission accomplished!

  He focused his attention on his plate, when Nora showed up, looking quite exhausted. With a sigh, she put her dish down and closed her eyes.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Vance asked.

  “Oh, that would be very kind! But your meal-”

  “I’ll be back in a second, don’t worry!” He was up already. “What can I get you?”

  “Just some cold water, thank you. … Wow, he’s a real gentleman,” Nora continued, when Vance was on his way.

  “That he is!” Jake confirmed.

  “You’ve known him for a long time, haven’t you?”

  “A lifetime!” Jake laughed. “I first met him about 30 years ago, at Stormbird Studios. He stood there, smoking this filterless killer stuff, you know, the one sparing you the exterminator at home – and with hair down to his shoulders. Just the kind of guy you never thought would carry your luggage without even being asked. Yeah… old school gentleman. - So, you had one of those days?”

  “You can say that. Uncooperative extras, faulty equipment. The whole story!”

  Returning from the late dinner, Vance shut the door of his bungalow with a joyous kick, feeling a little like kicking the ass of his agent and some producers as well. Not that he was much into playing family scenes – while this idiot Harker gets the part of Washington! – but it was a small personal joy that he was able to master it well, to the satisfaction of a director like Alison Cartwright. He smiled at his reflection in the mirror over the dressing table: Well, perhaps this work would open the mind of some Hollywood pals to other possibilities, before he ended up as ‘Grandpa Wilkins’!

  He took his script to prepare for the next scenes and lay down on his bed. He was about to light a cigarette, when it knocked at his door. With a sigh, he opened.

  Outside was Lauren Bastian, the script in her hand. “Hi, Vance! Hope I’m not bothering you?”

  Who could have answered with a ‘yes’ facing this expression of helplessness and girlish innocence?! Nevertheless, he was about to, for a couple of seconds at least.

  “Not at all. What’s up?”

  “Uh… I thought, you could help me out with this next scene, you know? I really have difficulties to shift my mind into the one of Camilla…” She smiled beguilingly. “I thought you have a lot of experience and could help me a bit. I don’t want to mess things up again like this morning!”

  “Okay, let’s see…” He took the script pages she handed him over. “Where’s the problem?”

  “The scene where Louis and I have to kiss.”

  Vance started to feel increasingly uncomfortable. He felt he knew exactly where this headed. Yet he couldn’t come up with a polite way out of it.

  “It’s … I don’t know… I just feel embarrassed,” Lauren continued. “I know I shouldn’t, because it’s unprofessional. But…” Her lowered eyelids fluttered up again and she shot a glance full of sweet poison at him. “You’ve played similar stuff. Maybe… you can help me out with this… feeling?”

  “Always remember you’re at work, Lauren.” He tried his best to focus on the straight professional level himself and not to wander where she wanted him to be. “You have a particular task and you intend to do it as perfectly as you can. It’s not important if you like it or not. It is just a task. You have to sell it, not believe it. Besides, you only have to kiss him…” Vance checked in the script “’lightly’.”

  She sighed and, with an inconspicuously move, opened a button of her shirt.

  “Sorry, Vance. It’s just… it’s so hot in here; I have a hard time concentrating. - Yes, I told myself that, but I’m still not sure I can do it.”

  Oh I bet you’re quite able to do a lot more…

  “Would you mind if I take a shower right here?” Lauren’s voice startled him. “I mean, it would be silly to go back to my room, first, and then return…”

  “Whatever floats your boat.”

  He stood up and went to the little refrigerator, first of all to get away from the vision of seduction Lauren was providing when she slowly rose, undulating like a snake. This girl was clearly lusting after him and was pulling out all the stops! Hearing the water from the shower, Vance sighed and hastily drained a glass of mineral water, wishing he had something much stronger at hand.

  All too soon Lauren stepped back into the room, a towel draped around her body.

  “Better?” He asked and felt silly.

  Lauren reduced the distance between them with three gracious steps.

  “Yes. But… I still feel very… heated up…” And with that she let the towel drop and stretched her arms towards him, smiling through the rivulets of water running from her hair over her face.

  “We should…” she started to whisper.

  Vance bent down, took the towel and placed it around her without really looking.

  “I think, YOU should go back to your place now, Lauren. You are a talented actress; I don’t think you’ll need any help with those scenes.”

  She stared at him. He was not sure what she was up to. There seemed to be a spark of anger in her – really beautiful, he had to admit – eyes. And her mouth curled for a second. However, then Lauren smiled again. She managed placing a kiss on his cheek, only a faint breath, but he drowned in fire nonetheless.

  Before he could tore himself back from the seconds of trance, the young woman was out of his door. Her clothes simply over the arm and holding the towel over her chest.

