Chapter 164 - Commence Filming

October 15, 2012 – Monday, 9AM – Camp Bugny, South Ouigab

*Slam* *Slam* Luca and a young man in his late teens who looks similar to him, steps out of a cab, in front of an apartment building.

"You sure it's here, Luca?" The young man, a black-haired, brown-eyed fellow, asks Luca as he looks up the apartment building.

"Yeah. Two similar-looking 5-story apartment buildings next to each other. Just like the picture that Jouny sent. Why?" Luca asks.

"Heh. I just thought it's gonna be an old apartment building, just judging from this small-town looking part of this city." The young man explains.

"Hey. Get the big city out of your ass. It's gonna be nice here. I actually felt relieved that we were not gonna be staying at Eastern Ouigab we passed on our way here." Luca chuckles.

"I know. I just didn't expect our 'pads' to be in a nice-looking building, that's all." The young man answers.

"Heh. I thought so too. And, it's quiet here unlike New York." Luca says.

"Yeah. The air's clean too." The young man says.

Luca and the newly hired actor, Geoff, just arrived in South Ouigab to prepare for the film production process. It is not only them that arrived, but so are other main and supporting actors. They will be living in Tayaw's apartment buildings. 

Geoff, playing the teenage Gonzalo, and Luca, playing the older Gonzalo, contacted each other back in New York agreed to take the plane ride to Teungeb together to talk about Gonzalo as a character. 

After taking their luggage out of the cab, "What I don't understand though, is that why do we have to live here?" Geoff asks as they enter the building.

"I don't know. But where would you rather stay? A trailer?" Luca reasons.

"True…" Geoff can only nod.

"Excuse me?" The apartment building's manager sitting by the reception table interrupts their chat. "Oh. Yeah. We're actors." Luca immediately introduces himself and pulls out his passport. Geoff did the same. 

After the building manager counterchecks their names in his list, "Okay. Luca… 5A. Geoff… 1D" he returned their passports along with keys to two apartment units.

"hey, can we switch rooms? You probably have better energy than me to climb stairs so you take the one on the 5th." Luca chooses the first-floor unit without Geoff's permission.

The next moment however *DING* Luca and Geoff heard an elevator chime.

"Okay. I'm fine by it." Geoff smirks, to Luca's embarrassment.

"Alright. Hey. Let's put our luggage in our rooms first then we'll go for a snack." Luca says. 

A few minutes later, Luca and Geoff are now sitting at a table in a nearby diner recommended by the building manager.

"That's all. Thanks." Geoff sighs in relief after ordering his and Luca's food. He found it a chore to order from a server with limited English. 

"So, how was the rehearsals of your group?" Luca asks Geoff.

"Well, we're rehearsing as if it's like a play, just like Isaac said." Geoff says.

"mHmm. Same with us…" Luca raises his eyebrows.

"Yeah. But the acting style though is very different, it's hard to get used to." Geoff replies.

"Mmm. Where do you guys rehearse your scenes though?" Luca asks.

"You know Sean? The guy who plays Anselmo? We rehearsed in his yard. How about you guys?" Geoff asks.

"Well. Anywhere really. One day we're at my house, one day we're at Perry's. Depends on where the scene is supposed to be, we use our apartments for substitutes." Luca says.

"Hmm. That's a nice approach." Geoff nods , envious of their approach. 

They are soon interrupted by the server, serving them their food. 

"I guess the rumors about you are wrong." Geoff suddenly says as they eat.

"How so?" Luca asks.

"We've heard from Isaac that your group is doing fine, especially you. Us on the other hand, he had a lot to say when whenever we rehearsed for him through a webcam." Geoff says.

"Meh. The rumors are right. I'm a terrible actor on stage. I just happen to fit the style Isaac wants." Luca shrugs.

"About that. Any advice? I tried studying the acting of 'September Ninth' but I just… can't catch it." Geoff says.

"Well…" Luca hesitates whether to reveal his process or not.

"Well. All I can say is that you should believe your lines. Say it like you mean it. What's the motivation of Giovanni Cervo? Why is he saying the stuff he's saying?" In the end, Luca opted to just generalize his process. 

"Say it like I mean it…" Geoff however, found Luca's summary enough to be inspired, entering a silent contemplation as he continues to eat. 

"There you guys are!" The two are interrupted again, this time, by two Caucasian men in their 40s; Luca and Geoff's fellow cast members.

"Hey! Warren, Frank! Good to see you guys! Come, sit with us?" Luca greets and invites the two.

"Yeah. The building manager told us where to find you two." Warren says as him and Franks takes the spare chairs by the table.

"Hey there. You play Giovanni's younger version, right? I'm Frank. I play Reece, Giovanni's friend in the second film." Frank introduces himself to Geoff.

"Nice to meet you. I saw you on 'Green Pen' last February." Geoff says. 

"I'm Warren. I play Nico, Giovanni's war friend in the second film too." Warren introduces himself. 

"Alright. Please, order first. We've got plenty of chances for acquainting." Luca interrupts the chatter. The hungry Warren and Frank happily oblige. 

