Page 29 of Before We Were Famous

He winced. ‘I’m not a mushroom guy.’

‘Get out of here,’ I said, shocked. He pretended to rise and leave, and I laughed.

We were out to dinner at Aria. It had taken some coordination but I only had one week of filming left for my role and then Edgar and I were no longer connected.

‘I’m more of a seafood guy,’ he said.

‘That so? Interesting,’ I said, giving him my best analyst look. ‘I knew there was something fishy about you,’ I said, with a laugh and he groaned.

I got serious. ‘You know I finish up next week? How wonderful this experience has been, thank you, Edgar.’

I think my sincerity caught him off guard.

‘No, thank you, Catherine,’ he said. He always called me by my full name. ‘And I thank Tamara for finding and casting you. I appreciate all you have added to my film,’ he said.

We stopped talking as the waiter filled our glasses. We could lash out and have a few drinks as Edgar’s driver picked us both up and was probably outside eating a burger waiting for us, while Edgar and I ate at one of the most expensive restaurants in London. I had more in common with our driver, I couldn’t afford an entree let alone a meal here. I glanced around; it was all so tasteful … quiet, low conversations, subtle waiter service and beautifully presented dishes. It was a very sophisticated dining experience and worlds away from Nelly and my pub experience – but I am a down-to-earth girl at heart and love our local haunts. The waiter left us and Edgar cleared his throat, regaining my attention.

‘I’m sorry I haven’t had time to see you more during filming, but that is what it is like when I’m working,’ he said.

‘No apology necessary,’ I said. ‘I’ve worked on the stage; I know what it can be like – all or nothing.’

‘I’ve only directed you for a couple of days now but how did you find the experience – the film? Tell me honestly,’ he asked.

I thought about my answer before responding.

‘Because it was my first film, I have no benchmark to compare it with. I was terrified the first few days but I kept going back to the basics of immersion – blocking out the noise of cameras, lights, and crew and just trying to focus on the actor opposite me and the moment, kind of like I did on stage,’ I explained.

He nodded. ‘I know when I’m directing I don’t make allowances for levels of experience, but hopefully, I was encouraging and not terrifying,’ he said, sipping from his glass.

I realised he wanted to hear what I thought abouthimmore than my real experience, so I got to work boosting his ego, not that he needed it I suspect.

‘You were amazing,’ I said. ‘Patient, thoughtful, encouraging. You gave positive feedback which I wasn’t expecting and not once did you lose it, even when we were doing those 16-hour days. I thought you might then … we were all a bit wired.’

He smiled. ‘I have a psychologist friend who always reminds me of the hard road back.’

‘What’s that?’ I asked.

‘Well if you get stuck into someone, it is like putting nails in a fence. You can apologise later but when you pull the nails out, the marks are still there.’

‘Wow,’ I said, ‘quite an analogy.’

‘You might be new to film but you are not new to acting; your stage work was a great discipline for what you did on screen. You were well ahead of many of the cast,’ he said and thrilled me with his words.

‘Wow, high praise, thank you,’ I said and smiled delightedly. Heath always said the stage was a great training ground.Don’t think about Heath.

I responded. ‘The stage is a good discipline – you don’t get a chance to fix what you get wrong so you have to work at one-takes!’ I said. I finished my beautiful entrée and sipped my wine.

‘Speaking of the stage, I understand you are no longer with Heath,’ Edgar said.

I snapped to look at him, then tried to save my dramatic reaction by trying to look casual and shrug. Forget it, I wasn’t going to pull that off. So, I nodded.

‘That’s right, we broke up a few months ago now, three or four…’ I let my voice trail off.

‘I see,’ he said.

‘How did you hear?’

‘Isabella caught up with him,’ Edgar said and thrust a knife into my heart with his five words. Oblivious, he kept talking.

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