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Chapter 2

Sue Evans, the costume and makeup supervisor, did not seem to be surprised by the director’s question to her whether it might be realistic for me to serve as a temporary body-double for Amy O’Donnell.

‘When are the equestrian scenes due to be shot?’ she asked.

Joan now answered, looking at the schedule on her clip board.

‘There are some general equestrian scenes, with dialogue in front of the house, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week and then the main hunt scene in the countryside will be over two days the week after.’

Sue looked at me for a moment before replying to Frank’s question.

‘I suppose they are roughly the same height and general build. He has broader shoulders and narrower hips than Amy, and is lacking the boobs, of course. However, the sleeves of the riding jacket should disguise the shoulders and we can always add a little padding for the hips and boobs. Fortunately, we have brought a spare riding costume with us in case of accidents.‘

‘So, do you think that it could be done?’ asked Joan who was beginning to realise what her boss had in mind.

‘He won’t be the first guy that we have turned into a stunt double for an actress. The main problem will be with his hair,’ Sue continued, thinking aloud. ‘Amy is well=known for her long thick and naturally black hair so we haven’t prepared any wigs for her but we intend to style her own hair each morning. We would therefore have to dye his hair to match hers and put in extensions. The clip-on ones aren’t going to be secure enough if he’s going to be riding like that so I think the best answer will be for us to use the micro ring type.’

‘What’s wrong with that?’ asked Frank.

‘Nothing, but it isn’t the sort of task that we would be able to do on the set each morning. We are going to have our work cut out to ensure that their costumes and makeup are identical, as it is. If you want to proceed with your plan we would have to sort out the hair extensions tomorrow, and then he’ll have to keep them in place for the duration of the filming.’

‘But it could be done?’ re-iterated Frank.

‘I don’t see why not.’

‘What do you think Joan?’

‘There have been a number of successful male stand-ins for actresses in the past, even ones who are a lot more macho looking than Nick is. I think we could probably get away with it, and it would certainly save us a deal of trouble and expense in looking for someone else to fill the gap.’

Frank now turned to address the young starlet in a serious voice.

‘Now listen, young lady, it looks as if this guy here may be able to help avert a disaster for both your career and my reputation, but if we do so we’re going to need your willing co-operation over the next two weeks.’

Amy did not flare up at being spoken to in this way, but merely looked relieved by the news.

‘Yes, I can see that. I’ll co-operate in any way I can.’

‘Good! For a start it seems as if he’s going to need to have the same hair style as you for the next ten days or so.’

Amy turned one of her sweet smiles to me.

‘In that case, he should look quite cute.’

The one person who hadn’t been consulted in all this exchange was me, still standing next to Moonbeam and dressed in Amy’s riding habit. I naturally overheard the discussions that were going on around me but had been too shy to contribute to the conversation. However, I at last plucked up sufficient courage to speak out.

‘Hang on a minute; what about me? Don’t I get a say in the matter? I asked.

Frank looked up at me in surprise.

‘What’s the trouble? Don’t you want to take part in a movie?’ he said.

‘Well, maybe, I wouldn’t object to the horse riding but there is no way that I’d be able to go back to my lodgings with long black hair every night for the next fortnight.’

‘Why not? I do,’ said Amy with a mischievous grin.

‘Where are you staying at the moment, Nick?’ Frank asked.

‘I share a room in the village with two other guys who look after the horses. Goodness knows what they’ll think of me when they find out that I’m going to be standing in for Amy O’Donnell.’

‘I expect they’ll be most envious of you, especially when they discover that we will be paying you as an extra for the next two weeks that you are filming which is probably more than double what you are currently earning,’ said Frank.

I took a moment to think about the implications of the offer. Meanwhile Amy and her manager were having a whispered conversation together. At last she turned to speak to the director.

‘Frank, I don’t want this story getting into the press if we can avoid it, so I don’t want a guy with my hair style wandering to and from the village each day. I have a spare bedroom in my caravan since my personal assistant has left and I haven’t yet had a chance to appoint a replacement. He can probably use that if he promises to behave himself.’

‘So, Nick, would you be willing to act as Miss O’Donnell’s body-double for the next two weeks whenever she is scheduled to be riding?’ asked Frank.

Like all the other members of the crew I had sometimes wondered what it would be like to cross the line and appear in front of the camera, but the idea of standing-in for a budding starlet had never entered my mind. On the other hand, I enjoyed riding Moonbeam and knew that I was probably capable of doing everything that they would require of me.