  “God help us all…” Vance murmured. Then he stepped to the shower himself.

  Her hair pulled back tightly, Alison showed up at Vance’s. She had spotted how this little harlot of Lauren Bastian left his bungalow, only dressed with a towel. Alison felt angry and strangely hurt, an emotional reaction which she found absolutely inappropriate – and thus she was annoyed even more.

  He opened and gave exactly the sight she had expected: ‘dressed’ in a bath towel, too.

  “Alison, sorry, just took a shower.”

  “I suppose you needed one.” Her voice was a mix
ture of acid and ice.

  “Come in, please.”

  “What I have to say, I can say standing here, Mr. Van Sorel.”

  “Uh, what happened to ‘Vance’?”

  “I don’t care about your sordid private life. However, HERE you are on MY set. And I don’t want certain things going on, that I can read about a few days later in the tabloids! Did I make myself clear?”

  He began to understand. “Things having something to do with Lauren Bastian, right? – Well, let me tell you, she was the one who tried to make a pass at me! And very enthusiastically, for that matter!”

  “Of course you resisted courageously,” Alison spit sarcastically. Hopefully he would spare her the typical excuses! In fact, she was only his boss, not his poor wife! This stuff did not interest her in the slightest!

  “Disappointed because I don’t live up to your low opinion of me?”

  A part of her was, indeed. On her way to the bungalow she had already buried Vance van Sorel alongside other complacent machos she had known so far. She opened her mouth, but not looking in her direction, because reaching for a T-shirt, Vance forestalled her speech.

  “Well, contrary what you might have heard about me, I’m not that kind of guy.”

  He dragged the shirt over his head and turned around again. “I’m on a set to work.”

  “It is good you see it that way, too.”

  “So there is no reason why we should stare at each other like two buffalos ready to clash. Alison.” He smiled and she noticed the indistinct feeling inside her, it would probably have been better if he was THAT kind of guy and thus she could mentally dispose of him without further thoughts. “But you should speak to Lauren.”

  Alison realized that she had been silent for the last moments, and cleared her throat. “I will.” She turned.

  “Are we on first-name-terms, again?” Vance asked.

  “I don’t see a reason to complicate things further. - By the way, your stunt double arrives tomorrow. I hope you’ll get along with him.”

  “Stunt double? What for? Not for this ridiculous scene on the hunt?!”

  “You can break your leg on the set of ’Ten Days’ – as you have, in fact. Not on mine. Vance.” With that, Alison was definitely gone.

  Since she had returned into her bungalow, Lauren relaxed on the bed and took the opportunity to savor her heated dreams about Vance.

  I know you want me. I know it…

  She rolled over to take a look at her watch, and played absently with the watch band. It was decorated with some cheap artificial stones, but looked expensive. I bet he would buy me a bracelet with diamonds…

  In musing about the benefits she could gain from a relationship with Vance van Sorel, Lauren realized that all these things only came second. For now, at least. First, there was the challenge! Most guys were idiots and could be pleased with little favors and a small effort. Only a few had been a challenge so far. Like Vance.

  The knocking at her door disturbed Lauren’s increasingly graphic imagination. The young woman wrapped herself in the bathrobe and hurried to the door.

  “Not to put too fine a point on it,” Alison started, and Lauren immediately knew what was going on, “but we have to speak about your behavior, Lauren.”

  “Yes?” She managed to look innocent. “I’m sorry if I was rude to Thabo, but—“

  “This isn’t about Thabo,” Alison replied sharply. “It is about Vance.”

  Lauren’s instinct instantly went on high alert, as if she had just stepped on a snake. Don’t tell me, YOU are after him! I really don’t think he likes grandmas! “… o my gosh! The affair with the towel! I’m so embarrassed, really!” Lauren interjected in Alison’s reprimand and rolled her eyes. “The damned thing slipped just through my hand! There was nothing I could do about it! I’m so sorry for this… uhm… situation.”

  “This won’t happen again.” Alison’s words were an order. It was clearly visible she did not believe the ‘accident-version’ of the story in the least.

  “Yes. Of course not.” Next time we‘re going to screw like bunnies, believe me!

  “We are here to work, Lauren, and so far you have proven yourself a hard worker and a talented one as well. Don‘t disappoint me.”

  Aw, fuck! This sounds just like one of the nuns in the convent school of this annoying Camilla-character! “No, I‘ll try my best.”

  “Good. I don’t expect anything less.” Alison turned around and left.

  Lauren closed the door. “What do you know?” she murmured, what she hadn‘t dared to say into the director‘s face. “I want a life! I don‘t want to sit around and grow old and ugly waiting for an opportunity like my mom! I‘ll GRAB it!”

