My Waterhorse Diary:
By Alex Etel - age 11
This whole process started in March 2006. My agent (ICM) had been on the phone to say that an American director called Jay Russell wanted to see me about a new film he was making called The Waterhorse. He had seen me in a film called Millions and liked my performance, so ICM sent the script to my mum and asked me to learn a couple of scenes so I could audition for Mr Russell and his casting agent when he flew over to the UK in a few days ...
Wednesday 8th March 2006:
I travelled by train to London with my mum to meet Mr Russell at the casting agent’s office. The journey from Manchester took around 2 hours and then we had to get on a tube. We arrived at the address that we had been given and it was a big house that the casting director used as her office. When we first got there we were early and so we were told that Mr Russell hadn’t arrived yet and that there was a nice little cafe a short walk down the road where we went to drink hot chocolate and practise my lines, then we all walked back to the audition. Mr Russell was just getting out of the car as we arrived back and he quickly shook our hands before we were shown to a room at the back of the house where we were asked to wait. After a short while I was asked to come through to the room where Mr Russell and the casting lady were and Mr Russell said that I should call him Jay. We had a nice chat and a few laughs and then I had to read the lines I had learned from two different scenes (I can’t tell you which ones though because it might spoil the film for you). My mum says I was in the room for about 40 minutes but it didn’t seem that long. Jay said I had done well but he had more people to see, so we went to do a bit of shopping and then in the afternoon we travelled back to Manchester.
Thursday 9th March 2006:
My mum had a phone call from the agent to say that Jay wanted to see me in London again tomorrow. I didn’t fancy another trip all the way to London but at least I would get another day off school !
Friday 10th March 2006:
We travelled back to London and got a taxi to meet Jay and Robert Bernstein (one of the producers) at the Groucho club, which I found out later is really famous. When we got there I was too young to wait in the bar so my mum and I had to go straight upstairs to the restaurant and we were shown to our table. The restaurant was very posh and the menu was very expensive but Jay was paying anyway so that wasn't a problem for us. I looked at the menu but I didn’t think anything looked nice, there was a lot of fish and I hate fish so I ordered soup instead which was very nice. We talked about Frankie Muniz who plays one of my favourite characters 'Malcolm in the Middle' and also the boy from Jay's film 'My Dog Skip'.
Jay asked us how we felt about having to go to New Zealand in April and my mum said that would be ok but my younger brother would have to come over with her and my sister would come over when her exams had finished. Jay said that wouldn’t be a problem and we talked about the part of Angus and how Jay had seen Millions and thought I would be good to play Angus. Jay said that New Zealand was a very long way to travel but I would love it over there. We discussed how Angus would need to have a Scottish accent and Jay said that the cast would be getting a dialect coach to teach us. I told him that I wasn’t sure whether I would be any good but that I promised that I would do my best. At the very end of the conversation Jay told us that Angus is frightened of water and then he asked me whether I could swim. I said yes because I love swimming and he said well that’s a good job because there will be a lot of work to be done in water and then he said that maybe he should have checked that out first, and laughed.
Robert Bernstein had to go then so Jay and I went into another room and had a quick chat to get to know each other a bit better and he asked me some questions about a picture on a wall and what the different colours mean to me which he put on a videotape so that he could take it to show the producers. Then we got a taxi back to the station. So that was it .. no one had properly said that I had the part but it was obvious I did have. I was very excited on the journey home because it sounded like the film was going to be really cool and I would be going to a different country and meeting loads of new people. I was mostly looking forward to the swimming training and going to a different country, meeting loads of new people and getting to go to another film premiere in a limo .. cool ! .. On the train I was very tired with all the travelling I had done to and from London over the last few days .. and that was nothing compared to how much travelling it would take to get to New Zealand !!!