‘Come on Nick, it’ll be good fun,’ said Amy with an encouraging smile.

I was going to need some extra money when the job was over and I could hardly refuse that smile and a direct invitation from Amy.

‘Alright, so long as the story can be kept out of the press.’

‘I couldn’t agree more,’ she replied.

There seemed to be a feeling of relief among most of the spectators, although there were also some lingering doubts on my part of the wisdom of the idea.

‘Joan, can you make the necessary arrangements and sort out a contract. Nick, I suggest that you now give Moonbeam a rub-down and see her settled for the night and then get yourself ready to move to your new accommodation first thing tomorrow morning,’ said Frank.

‘OK, but may I have my trousers back first please.’

Sue, who had been holding my trousers for me during the demonstration, handed them to me. I took off the skirt, jacket and hat and handed them back to Amy and put on my trousers.

‘Will you both come to the hairdressing caravan tomorrow morning at 8.30 and we can make a start on sorting out Nick’s hair?’ said Sue.

‘I guess so,’ I replied.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow morning then Nick, or maybe it should be Nicola for the next two weeks,’ said Amy giving me another mischievous wink.

My only response was to blush.

I was right when I foresaw that I would come in for a combination of incredulity and ribald comments when I told my two colleagues about the job offer made to me, later that evening.

‘I‘d heard from one of the electricians that you’d been riding Moonbeam, dressed in a long skirt and with a fancy hat,’ said Alan, one of my two room-mates; ‘but I assumed he was winding me up.’

I couldn’t stop myself from blushing but it was now too late for me to deny anything.

‘No, it is true. Amy O’Donnell was worried about riding side-saddle and so I’ve been given the chance of riding in her place.’

‘Dressed as a girl?’ he asked.

‘Yes, of course, there would be no point, otherwise.’

‘No, I suppose not.’

‘It will only be for the long shots, she’ll take my place for any close-ups or when there is any dialogue involved.’

‘Where did you learn to ride side-saddle?’ asked Joe, my second flat-mate.

‘I’ve taught myself over the last couple of weeks. I knew that Moonbeam was intended for this role and so I’ve been helping her to get used to the idea.’

‘Aren’t you worried about what people might think of you?’ he asked.

‘What people do you mean?’

He shrugged.

‘Your colleagues, your family.’

I shrugged my shoulders.

‘My mother lives hundreds of miles away and I’ve no idea where my dad is. As far as my colleagues are concerned, why should it matter to me what they think, after a couple of weeks I won’t see any of them again?’

‘I suppose you will at least be able to claim that you ‘got into Amy O’Donnell’s knickers,’ even if it isn’t perhaps in the same way that most guys would have in mind,’ added Alan.

I was beginning to get irritated with the way the conversation was going so decided not to prolong it.

‘I found her to be quite friendly when I was giving her a riding lesson.’

‘That’s because she saw you as no threat, dressed the way you were.’

‘Actually, the lesson took place before there was any suggestion that I might act as a stand-in for her,’ I replied.

‘Ooh, hark at her!’ said Alan in an exaggeratedly camp voice.

As Frank had predicted, my flat mates were rather envious of me and so I thought it best not to mention that I would be expected to retain the long hair for the duration of the filming. No doubt they would find out soon enough but by then I would have moved on.

‘I am going to need to live on location to get ready each morning,’ I announced.

‘We have already handed over the rent until the end of the shoot and so I doubt if you’ll get a refund,’ said Joe.

‘I realise that, but it will be ok as I’ve been offered somewhere to stay on set.;

I didn’t bother to mention, however, that henceforth I would be staying in Amy’s caravan. Soon afterward I began to packing my things ready to move out the following morning.

The one thing that anyone working on a film set quickly learns is punctuality, since it is both unprofessional and costly to keep other members of the cast and crew waiting. Thus, when I turned up at the makeup caravan at the appointed time, the following morning, I found that Sue and her two assistants were already there chatting with Amy.

‘Good morning, I hope I’m not late,’ I said putting down my canvas bag in a corner of the caravan, out of the way.

‘No, you’re bang on time, we were all a few minutes early,’ said Amy with a smile.

It was a Sunday and so there was no other filming taking place on the set and no other artists for them to get ready, although there was a certain amount of scenery erection and set dressing going on in preparation for the next day’s filming schedule.

