"Stop waiting for Prince Charming. Get up and go find him. The poor idiot may be stuck in a tree somewhere." -Unknown
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The room was dark except for a few spot lights that were illuminating the small platform in front of the camera. They were filming in a small pole dancing club in Toronto and it was a cramped location. The studio they were filming all of their other scenes in was in a warehouse with very high ceilings that made it impossible to safely anchor a metal pole in to film the scene. The roof was three stories tall, which was difficult to say the least. It was just easier to film at a pole dancing club than it was to try to locate a 3 story tall metal pole and have it installed and safety checked for insurance purposes in three days. The crew was limited because the space was so small and only essential personnel were there.
Daphne and her trainer Olivia were talking in a trainer while Jared got his makeup touched up. His eyes kept wandering over to Daphne, causing his makeup artist to move his face multiple times into the light so she could fix his makeup. After the fifth time, she let out an exacerbated sigh and gave him a glare.
"Jared, I know she's hot but unless you want red lipstick all over your face, quit moving your damn head," she said.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. She finished up and sent him away, rolling her eyes. He sat down on the edge of the stage and waited for someone to tell him what to do next.
In the scene they were shooting that day, the Joker was supposed to be watching Ophelia dance as a sort of entertainment while he mulled over Harley Quinn and plotted his plans. But since Ophelia was a figment of his imagination, he was using her as a way to entertain himself while he thought. Ophelia was supposed to do a few moves on the pole with the Joker watching, finishing with a dramatic drop. The Joker was just supposed to watch and enjoy it, but not really act interested in it. When she finished, he was supposed to kiss her roughly.
It was supposed to be an example of how she was a figment of his imagination and how he had complete control over what she did. It was also supposed to show his dominance in their "relationship"-if you could call it that at least. Jared had had a hard time figuring out how he was going to play it. It was one of the more violent scenes he'd have with Daphne. David had asked him to really grab her and be rough with her, and he knew Daphne would be alright with it because she had already given him the green light. It was more than he just didn't know how he was going to handle it himself. He didn't enjoy hurting her or pulling her around.
He watched as she warmed up on the pole. Olivia had flown in for the week to help her practice and work out what choreography David wanted Daphne to do. It was hard not to give Daphne his attention in the outfit she was wearing. It was in Ophelia's usual style of short skirts and crop tops, but he still wasn't used to seeing that much of Daphne's body. He knew there was very little romantic aspect to the scene-they were being watched by at least a dozen other people. But it was always awkward for him to do love scenes or romantic scenes. He had never quite gotten the hang of them and they always made him nervous. This scene was no different.
"Alright, Daphne let's do a few test runs before we start shooting. Can we get the lights fixed, please?" David called into the room. Immediately the lights were dimmed, leaving only the spotlights focused on Jared's place on the sofa and on the pole Daphne was standing in front of. "Jared could you take your place, too? Just for lighting and shadow purposes," he added.
Jared nodded, moving to sit on the blood red sofa. It had been distressed to give it an aged look and it had several stains on it to make it look well-used, as well as multiple cigarette burn marks. He briefly eyed the stains, hoping they were just coffee and not anything else. His attention was quickly drawn back to Daphne, watching as she climbed the metal pole deftly and performed a few moves easily.
"Very good," Olivia said, watching from a short distance away. "David, is there space for a drop mat, in case she slips or falls?"
David shook his head. "Not in the shot. But right now we could use one."
Olivia nodded and looked up at Daphne. "Do you think you need one?"
Daphne shook her head. "Not for anything else. But maybe the last drop, just to be safe. I haven't really been able to land that one properly just yet."
"Alright, well let's try it once without and go from there," David said. "Jared, come over here and stand there. We're going to have her drop and I want to see how this will work."
Jared stood and walked over to stand next to the stage on the 'X' that had been marked in blue tape. It was barely visible in the light, but it was easy enough for him to remember where it was.
"Alright, Daphne. Go for it," David said, standing back and framing the shot with his hands.
Daphne took a deep breath and shifted into position. She was holding the pole between her legs with her arms and legs stretched out straight. Her back was parallel to the floor. As she released her grip on the pole with her thighs, she started to slide down slowly. It was a blind approach, meaning she couldn't see how close the floor was, so she had to guess. She slid down further until she could see Jared out of the corner of her eye.
"A little bit further, Daphne. I want you to be just about arm-level with him so he can just reach over and grab you," David said.
Daphne nodded and slid down a little bit further, close enough that Jared just had to reach over with his arm and wrap his hand around her neck. He cradled her head in his other hand as he brought his face close to hers.
"Perfect," David said. "And here I thought we'd have a problem with this. "Let's set up to shoot!"
Apparently David had never heard of Murphy's Law, which states that anything that can go wrong, will. In the following hour, Daphne fell about three times, whacked her head on the pole about five times, and Jared poked her in the eye at least once. David wanted the shot to be fluid and continuous. He didn't want to have to cut shots together because it ruined the way it looked. He wanted the Joker to have cat-like reflexes and the best way to show those off was with fluid, one-shot takes. But that was before he saw how difficult it seemed for Daphne to perform on the pole. It was only after her fifth drop to the hard wooden stage that he called for a break.
"Alright, let's take a break before you break something, Daphne," David said in frustration.
So far they hadn't been able to get a fluid shot of anything, just bits and pieces. Either she'd get stuck on the pole on the way down, the pole would let off a screeching noise as she slid down it, or she'd fall because her grip was too loose.
"Let's just take a few minutes and you can get some ice," he told her. Several bruises could be seen forming on her legs and abdomen. "Makeup, could you come over here and retouch or airbrush some of these?"