Monday 13th March 2006:
The production company made arrangements with my mum for a dialect coach, Julia, to come to my house and spend some time trying to teach me a Scottish accent. This was the most worrying part for me because I had been in a film already (Millions) so I knew I could learn lines and act in front of a camera, but I had never had to learn another accent before so I was quite nervous. We practised by reading through the whole script and I had to copy how Julia spoke with a Scottish accent. The Scottish accent is very different to mine (Manchester/Cheshire accent) and I found it hardest to pronounce the letter ‘r’ because the Scottish people roll the ‘r’ sound more than I would. I remember some of the first words I had to learn how to say were No, Mother and Crusoe (the name of my monster). I had to pronounce the vowels differently to how I would normally say them and I definitely think the hardest word to say was Waterhorse because it has two letter r’s in. I don’t think I was very good at first because I was shy, but by the end of the first day Julia and my mum said I was definitely getting better. Later that afternoon I travelled by train to Edinburgh (Scotland) with my grandad and Julia to meet Jay and let him hear my attempt at a Scottish accent.
The train journey was quite long (about 5 hours) and we travelled through some very thick snow on the way. Part way there the train actually had to stop in the middle of nowhere and a announcement came on to say that they were clearing snow from the line. When we arrived in Edinburgh we were met by a man called David who turned out to be the locations manager for the Scotland film shoot. David took us to a car that Jay was sat in with a location scout (they had been looking at some houses that they could use in the film).
We were all driven from the station to a big, old fashioned (in a nice way) hotel where we were going to have another meeting and a meal. I think the meal was booked for 8.30pm and we waited in the bar for the other people to arrive. There were about 10 of us at the meeting including me, my grandad, Jay, Julia, Barrie Osborne, one of the producers and some others who I was told were heads of departments on the film. We talked about lots of things like New Zealand, The Waterhorse and Millions until about 10.30pm and then me and grandad went to bed. I had to share a huge bed with my grandad, which was not good because he snores very loud, but at least it was really comfy and I could watch tv in bed.
Tuesday 14th March 2006:
We got up and went for a swim in the pool downstairs. It was a long way to the pool because we had to go down to the basement, through a tunnel, then up into another building to get to the gym where the pool was. Breakfast was really good and I ate loads (my grandad said I could eat more than him but I don’t think so). After breakfast I met with Jay and we talked about the film again. I spoke some words for him in my new Scottish accent and he was very impressed and said that Julia would continue to coach me over the next couple of weeks, then he would speak to Julia to see how I was getting on. Later that afternoon we travelled home on the train and I watched Ladder 49 on dvd (one of Jay’s films) which I thought was brilliant and it even made me cry (but only because I think I was a bit tired).
Monday 20th March 2006:
From today everything started to get really, really busy at home because my mum only had four weeks to get everything arranged before I set off for New Zealand. It was decided that my grandad would come over with me for the first month because my mum and little brother couldn’t come out until the middle of May. April is the start of the weather getting colder in New Zealand so I had to get a lot of new winter clothes because I was starting to grow out of everything I already had. My mum had a very hard job trying to buy winter clothes, especially coats, for me and my brother in Spring. I spent the next few weeks reading through the script and practising my new Scottish accent. Julia had made a tape for me with all my lines on so that I could copy it and I started to get better and feel more relaxed about speaking the accent.
Friday 7th April 2006:
Because I was in my last year of Junior school (Year 6) and would be finishing the school year early, the teachers held a leaving party at school for me at my class. It was brilliant because there was a massive table with sandwiches and cake and my friends and the teachers all made me a goodbye card and I got some presents as well, including a few Easter eggs. I was quite sad to say goodbye to everyone because we were all moving on to different senior schools in September and so this would be my last day with them all but it was fun because everyone signed my school shirt.
Monday 10th April 2006:
We travelled to London again because I had to have a wardrobe fitting and some Visual effects scans taken. We were picked up from the station by a driver and taken to Angels Costumiers in London for an appointment at 12 O’clock with John who was the Head Costume Designer on Waterhorse. We had a look round and saw loads of old costumes for period drama programmes and then me and my mum went into a big changing room with John and two other women who worked for him. My mum had already emailed John with my measurements but I had to get measured again just to confirm the sizes and then I had to try on some things that they had been making for my character, Angus, to wear. The clothes were very different to the ones I normally wear and one of the things I didn’t like was how people in the olden days used to wear their trousers pulled right up onto their waists. I tried on some long shorts, some braces and some itchy woollen jumpers and the absolute worst thing I tried on was a pair of itchy swimming trunks that everybody used to wear back in those days (1942). I am so glad we don’t have to wear them now. Me and my mum were laughing at my white legs. I had to have lots of pictures taken in each outfit, from the front, side and back and then after a couple of hours we finished trying everything on and John took us to a nice café in the building where we had some lunch.
