CHAPTER THREE - 9:25pm to 11:30pm

9:25pm: The crew settle down to rigging up different lights and repositioning the second air-balloon to give extra light to the set. I settle down on the grass to give my feet a rest for a while.

Something interesting finally happens when a tall slim dark-haired young man takes up the same position as Johnny had at the top-right of the theatre stairs. He's dressed in grey t-shirt & jeans and is obviously JD's stand-in. Two other people come to join him: a short, medium-built older man with a bushy beard [Dustin Hoffman's stand-in] and a blonde woman who stands between the two men. I assume that she's Kate Winslet's stand-in, although Kate never appears on the set and the scene is played without her. Very curious! There's endless checking and re-checking of lights, distances, etc while this trio stand still and let everything happen around them.

The mix of people in our crowd of onlookers is changing all the time. People arriving during this period of set-up don't hang around too long. I chat to different people and happily give my expert advice on what the film's about and who's in it.

10:20pm: Johnny arrives back on set - and stays on set until 03:15 in the morning!!!

There's the sound of motors in the little side-road to our left, and several cars emerge one after the other. Finally 'Johnny's' big silver people-carrier moves slowly into view and keeps on going until it's well inside the tape barrier. The doors open and several people emerge. And right in amongst them is JD! A few brave people in the crowd call out his name [this is England, remember, and we don't really do that sort of thing over here!] but Johnny resolutely carries on chatting with the people he's with, moving on to the set & towards the director & his crew. Anyone in the crowd who's foolish enough to take out their camera is instantly pounced upon by one of the security men & told in no uncertain fashion that they can't take any pictures whatsoever at any time. I subtly untwine my fingers from the camera that I'm just about to hike out of my bag and go back to taking notes in my head…

Having missed Johnny's earlier entrance on to the set, this time I have a wonderful surprise coming. Instead of the brown 'workaday' outfit he was wearing earlier in the evening, he's now decked out in immaculate Edwardian evening dress! In fact, he looks rather like this picture on the right, except that he's wearing a full crisp white shirt, no waistcoat, and a white tie instead of a black one.

The one thing that particularly strikes me this time is his graceful way of moving. I remember reading an article recently where the journalist particularly noticed his poise and said that Johnny carries himself very straight and upright. That's an accurate observation. To some extent, possibly, his costume is having its effect upon him, but whatever the cause for the rest of the evening he moves with an innate grace and elegance. He reminds me of Fred Astaire at his prime - and there's a man who could really move! [In fact, at one point much later in the evening when things were clearly starting to drag, Johnny takes up a typical 'Top Hat' pose right in the middle of the pavement for a couple of seconds. It was a spectacular spot-on imitation of the great Astaire and I would have dearly loved to have captured that moment on camera! Anyway, I digress..]

Johnny climbs to the top of the theatre steps, takes up his position once again at the right-hand side, and things start to get under way. At some point Dustin Hoffman joins him but I can't say I particularly noticed when that happened [blush]. There's lots more discussion with the director, and eventually the wardrobe mistress comes up with JD's black tailcoat and fits it on to him. And finally he's given a gold-topped cane which he proceeds to play with, a la 'Benny & Joon', for the rest of the evening.

By this time it's 11pm and the pubs are coming out, so there begins an endless troop of slightly-drunken youths across the green from various directions. Most of them stay for a while and just about every new group uses some variant on the phrase: "Johnny Depp! Is that Johnny Depp?! Really?! Cool!"

For about the next 2 hours the mobile phone bill in Richmond-upon-Thames rises by 600% as everyone decides to hang out by the Green and call all their friends to explain what they're up to. One young guy's phone conversation which I found particularly funny ran like this: "Hey, guess where I am and who I'm looking at?!…The Richmond Theatre....Johnny Depp!!… Yeah, really!!… I dunno.. About 5'10, 5'11, I'd say…"

Some guys decide to be completely unaffected by the whole thing, and intermittently play a noisy game of football behind us. But my eyes (if not my ears) are focussed on one slender charismatic figure rehearsing the same lines and actions over and over again; varying it this way; trying it out that way...