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CHAPTER TWO - the evening of Monday 19th August 2002 8:40pm: I arrive at the theatre just after nightfall on Monday night, and the action's already under way. Some extras are loading scenery into a Victorian removals van outside the theatre. When this little bit of action finishes, they unload all the props, take them back into the theatre, and start the process all over again. |
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Although the air-balloon lights are suspended high in the air, they're using a big arc light and a white reflective sheet suspended between the trees for this scene. The first wonderful thing I notice is that tonight the camera is positioned in the little street right in front of the theatre, so they've set up the crowd tape barrier much closer to the theatre than on Sunday night! I walk around & get a great position at centre-left, about 70 feet from the set. As well as giving me a superb uninterrupted view, I'd noticed that all the actors come on set from that direction, either walking or in cars, along the little roadway that disappears to our left between the houses. I ask around to see if anything much has happened yet and someone tells me that they've been doing this same scene for the past half-hour! |
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My
view of the theatre (but without the cars!)
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The watching crowd is much, much smaller than on Sunday night - possibly because the novelty has worn off but also because it's no longer the weekend. When I arrive there are only about 50 onlookers gathered around, and the numbers get smaller as the night wears on. I chat with a couple of people who I discover actually live on the Little Green, facing the theatre, and they're a mine of information. They tell me that Sunday night's filming went on until 4 o'clock in the morning, and they wrapped just as dawn was breaking! They also tell me that everyone living on Richmond Green had been sent a letter by Neverland Films, giving the dates of filming and apologising for the inconvenience, and that they've been filming inside the theatre for the past couple of weeks. I also discover that there hadn't been any external filming on Saturday night: these night-shoots are just Sunday-Tuesday. That's a good start to the evening, finding out that I hadn't missed a whole night's filming over the weekend. I hit very lucky with these people because they have some really interesting titbits of information about the filming & they're clearly delighted that their beautiful theatre is in the spotlight. They point out the buildings that have been specially done up for the film, and also tell me that the film company is using the college just up the little road to our left as the cast's changing rooms. I figured this was the same place that the security men had mysteriously referred to as 'base' on my last visit - presumably to stop people from following their noses and taking a wander up there! Throughout all of this conversation, the extras repeat their scenery-shifting sequence endlessly… Finally the replica Removals Van is hauled away, and things start moving again. Several cars arrive from the little side-road and pull up inside the tape barrier, the entrance of which is guarded constantly by a couple of security men. Lots of crew get out of the cars and meanwhile a group of extras walk down the road and mingle with them on the set. Amid all the comings-and-goings, I'm still chatting with the locals and generally looking at all the new activity. And then, quite suddenly, I involuntarily suck in my breath: |
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9:10pm: Johnny Depp is on the set!!! He's standing at the top of the theatre steps, on the right-hand side as you look at it. I have no idea how he got there - presumably he'd only just arrived in one of the cars and I was too busy chatting to notice [blush]. He's dressed in mid-brown trousers, matching waistcoat with a cream satin back, and white shirt. And even though I've only just clapped eyes on him, this lithe slender figure is unmistakeably Johnny Depp. He's talking to a very tall bald young man (who I later figure out is the director, Marc Forster), and to a tall heavily-set man standing on Johnny's right. JD is gesticulating about something - lots of hand and arm movements. Every time the heavy guy disappears inside the theatre, Johnny calls him out again. At first I wonder what's going on & whether something's wrong, and then my brain starts working again and I realise that they're simply talking through the action for a scene! (As it later turns out, the heavily-set tall man was acting as a temporary stand-in for Dustin Hoffman, which is pretty funny when you recall what Hoffman is really like.) While this pre-rehearsal is going on, the crew are taking down the big arc light and the white sheet, so we're getting an even better view of the set! You can now see a small pavement-mounted billboard for 'Peter Pan'. |
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photo
from 'OK' magazine
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| Finally, everyone is satisfied with the talk-through and they do a couple of dry runs. JD stays at the top of the stairs on the right-hand side as you look at the theatre, and looks disconsolately up and down the road. A man dressed as a theatre usher comes out from the foyer, rings a silent bell, and calls out "Last call, ladies and gentlemen! Last call for the - ". He's cut short by someone inside. Hoffman's stand-in appears from the left-hand door of the foyer (as you look at the theatre) and speaks to the usher. They both go back inside. Then suddenly Johnny spots some movement in the street to his left, and whips around to lean over the banister to his right and call out "Charles!" Hoffman's character comes outside again and Johnny indicates what's happening in the street. The only dialogue I could hear is what I've included above; I couldn't make out the rest of what they were saying. By the end of the night I was probably as familiar with this dialogue as were the actors themselves, since it's almost the only scene that was filmed! | |
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seems happy with the pre-rehearsals, and Johnny descends the stairs and
talks to the crew. Then:
9:25pm:
Johnny climbs into a big silver people-carrier [luxury SUV] and is driven
back to 'base'. I settle down for what I expect to be a long wait for
his return. |