After lunch the driver picked us up again and took us to meet Duncan who owns a Visual Effects company. The men explained to me that the machine would take some special photos that would be used in the film for any special effects. I was asked to sit up on a chair and then I had to sit as still as possible while a camera went in a full circle around me. It is really hard to sit extremely still and not move at all, but it was important because otherwise the picture would go blurry. I had a few goes and I got better each time at sitting very still by concentrating hard on a picture on the wall. The finished images of me were in 3D and looked absolutely brilliant. Afterwards the driver took us back to our hotel and we had a walk round Oxford Circus (a cool shopping place in London) and went for some sushi.
Tuesday 11th April 2006:
We went to Julia’s house to practise my Scottish accent again. During the break we went for a quick walk to the shops and I got a fizzy drink to keep my energy up because I was getting tired. Julia said I had definitely improved and she told me that she wasn’t coming to New Zealand but that I would have another voice coach over there. After Julia’s the driver took us back to Euston station and we got the train home. In six days I was going to be flying over to New Zealand !!
Arriving in New Zealand ...
Monday 17th April 2006:
Our flight was leaving at 1.30pm and so we had to be at the airport for 11.30am. My bags were all packed and waiting by the door and my mum was very upset because she wouldn’t see me for 4 weeks, which is the longest time I have ever been away from her. Even though we only live about a 10 minute drive from Manchester airport, she had decided that it would be best if she didn’t come because she would get too upset but when my grandad arrived in the taxi to take us to the airport my mum started crying a lot anyway. I had bought a laptop and a webcam a couple of days earlier so that I could speak to my family and we could see each other from opposite sides of the world. I said goodbye to my older sister, Becky and my brother, Daniel and then my mum gave me a big hug and we drove off quickly before she got even more upset. She gave my grandad strict instructions that he had to text her at each stage of the journey so she knew we were ok and she said she wouldn’t rest safely until she knew we were there.
We were told that we could stop over in America on our travels but grandad had decided that we should get the long journey over and done with in one go so we had to travel from Manchester to London, then London to Los Angeles, U.S.A., Los Angeles to Auckland, NZ and finally Auckland to Wellington, so altogether we had to take four flights over 30 hours. The longest flight was the one from London to Los Angeles which takes about 11 hours and people had warned me that it would seem to take forever .. and it did .. but I managed to sleep for 8 hours on the first flight so it seemed to go a bit quicker but then the second plane from L.A. to Auckland also takes about 10 hours and that went really slow in comparison. I never thought I could get so bored watching films ! .. After a very long journey we arrived in Wellington and we were met by a really nice lady called Brenna who was going to be my P.A. for the whole shoot (I later found out that the last person she was P.A. for was the actor Jack Black, who was the star of one of my favourite films, ‘School of Rock’ so that felt kind of cool).
Wednesday 19th April 2006:
This morning we are sooooo tired. The weather and hotel are great and we have our own apartment with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and lounge with wide screen TV. I can’t understand how we left on Monday, the flight took 30 hours and now it’s Wednesday, but my grandad says it’s to do with the time zone. Brenna had asked us if we thought we would be ok to meet some people on Thursday so we said yes and arranged to be picked up at 9am. After a little walk we went for a lie down at 4.00 and didn't get up until Thursday morning !!
Thursday 20th April 2006:
Brenna picked us up and we went to Stone Street Studios to do a Meet and Greet where we were introduced to all the ADs (Assistant Directors) and production staff, there were loads of people to meet and I wondered how I was going to remember all of their names. We were also shown the studio where they made King Kong, it was huge. At 10am we went to the swimming pool where I was introduced to Augie Davis the stunt coordinator who had been told to find out how good a swimmer I was. We spent about an hour in the pool and then Jay arrived to see how things were going, Augie told him he thought I would be ok but that I was a ''floater'' which is someone who tends to float on the water rather than sink, I didn't know at this stage just how important this would be. I tried on a wet suit they had bought me and a snorkel and goggles which were all ok, then we did a bit more swimming and then went for lunch.
