2.

Two days later everyone was doing their best. Everyone except for Lola. I was surprised not to find her on set, was she late? The mentor wasn’t angry or desperately looking for her so I decided that she had to know what had happened to the girl. She didn’t look too happy, so I hoped that meant that she hadn’t been fired. “What are you looking at? Come on, back to work.” Surprised I took my eyes of the mentor and started practicing a scene with Shelly, Megan and Mike. The three weren’t as bad as I had expected, but still I preferred to work with Lola. “Looking for the weirdo?” Megan asked once we weren’t watched anymore and I rolled my eyes. Megan was in no position to talk bad about Lola; Lola’s acting skills were at least ten times better than hers. Without answering the girl I continued with my lines of the script. I knew this part very well already; did they think I was rehearsing it for myself? Thankfully the others joined and by lunch they all were a lot better than when they first walked in.

Just after lunch I was introduced to the director. I had heard of him of course; he was one of the best if not the best. We were going to film the scenes so we as actors could see where we needed to improve. Nervously I looked around, the scene they were talking about filming was one with Lola but she hadn’t come in yet. The mentor told me to go to my dressing room so I could try the clothing and after that we were supposed to start filming.

When I came back after trying on all the clothes I noticed how the mood had changed. Everyone was staring at the director who was talking to a girl. She was blonde and seemed prettier with every step I took towards them. I stopped a few meters away from them once I realized the blonde girl was Lola. The mentor looked surprised as well, and so did the rest of the room, except for the director. The director was casually talking with Lola and though it was obvious he was happy she looked like this, it seemed like he had expected it already. Once the surprise had worn down I continued walking towards the small group of four. “Show us what you’ve got!” The director said obviously excited about it. The two of us walked onto the set and got into our positions. Before we started Lola closed her eyes. I saw how her tense posture started to relax and how a few of her internal walls started to crumble down. I looked at her with admiration; it was obvious this girl would do anything for her career.

“Action!”

I had worked with many, but never with someone who could act like THAT. I thought once I saw how Lola’s movement changed. During rehearsal I had already thought it would be difficult to top her acting but this, this was ten times better than that. The girl acted as if she didn’t know better, as if she was her character, as if she had seen the same things. I tried to act along with her, but I was too surprised and impressed to really control my body. I had looked down on the others as if I had been the star of this movie, as if they were bringing me down, while in fact she was the star. I was the one bringing her down, because I was a mere actor and she was perfection.

“Cut!”

I looked up, surprised that the scene had been over already. I immediately walked towards the screens to ad-mire her, and review my acting, while she walked away as fast as she could. The director and mentor gave me tips on how I could do things better, but I had to watch the scene multiple times to see it. I was way too dis-tracted by her acting. Her beauty, her grace and her sadness that was even visible in the sparkling of her eyes.