Vonda on Chapel Balcony
Monday. The chateau de Versailles is closed to the public on Monday, so the production of The Moon and the Sun had permission to film inside during the day. It was the last day of filming in France. Tomorrow, the production would head to Melbourne for studio work, and I would head home to Seattle.
A lot was going on and I, a visitor, wanted to stay out of the way. I found myself on the King’s Balcony, above the Chapel where most of the filming was going to happen. It was an excellent vantage point. Director Sean McNamara appeared, to check out the scene from above, and took several pictures of me with my phone. It isn’t every day one gets directed and gets one’s picture taken by a movie director. Especially on a day when time is precious. I really appreciated his courtesy.
When I first arrived almost a week before, after producer Bill Mechanic introduced me around, I took my fallback position of staying out of the way and being vewwy vewwy quiet. I was sitting on the floor at one end of the Hall of Mirrors while they were filming at the other end. (I should mention that on most sets there would be plenty of chairs for everybody, but the Hall of Mirrors is a floor above ground level. The stairs are narrow and twisty or large and marble, neither suited to the transportation of equipment. Everything had to be brought in with a crane. Including the chairs. So chairs were at a bit of a premium.)
Between shots, Pierce Brosnan spotted me. “Vonda, you must have a chair!”
“Really, I’m okay—”
“You’re the author, you must have a chair.” And he found me a chair next to Sean, who agreed that I must have a chair. It was the perfect place to see the scenes as they were being shot, and the playbacks.
When the King and God (have you seen The Stunt Man? If not, go thou and see it, and you’ll get the reference) say you must have a chair, you get a chair.
Louis watching Louis watching Louis
Watching the playbacks is much different from watching the scene live — Live, you’re watching from behind the cameras and the lights, standing with a group of people. Watching the monitor, you experience the collaboration among actors, director, producer/screenwriter, director of photography, choreographer, costume designer, musicians, and composer. You see how beautiful it’s all going to be. The dance scene in particular blew me away. (Not going to tell you too much about it because you have to see it.)
Producer Paul Currie interviewed me on the last day. I have mostly no idea what I said, besides “I feel like every other word out of my mouth is ‘amazing,’ and every other other word out of my mouth is ‘It’s going to be so beautiful!’”
Fountain of Apollo
Versailles put on the most amazing weather the whole week I was there. It was the Platonic Ideal of spring weather — blue skies, little puffy clouds, perfect temperature. Between setups, I played hooky for a bit and walked down le tapis vert to the Fountain of Apollo to take a few pictures. Is it a “selfie” if the only part of you that shows is a bit of your hair? Sean’s photo of me is a lot better than my photos of me.
And all too soon it was over.
Wrap party. Good-byes and thank-yous. I joked that I almost didn’t recognize Pierce Brosnan, pouring wine for the cast, without his Louis XIV hair. (But really I did.)
Dinner with Amanda and Scott, the IT folks who took pity on me — I must be the only person in the universe who could go to France and find an aggressively mediocre restaurant (however, the service was terrible) — and took me to a wonderful restaurant where we had lamb and red wine and a dessert of profiteroles.
One last terrific breakfast at the Trianon Palace Hotel, where the very charming Eric served pain au chocolat and café au lait.
It’s a big change back to peanut butter toast and coffee, which is what I usually eat for breakfast.
On the other hand, here’s how Seattle welcomed me home:
Welcome Home
It’s good to have an adventure. And it’s good to be home.
