What Happened In Thailand Stays In Thailand

Chapter 4: First Shoot

It was Friday. Itziar took a shower after lunch and prepared for the Chelsea Film Festival chat scheduled that afternoon, exactly at noontime in New York. She took great care in drying her hair and changed into a comfy striped shirt.

Her mind, however, was spinning circles since she woke up that morning. She was thinking, where have you been all my life?

---

Sometime in Spring 2017

"Hola, Itziar! Qué tal, qué tal?" Álex welcomed her on the set and gave her a big hug. "Thank you for accepting the role. I knew you'd be the perfect Inspectora Murillo."

"Thank you for giving me the job." She laughed and hugged him back.

"I think you got the copy of the scripts for the first four or five episodes, right?" He then called out to a curly haired, bearded guy with soft, gentle eyes, "Jesús! Here's our Inspectora!"

"Hola Itziar." The guy shook her hands. "Cómo estás? Hope you had a good trip."

"Muy bien, gracias." She told him. This is just the second or third time they met, after she went for a screen test when she was offered the role. She immediately liked the guy on instinct. "I hope I will be a good actress to your director."

"Oh, I don't think we'll have doubts about that. I saw you in Goenkale. And Loreak. Great work, both."

"Gracias."

"Have you had time to go over the sides*? You'll appear a bit later on in the first episode as you start to work against the gang. Before that, you'll have a couple of short scenes with Kiti and Naia. We'll shoot that scene tomorrow morning."

"Jesús, I'll be going ahead." Álex nodded to her. "Have a fun first day at work. Call me if you need anything."

Itziar nodded her thanks to Álex as he left to tend to production. Jesús then guided her on the set stage of a cafe with booths and a long counter. Various equipment and cameras were put into place and were being tested.

"For today, we'll shoot the Hanoi Cafe scene. The first time Raquel meets Salva. I thought it would be good to have your first meet on your first shooting day. Make your first impressions as real as possible."

She nodded as three ladies approached her, one of which handed her another copy of the sides and guided her to the dressing rooms.

"We'll begin in about an hour and a half. Have some drinks over there by the catering. Freshen up, and these nice ladies will be doing your hair, makeup and wardrobe. See you later." Jesús smiled at all of them.

Itzi got out of the dressing room after an hour. She went to the set with her sides and went over her lines. Production assistants greeted her and she smiled. One of them pointed her to a bar stool where she would sit later. She sat at the stool and waited for Jesús. Extras were already seated in places. The assistant director was instructing them along with other crewmen left and right for blocking and set photography.

A tall guy in a suit and glasses suddenly appeared on the other side of the set, then sat on one of the stools at the other end of the bar.

Álvaro. He and Itzi met once or twice at the first gathering of all the cast and crew before the shoots started. The moment was hazy as her head spun from so many of the cast to be introduced to, aside from the more than 50 other crew and staff for the show. This first shoot with him, however, was of a different level altogether. She greeted him first.

"Hola."

"Hola, Itziar." He smiled. He also had his copy of his sides. His costume was befitting of the Salva character, a bit anachronistic than most business suits, along with those thick-framed glasses. He was not wearing any glasses before.

She smiled. "Are we rolling soon?"

"Nervous?" He smiled. "Don't be. Jesús is great. Very gentle and understanding. And patient. You'll see."

"Thanks." He got up, approached the stool next to her, then sat.

"We'll be waiting a while here yet. See that?" He pointed to some long-poled, wired equipment held by a crew. "They'll be testing that at least five times for clarity. I think they just had it up and running. New digital equipment I believe."

"Oh. Okay. I've been on TV for more than 10 years and yet many of these, I still don't know how they work." She laughed. A nice sound, he thought.

"You're from Basque, si?"

"Si."

"I was wondering why we haven't met if you've been on TV for more than 10 years. Have been in the biz myself for years, but here in Madrid."

"Ahh, okay." She was looking directly at his eyes. She got a slight feeling of sucker-punch. They have the same shade. Different eye shapes, yes, but exactly the same shade. She felt weird.

He was looking at her eyes as well. He was trying to be friendly here as per usual. Helps when you get along with all the cast and crew, less drama at work. But her face is unbelievably gorgeous. He could see why she stayed this long in the biz. She has one of those rare faces that all cameras love. Muy hermosa!

She was slightly on the short side compared to many actresses in Madrid. She's wearing high-heeled boots now, but he'd bet she could only reach his chin give or take an inch when barefoot.

Her face though. And her lips. That lower lip is heaven-made for sucking...Joder! What am I thinking?!

"Ah, I think we'll start in a few. Talk to you later. Oh! And welcome to the show." He touched her hand slightly before going back to that far-end stool.

She looked at her hand where he touched her. It was like a nerve got wired from that spot on her skin to her whole body. She dismissed it and focused on her lines.

Jesús went to the bar and gave them the directions they needed. A guy holding a small box went beside him. "Here are the prop phones." He handed them one each. "Itziar, here's your handbag. Y aquí, press the phone here like this to look like it was on. Lo ves?"

Itzi nodded and held Raquel's phone like a lifeline, and recalled her lines. Chill, Itziar, chill.

The guy with the box asked them both to place their sides there for retrieval later.

"Vale! Clapper please. Itziar, wait on the cafe entrance. Álvaro, face that right side wall on the huge TV screen, por favor. Everyone, we're rolling in 3, 2, 1. Acción!"

********

*Sides are pages taken from a TV or film script.