After lunch we went to Weta Workshop where they do the special effects for films like Lord of the Rings and King Kong. They have two companies - Weta Workshop who do all the modelling, body parts, specialised makeup etc. and Weta Digital who do all the digital effects stuff. We went to Workshop and saw loads of amazing stuff - creatures that looked real that I'd seen in Lord of the Rings, heads lined up on shelves, weapons of all shapes and sizes that were made of some stuff that was really light. On our way round they introduced us to the people who make the moulds for all the strange things you see in films, these people spend weeks even months doing things like putting all King Kong's hair in place strand by strand in the same direction as they would have been growing if he was real. We also got to see the 5 Oscars that Weta had won which they keep in a glass case in their Board Room.Afterwards we visited the Wardrobe department so I could try on some clothes they had made from the measurements they had taken in London and from stuff my Mum had told them. Some of them were ok and some of them were a bit tight but they all looked really old fashioned.
Friday 21st April 2006:
Today we had to go for a medical with a Doctor Wong to find out if I was fit and healthy enough to be able to film, which is something to do with insurance. Brenna picked us up at 8.30 as arranged to take us to the doctors. In New Zealand the doctors and hospitals are much more relaxed, they don’t wear white coats and things like in England. Doctor Wong introduced himself and he was wearing his shorts and a T shirt and had pictures of film stars he had examined on his wall, which seemed a bit strange. He asked all the usual questions about any illnesses I might have had and if I was taking any medication, but I’m quite fit really so there was nothing to worry about. Anyway after about 45 mins. I was finished and given the “all clear” and then I had to go to a meeting with Jay and Priyanka at the studios
The studio was really quiet, not much going on at all only people doing office work. I went in to Jays office with Pri and he talked to us about how the film was to be made and showed us some photos of how the sets and other things would look in the film. It was all very interesting and Jay was really enthusiastic about it all, he said that we were going to Queenstown and it would be really exiting, so we came out of the meeting really excited.
Then we went to meet Jay again at Weta Digital. When we arrived we were introduced to most of the people who were going to be working on Waterhorse and then shown into a big room that had a huge cinema screen in it, some computers and a great big long table. The strange thing was that all the chairs faced the screen, even though they were round the table. In charge of the meeting was the head man from Weta who started to explain the sort of things they had done in the past, like Lord of the Rings 1,2 and 3 and as he was explaining he brought up on the screen some bits of computer imagery that they had created for the films. Next he went on to explain how they did certain things in King Kong, like all the cars you see from the top of the sky scrapers are actually computer generated individually in different colours so it looks absolutely real. They even took photos of New York and laid them over the top of old photos and adjusted the buildings so they looked old and removed new buildings and built ones in their place just like it used to be in the 40s, it was really cool. Next he showed us some very early workings of what Waterhorse was going to be like and that looked really cool too.
When we left Weta we went to have lunch at a restaurant called The Chocolate Fish which is by the sea in a little cove near where Barrie Osborne the producer of the film lived. The Chocolate Fish is cool and it became my favourite place to eat in New Zealand. After lunch I had to do some more swimming with Augie (stunts). We practiced picking things up from the bottom of the pool at different depths with snorkels and flippers and holding my breath under water, it was much better than going to school. After an hour it was time to go back to the hotel and I was getting tired anyway. When we got back I sent some e-mails to my friends but by tea time I was getting in bed and nodding off again with jet lag. Tomorrow was weekend though so I could stay in bed ALL day if I wanted to.
Monday 24th April 2006:
Today I went back to Kilbirnie pool to work with some of the stunt team again. First they taught me how to dive off a small diving board which I found quite easy and then about 6 of us got into the pool with a Buoyancy Control Device (BCD). The BCD holds an oxygen tank and is inflated so it floats on top of the water. I had weights tied around my waist which made me sink down underwater and I had to sink for as long as I could without breathing. One of the stunties was at the bottom with a tank on his back so that when I was running out of air I could tell him using sign language and he would give me the spare regulator to breathe through and then take me back up to the surface. The first time I had to do this I was a bit nervous but I got more and more confident after we had done it a few times. At lunchtime we went back to the Chocolate Fish (again) and then I had time with Tony the tutor in the classroom bus where we went through what I was up to at my real school. At the end of the day Jay had arranged for us to visit the Art Department which was in another of the studios at Stone Street. They showed us drawings and models of the sets which must have taken ages to make because there were loads of them and they were all in miniature which gave me a better idea of how it would all look.