Daphne sighed softly as she sat on the edge of the stage, frustrated with herself. She didn't understand why she couldn't get it to work. She was well-known for throwing herself into anything a director wanted. She tried her hardest to make sure she could do the stunts and activity that her character required in every film she did. But sometimes a professional was required. Even with her weeks of training for this, she didn't think she'd be able to give David what he wanted.
"Don't beat yourself up on my account," Jared said with a cute smile. She gave him a confused look and he nodded at the large bruise on her knee. She smiled.
"I thought I could get it," she said with a sigh.
"You will. I for one am enjoying watching you try," he said, waggling his eyebrows.
She laughed. "I bet you are. But you have to be bored. You've just been sitting there doing nothing."
He shrugged. "It's better than having to memorize lines or do a fight scene."
"Still," she said, glancing over at David. "I can tell he's getting frustrated."
"Don't worry about him," Jared said. "You know how directors are. They have a lot of people to answer to and a lot riding on their shoulders. Don't take it personally."
Daphne nodded. He was right; she knew quite a few directors who got stressed easily. It was an occupational hazard to be stressed at least once during a film shoot. But the reason so many directors wanted to work with her was because of her desire to please them. She wanted to give them the shot they were looking for. It was because of her willingness to do this that she was always at the top of their lists. But in that moment, it was bothering her that she couldn't give him what he was looking for.
"Olivia, what am I doing wrong?" she asked her trainer.
Olivia shook her head. "Nothing. It's a complicated trick. I'm surprised you picked it up as quickly as you did. It's just part of the game. That's why this drop is so uncommon."
"Alright people," David said, calling the set to order. "There's been a change. Since there's no dialogue, we're shooting this without sound. Jared's going to do a voice over in ADR and we will just mask the background noise with music in post-production. Daphne, we're going to shoot several of the poses on the pole and montage it up, so it doesn't need to be one full routine."
Daphne gave an audible sigh of relief. She'd been able to do the trick a few times, but each time it had been accompanied by the sound of her skin sliding against the pole-like at a playground when you slide down. But not audio meant it didn't matter. She stood up and let the makeup artist touch up her makeup and cover up some of the bruises before taking her place. Jared moved back over to his seat, giving her a thumbs up. She took a deep breath and stepped up on the stage.
"Okay Daphne, action!" David called from behind the large monitor.
Roman, the cinematographer, swung the camera around to get one fluid shot as she climbed up the pole. Another camera was focused on Jared as he watched her. The idea was that they were going to cut the shots together with a voice over from Jared doing a monologue and when he reached the end of it, they'd cut in the trick scene. It seemed a bit more logical to Daphne, but she didn't know much about David's vision in terms of how he wanted the final product to look.
The afternoon went on like that for several more hours, with David's mood improving greatly as they got more and more shots. Daphne's legs were sore and bruised, but she was happy that she had finally been able to give him what he had wanted. They were taking a break before trying to shoot the very last move that had been giving them trouble earlier that day. Jared walked over with a cup of tea in his hand.
"You're going to need to take an ice bath later tonight," he said looking at her bruises with a little bit of a smile.
"Yeah, not looking forward to that," Daphne said. "But at least we're getting it done in one day instead of drawing it out over weeks."
He sat next to her and pulled out his phone as it buzzed. "Do you think she's hot?" He held out his phone where a picture of a young woman was on the screen.
Daphne looked up at him in confusion. "Last time I checked this was not high school and we are not gal pals chatting in the bathroom over sticks Bubbilicious gum. What type of question is that?"
He gave her a funny look and laughed. "That is SO not what high school is like. Did you watch 'Grease' recently or something?"
She rolled her eyes. "What do you want?" she asked with a smile.
He held his phone out for her to look at. "I wanted your opinion."
"On?" she asked, looking at his phone screen in confusion.
"Her," he said, gesturing to the screen and the photo on it.
A pretty blonde was on the screen, a sweet smile played across her face. She seemed tallish, but it was hard to tell from the photo. She was definitely thin, thinner than Daphne, and had a bit of a tan. One thing was obvious: her breasts were too large to be real.
"She looks fine," Daphne said, handing the phone back to Jared. "Why are you asking me?"
"Just wanted your opinion, seeing as we're friends," he said simply.
"Opinion for what? Are you dating her or something?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Possibly. But I'm not sure yet. I'm not sure if she's my type."
Daphne shifted to face him. "And my opinion matters because?"
"Because you're a woman and I figured you'd be able to read her or something and tell me if it was a good idea," Jared responded.
She laughed. "I'm not an oracle or something. I don't know the poor girl. Don't ask me if she'd be a good person to date." Daphne narrowed her eyes at him, trying to read his facial expressions. Then it dawned on her. There was no girl. He was playing her. "There is no girl, is there?"
He busted out laughing. "Of course there's not! Do you really think I'd date a girl like that? Her tits are obviously fake and she'd lose at least two pounds by removing half of her makeup. You know me better than that to at least know I like my women to be real."
She scoffed at him. "So what was the point in all of that?" she asked.
"To make you smile," he said softly, nudging her gently. "You're going to get frown lines," he said, rubbing the imaginary lines on her face.
She broke out laughing and turned her head away. "Gee, thanks."
"But seriously, I know today was stressful so I just wanted to make you relax a bit," he said. "You're beating yourself up over not being able to give David what he wants. I can see it in your face. Stop. Sometimes directors just have visions of things that aren't possible."
Daphne smiled and leaned against his shoulder. He rested his chin on top of her hair and smiled softly. "I'd never ask you for dating advice, though," he said after a minute. She looked up at him. "You know why," he replied giving her a pointed look. "You might try to sabotage it for your own good." She smiled at him and shook her head.