Sue made a start by addressing me.

‘OK Nick, my instructions are to turn you into as convincing a twin of Amy as is possible without resorting to surgery. I’m afraid that is going to involve both hair extensions and false boobs that will have to remain in place for the duration of filming. But don’t worry we won’t be causing you any permanent injury.’

‘But that doesn’t rule out temporary injury?’ I observed.

She smiled.

‘I’m sure there won’t be any injury, unless you count plucking your eyebrows and piercing your ears. We may need to make a few, shall we say, ‘adjustments’ to your looks although nothing which won’t grow back or be put right after a couple of weeks, although you are inevitably going to look a little more, shall we say, ‘feminine’, for the next week or two.’

‘But I thought they only planned to film me from the back, or in long shot.’

‘That’s probably all the footage that will make it into the finished film, but they want to play safe, so we will do as convincing a job as we can, just in case.’

‘In case of what?’ I asked.

‘Now then Nick, don’t argue with the lady, after all, I don’t want someone who looks like a guy standing in for me,’ Amy said, giving me another of her nicest smiles.

I didn’t respond, thinking that since I’d come this far there was probably not a lot I could do to object. Sue appeared to take this lack of response as my agreement to her plans.

‘Before we start on your hair we will need to take a series of photographs of the two of you, both standing and sitting next to one another, full-face and in profile, she continued. ‘We will include several close ups of your faces, so we can see exactly what needs to be done to turn Nick into a passable double for Amy this morning. We are only going to need you for about half an hour, Amy, but we would also like to compare the two of you in costume this afternoon. Would you be able come back at about three o’clock, please?’

‘That’ll suit me fine, I’ve some shopping that I need to do in Salisbury later this morning, but I’ll make sure that I’m back by two o’clock.’

Over the next half an hour Sue took a dozen or more digital photos of the pair of us in full-face, profile and even from the back. Amy was used to being photographed, me much less so. I attempted to copy her poses as much as I could. Once Sue had finished and was satisfied, she proceeded to download them to a tablet computer and displayed them next to one another on the screen so they could easily be compared.

‘It’s surprising, you two aren’t so dramatically different in stature, apart from the boobs, of course,’ commented Sandra, one of the two assistants.

I couldn’t help but notice that Amy was quite well endowed in that respect, and I wondered whether she’d had some enhancement.

‘Their eye colouring is also the same, which will save us having to worry about tinted contact lenses. However, we’ll need to make some adjustments to the shape of Nick’s eyebrows and dye his hair, although makeup should take care of the rest,’ added Sue, talking to her two assistants.

‘At least he has a slim neck and no trace of an Adam’s Apple,’ said Frances, the second assistant.

‘Me neither,’ added Amy, smiling.

‘What shoe size do you take, Nick?’ asked Sue.

‘Six and a half, I’ve always had fairly small feet,’ I answered, blushing a little.

‘That’s almost the same size as me. Maybe you should have been a girl, after all,’ said Amy with a wicked grin.

‘Maybe you should have been a boy,’ I responded at last beginning to regain a little of my self-confidence.

Amy shrugged her shoulders, ‘I’ve always been conscious of having feet that are a little on the large size but at least my boobs are the real thing.’

‘The actual physical differences between the sexes are never as clear cut as some people assume, and they tend to be on a spectrum rather than at the opposite poles,’ commented Sue. ‘That’s why we tend to use costume design, hairstyles and makeup to enhance some features or disguise others. I think we should be able to turn Nick into an attractive looking young lady, but equally we could have turned Amy into a convincing young man, if it had been required.’

‘Alright Amy, we’ve now finished with you until this afternoon,’ said Sue

‘Before you go, Amy, may we take a small sample of your hair to do a colour match, when we come to dye Nick’s hair and the extensions,’ said Sandra. ‘We’ll take it from where it won’t show.’

‘No problem.’

As Amy was getting ready to leave us, she noticed my bag in the corner.

‘Would you like me to take your bags back to my caravan Nick?’ she asked.

‘Yes please, if you don’t mind,’ I replied.

‘OK I’ll now leave you in the hands of these two but expect to see a beautiful young lady when I return.”

 

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Many thanks for the comments and corrections everyone. Feel free to keep them coming. I hope to submit Chapter 3 next Friday.
Louise