Tuesday 25th April 2006:
Brenna picked us up at 8am and I went to do some more tutoring and dialect coaching and then at 2pm I had to have a facial scan at Weta Workshop. I had to do lots of different facial expressions while the camera moved around me so that it could record all my muscle movements and things that move on your face when you smile and stuff. After that I had a brilliant hour doing some rig training with the stunties. I had to wear a special harness to practice for when I ride on Crusoe’s back. It was really cool because they let me do lots of backflips as well in the harness !!
I spent the rest of the week doing more tutoring learning mainly about New Zealand history, which was actually really interesting considering history is not one of my favourite subjects, scuba diving training (great fun) and dialect coaching (not so great fun) .. I was still finding it quite hard to get the hang of saying the letter r in a Scottish accent but Carol Ann (the dialect coach) said I was improving which was good.
Queenstown and Rehearsals ...
Friday 28th April 2006:
Today was the day we all travelled over to Queenstown (on the South Island) to start shooting the first Waterhorse scenes. We had quite warm weather in Wellington but we were told that Queenstown would be a lot colder so we had to pack warm things to wear for the next few weeks, especially as I would be doing quite a few night shoots. At 6am lots of big trucks set off because we had to take everything with us like lighting, cameras, catering, wardrobe (wardrobe on its own took up 2 big 40ft trucks!). I was really surprised at how much stuff there was.
Brenna picked us up at 8.45am and I did some more dialect coaching (yey!) and tutoring before we went to the airport at 10.50am to fly over to Queenstown (via Christchurch). There were so many cast and crew on the flight that it was really funny, it was as if the plane was just for us. We arrived at 2.15pm and a driver collected us and took us to the St. Moritz Hotel where Barry and Jay and the rest of the cast were staying. I preferred this hotel because I had my own separate bedroom and bathroom and grandad was in the room next to mine. We had a fantastic view from our windows of Lake Wakatipu (pronounced Wack-a-tee-poo). The crew were staying at the hotel next to ours called Rydges. It wasn’t as nice as our hotel but everyone used to meet up in the evening at their bar and they had a pool table in there and I used to beat them all at pool, so they nicknamed me the Pool Shark !
Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th April 2006:
We spent the weekend doing a bit of sightseeing around Queenstown and we went up in a cable car which was a bit scary and watched people parasailing off the top of the mountain. One of the funniest things for my grandad (and I swear on my life that this really happened) was when we came back down the mountain and were sat on a bench near the water watching some bungy jumpers. This girl did a really big jump and then swam out of the water and walked passed us, looked at me and did a double take and said aren’t you that boy out of Millions ? .. I couldn’t believe that we were on the other side of the world and somebody recognised me and even that she could think straight after she had done such a big jump. I like doing quite a lot of sports and things but I don’t think I would ever be brave enough to do a bungy jump because I really don’t like heights at all.
Monday 1st May 2006: (Rehearsal week begins)
At 1pm we had a meeting with Jay and Emily where we sat round a big table in the hotel conference room talking about the rehearsals and other things .. I think this was to give us time to feel relaxed and get us to bond because Emily would be playing my mum in the film. Luckily I got on really well with Emily and she looked after me like a second mum while I was over there. Emily had come over to New Zealand with her husband Jack and baby daughter, Juliet, who was 6 months old and very, very cute. Juliet coped the best with jet lag and very quickly got into a good sleeping pattern, much quicker than everybody else.
