said, I want a theatrically trained actress, someone who can improvise, someone who can sustain one, long, fifteen minute take.”
“What about a body double?” I offered, suspecting Daniel wouldn’t go for it.
“Defeats the purpose. This film is about acting, about passion and love, not about body parts. I can’t be spending more time faffing about in the editing room than on set.”
“What about Cal?” I asked. “Will he be shooting nude too?” I’d heard about what actors had to wear: a “cock-sock” to cover up their private parts. I tried to picture Cal in a cock-sock, getting an erection and it springing off like a slingshot.
Daniel cleared his throat as if he were about to speak but then stayed silent. He looked at Samuel.
“Look,” Sam said, “the truth is, and the truth can hurt sometimes . . . it’s like watching a wooden puppet and prima ballerina perform together. The wooden puppet is cute, but he’s still made of wood. The prima ballerina is flesh and blood, she’s alive—you know what I’m saying?”
“Who’s the puppet and who’s the ballerina?” I asked. I had a good idea but wanted to hear it from his lips.
“Cal,” Daniel said, his voice a hammer.
Pearl smoothed her pencil skirt over her fine legs. She wasn’t wearing pantyhose—she didn’t need them. “Look,” she began, “Cal is very, very handsome, and for a soap or light comedy he’s perfect, but seeing you together just . . . just . . . it’s like oil and water, it isn’t working.”
“It’s not his fault!” I blurted out. “We’ve had zero direction from Simon. Cal is a good actor, he just needs direction!”
Daniel shot me a look, which I couldn’t read.
“Cal’s gotta go too,” Samuel stated without remorse. “He’ll get his full fee, don’t feel badly for the boy.”
A chill spiraled through my limbs. Cal would be devastated. I felt somehow that it was my fault, that I was responsible. Had I upstaged him? Had I unwittingly made him look bad? “He’s a good actor,” I repeated. “He’s professional, reliable, he’s a nice guy!”
“We don’t give a damn about nice,” Sam hurled out. “We want menacing, we want dangerous.”
“We need drop-dead sexy, not just good looking,” Pearl added. “I did ask my husband if he wanted the role, but . . .” –she winked at me—“but we’ve gone down another avenue.”
“Another avenue?” I echoed, my heart still pounding at the thought of stripping naked in front of Daniel, directing me to do anything he wanted, to have ‘artistic control’ over my body—considering he pretty much already owned my mind. “What actors have you considered?”
“Just one actor,” Pearl said, looking at Daniel as if for his approval. I’d heard the name of Brandon Taylor being bandied about, the latest hotshot movie star who everyone was raving about. Perhaps they’d choose him to replace Cal.
Sam took a long gulp of champagne. “We’ve decided he would be the best thing for the movie.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Me,” Daniel rumbled. “I’m going to be your leading man, your co-star. I’m a trained actor, might as well put my skills to use. Yes or no, Janie? You need to decide.”
I sat there, silent, gob-smacked by the humdinger news. Had I heard this right? Not only was Daniel Glass going to now direct The Dark Edge of Love but he was also going to REPLACE CAL AS MY LEADING MAN! I could feel my limbs trembling. Not tickle induced laughter this time, no, but terror. And I had been doing so well! I thought of Cal, waiting for me, planning a weekend away. Of how relieved I was, just an hour ago, to be mentally free of Daniel—to be getting on with my life, moving forward.
And now look.
“I don’t know,” I said in a quiet voice. Samuel, Pearl, and Daniel were waiting, their gazes fixed to me for a concrete answer: was I going to bare all in this movie? Strip myself of my nicely worked out nudity clause that had been gone over with a fine toothcomb by one of Hollywood’s finest entertainment lawyers? Strip myself in every way.
Samuel’s voice was a cleaver to my rumination. “Look, Janie, I like you. We can up your fee. Not by a lot but—”
“It’s not the money,” I broke in.
“Sam, Janie doesn’t have to decide this very second!” Pearl said. “Let’s finish our drinks and take a rain check.”
“What about Cal?” I asked.
“Cal will be just fine,” Samuel said.
Any second now I would see Cal. There was no way I