"So, I thought you were gonna be traveling with Perry?" Luca asks the two newcomers.

"He actually arrived two days ago. Look at this." Frank pulls out his phone, opened it, and tapped to display a photo.

"Ooh. Nice car." Luca remarks as he sees Perry in the photo posing to the camera by leaning on a black very vintage looking car.

"It's not a car. Hehe." Frank chuckles.

"What?" Luca asks.

"It's just a body of a car. He says that there are a lot of cool and huge props in the shoot location." Frank says.

"Cool. Have you seen our costumes, by the way? They look awesome. With that car? Man…" Geoff reports what he knows.

"Oh yeah. The vintage ones? They look great. No wonder Isaac wears something like them all the time." Frank comments. 

----

An hour later, after having their lunch, Luca and his fellow actors are now in a van, courtesy of Tayaw, and are on their way to Tayaw's virtual sets.

"So… Ouigab huh. I didn't expect to film New York and Vegas here. I thought we were gonna be at Clambu. Isn't that where they make films in this country?" Frank remarks as he looks at the view of the streets of South Ouigab through the van's window.

"Yeah. This place does not look like New York at all. There aren't even old buildings, looks like." Warren says. 

"We're here." The van driver and also their part-time interpreter, says to the group as he slows the van down. The actors, noticing that they are in where seems to be the edges of the city proper, becomes worried.

"Hey man… You sure?" Luca says.

"Hey. You're not kidnapping us, are you?" Frank says, worriedly as the driver turns the van to an access road leading to some warehouses. 

"What? No… The bossman says it's here. Look at that sign." The driver says as he points at a sign with a logo of chopped off blue basin on it, the arrow below it pointing towards the warehouses.

"Hey. There's a sign of Half Basin Studios on that huge door too." Luca says, noticing another sign posted on the warehouse's door.

"Oh. There's one of the staff members." The driver points again, to a girl in blue-colored collared shirt before stopping the van in front of her.

"Huh. Looks like a PA (Production Assistant)." Geoff remarks.

"That's so true. Haha. I guess all PAs give out that same energy." Warren says.

"Hey. She's cute." Frank says.

"Hey… remember what's in the contract." Luca says.

"Psh. Calm down. I'm just saying."

A minute later, the group of actors are now escorted by the PA girl and their interpreter into the warehouse. 

"What the f*ck are those?" Geoff says nervously as he points at the two eye-catching, dome-shaped structures in the opposite sides of the warehouse.

"You are going to film there. Please, wait here." The interpreter translates for the PA, while the PA leaves the group and walks to one of the dome's doors to talk to the security guard guarding the door. 

"hey. Look. It's those cars." Warren takes the three actors' attention and points at a part of the warehouse where three vintage cars are lying pretty.

"That's must be where Perry took the photo. Let's check it out." Geoff says excitedly and quickly walks to the cars. The three others also cannot help but be excited and followed. 

A few seconds of examination later. "F*ck. I think it's wood, coated with metal sheet." Frank shakes his head and chuckles as he knocks on the surface of one of the cars.

"Hey. This one is real though." Warren says as he opens the doors to one of the other cars and examines the interior.

"But… does it run?" Luca behind him, comments.

"Duh. It's a prop. Inside a damn warehouse. So maybe not." Warren quips. 

"Oh. I've seen that one driven in here." The three are interrupted by the interpreter, who they did not realize followed them.

"The other two though, are replicas. They look nice, don't they?" The interpreter says.

"Yeah." Is the three actors' unanimous response. 

The PA soon returned and spoke with the interpreter.

"Okay. She said that she talked to the guard and you guys can now go inside the dome. Leave your phones to her though, they're not allowed inside." The interpreter says.

"Why?" Geoff, who is anxious to part with his phone, asks.

"According to her, there's potentially sensitive information inside. I've not seen inside. Only you guys and the film crew are allowed in there, she said." The interpreter translates for the PA. 

"Can I not go inside, though? I don't know what's in there." Warren asks, anxious about the intimidating exterior of the dome.

"Don't worry. There are Americans in the staff so you won't need me inside." The interpreter says, misinterpreting Warren's concern.

"Alright. Let's just go in. It's surely a film set. I wonder what's inside." Frank consoles Warren. 

The four actors then enters the door and their eyes almost hurt at how the bright the interior of the dome is after being in the poor lit warehouse. "*Ughh*" Geoff, whose young eyes are very sensitive, cannot help but groan. After the four actors adjusted their eyes, they get confused to see that they found themselves outdoors once again. The difference only is that the place they seem to be in is a much different place than South Ouigab; a large, vast grassland. The cloudy skies also are a contrast to South Ouigab's sunny clear skies. 

"Shiiit… Now this is a f*ckin set." Geoff says, impressed, as he touches the nearest LCD screen he can reach.

His actions clears up Luca, Warren, and Frank's confusion and they too realize that the interior of the doom has big LCD screens for floors and doors.

"Wow…" Warren, who is the oldest of the four and is the least familiar with technology, cannot help but almost exclaim as he rubs the soles of his shoes to the smooth LCD floor.