  Alison felt uncomfortable, when she left Lauren. She was sure the little bitch lied. There was the climate on the set that worried her. And the rumors, which, she knew, always found a way to travel to the tabloids. On top of it… there was something else bothering her. She could not name it though. And at the moment, she had no time to worry about it, because she had to give the technical team and the set dressers the necessary instructions. This part of the crew would head out within the next hour to prepare everything for tomorrow at the ‘hunting-set‘, some miles north-east.

  While shaving, Vance thought once again about calling his wife. However, it was shortly past midnight in L.A. now…. Moreover: what was he going to say? She had never been really interested in his work or life on a movie set, except her worry he could have one-night-stands with his female co-stars.

  “Shit!” He had cut himself.

  One-night-stands… Lauren‘s little performance popped up in his mind. So you’re feeling guilty already, even though nothing happened?! No, it was better to forget the phone call to Carolyn. She would no doubt sense the discomfort in his voice, interpret it as a guilty conscience and make a fuss.

  Vance started to get angry at himself – more so because Lauren’s image refused to disappear from his mind. He stared into the mirror again and made a grumpy face. I’m twice her age! At least! What does this chick want from me?!

  Ah yes, that he even asked this question was a certain sign of age, wasn’t it? Well, I’m not that Harker-idiot! He answered the sarcastic little devil in his head and started to dress. Yes, Harker could think he was still in his blooming 30ies! I wonder how he even fits through a door with that huge ego of his! … And I BET he had an hair transplantation last year! Maybe that got him the ‘Washington’… Brown-noser!

  The thought of ‘age’ reminded Vance of the stuntman Alison had mentioned. He was convinced that he did not need a stuntman for a simple ride on a tame horse and a little faked fall on a soft mattress at the end of the scene! Okay, he had broken his leg on the set of ‘Ten Days’ - but only because a heavy spotlight installation crashed, hit his back, and therefore he stumbled very unfortunately out of the airplane-set. This had nothing to do with his being in shape! He was fit, he was fine! Still angry about a lot of things, Vance finished dressing, took his hat and the sunglasses. The sun was not up yet, but the weather forecast had promised a clear sky and high temperatures.

  The others were already waiting by or in the bus, chatting or busy with the script and annotations. Vance did not see Lauren and breathed a little sigh of relief. He was really not in the mood to deal with any of her tricks right now! Thabo waved in his direction, and a moment later, he heard Jake’s characteristic voice sound across the parking lot.

  “Hello, Vance!” When his friend was close, Jake continued grinning: “Heard some things…”

  “Whatever you heard, if it’s about Lauren and me – it did not happen!”

  “No reason to jump on me like that, man! What’s going on with you lately?”

  Vance breathed deeply and now gave Jake an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Maybe I haven’t slept very well. And the trouble with Carolyn… But let’s get our mind off these things! Work is waiting!”

  “Work is a perfect cue! There comes Alison! … And… doesn’t
she look like Grace Kelly in that dress…”

  Vance climbed into the bus. He certainly wasn’t interested how she looked! But in the door he turned around, watched Alison and admitted that his old friend was absolutely right. She looked gorgeous and regal!

  The scheduled scene was a very complicated one, needing perfect choreography. The content was relatively simple: Marens was on a hunting party with two of his friends, played by South African actors, who had joined the team this morning: Piet from Pretoria and Wayland from Durban. During the hunt, an accident would happen, and for the future viewer of the movie it would look just as if Louis had tried to kill Camilla’s father. In the sequences before, a lot of tension had been built up between the characters – about racism, apartheid and personal regrets – and this would be the culmination of it all, a key scene and the second plot point of the script. Therefore, Alison wanted this scene as perfect as possible; 200 percent perfect!

  Nonetheless, some not so good news waited for them at the location. The stuntmen had not arrived yet. Their car had broken down and they did not think they could make it within the next hours. And to make the ordeal complete, an official from Animal Welfare showed up, in his hands a bunch of paperwork. Alison silently gritted her teeth, while she walked up to him. Had she not phoned these guys already and had she not solved every single problem?! They exchanged some polite small talk, and after that they went over to inspect the special ammunition and everything else…

  “You see, no game will be hurt at any time,” Alison explained, showing the prepared weapon props. “There are no bullets to injure them. These things do not even produce a sound that could frighten the animals. I can demonstrate for you. We will add the appropriate sound later, in the studio.”

  Yes, the Animal Welfare representative wanted to see and hear every detail. He apologized for his intrusion, tried to point out the many abuses the wildlife was suffering, especially here. Getting nervous and angry the more time passed, Alison answered again and again she had complete understanding of the situation and she would never allow anything that violated the directives of the National Park.