Tuesday 2nd May 2006:
Today was really good because Tony took me and Priyanka on a field trip to a place called Arrowtown (after I had done some more dialect coaching). Just before lunch Tony arrived in a big minibus and we all piled in, altogether there were 8 of us and we set off to Arrowtown where we had some lunch and then went out for our field trip. Arrowtown is like a cobbled street and the pavements remind you of a wild west town. Tony told us about the original settlers who were Chinese miners who found gold in the river and they built a little village, some of which had been restored. The Chinese started panning for gold, which is where you scoop some gravel from the river bed in a shallow dish and swish it around with lots of water so that the light stuff goes over the sides of the pan and what’s left at the bottom is the heavy bits and hopefully it’s got gold in .. and guess what ? .. I found a very tiny, tiny and I mean tiny nugget of gold, the size of a pin head. I was the only one to find any gold that day ! grandad and the rest of my family always say I am very lucky at everything I do because I always win in school raffles.
Wednesday 3rd May 2006:
We had our first boat ride over Lake Wakatipu to base camp at Mount Nicholas Station. About 7 of us travelled over on a tiny speedboat, the driver was called Shane (sometimes he would let me help him drive the boat). It was very cold and we were all wrapped up in big padded coats with scarves and gloves on. The boat trip took about 20 minutes and that was going fast. You can get to Mount Nicholas Station by road but it would take all day to get round the lake so the transport people had to move more than 250 people over the lake by boat, to and from the unit base every day on a few different boats. We had been warned about the thousands of sandflys which give nasty bites and so we were all given sprays to use, but Grandad still got a really bad bite on his hand which swelled up into his arm. Luckily for me I didn’t get bitten at all.
When we arrived at Mount Nicholas Station we had to get into 4-wheel drive vehicles and drive to the unit base which took another 10 minutes. The film company had to make special roads because the dirt tracks that were there originally weren’t suitable for all the trucks that would be using them. In one place they had to build a road around a hill because the articulated trucks couldn’t make the sharp turn in the road. Even bridges over the streams had to be strengthened, there was so much work involved to prepare for filming and we were only staying for a couple of weeks and after we had finished there everything had to be put back to how it was before !
Jay took us to see several of the locations that we were going to be filming in and showed us the amount of work that had gone into building things (but I can’t tell you about all that just yet).
Thursday 4th May 2006:
We were picked up to go for schooling at base camp at 9.10am. To get to unit base we first have to drive from the hotel to a place called 12-mile jetty (because it is 12 miles from Queenstown). We went over on a different boat today that was comfier than the last one but a bit slower. In New Zealand they have an animal called the possum which are seen as vermin over there and at first it was quite sad to see them squashed on the road because we don’t really have much roadkill near where I live. Anyway, I quickly got used to it and eventually we started counting how many squashed possums we could see on the journey to and from set and I think the most we counted was 17. I was even told that some people actually gather up the squashed possums from the road and make possum pie !! .. disgusting or what ? Anyway, when we arrived at unit base it was like being in an old army camp because there were soldiers everywhere doing drill guns and there were even a couple of big cannons. It was very exciting but I had to go to school and do dialect all morning .. so unfair L In the afternoon I had a couple of rehearsals with Ben and Emily for camera and lighting.
Friday 5th May 2006:
10am – Pick up from hotel, then drive, boat, drive and then more dialect coaching !! I did a first rehearsal of a scene on the hill with Emily, David and Priyanka. We were trying to drive up the hill in a wartime jeep and kept getting really stuck because it was steep and very, very muddy ! On Monday (Sunday in the UK) my mum and little brother, Daniel, set off for New Zealand. My mum had to bring me some more trousers because I was putting on quite a lot of weight because I had been eating lots of snacks on set – especially my favourite blueberry muffins .. Mmmmm).
Tuesday 16th May 2006:
My mum and brother, Daniel, arrived today. After I had finished filming I got back to the hotel and knocked on their room. They were both asleep but my mum came to the door and gave me a big hug and told me how much I had grown (especially around my waist!). My mum and Dan were really tired so I left them to go back to sleep and said that I would see them in the morning.
Wednesday 17th May 2006:
We filmed on the hill again with all the soldiers. It was just like being in the war because there were sandbags lying all around with machine guns behind them. Mum and Dan came on set today, Dan played a lot on his PSP console and they both spent a lot of time with their fingers in their ears because a huge cannon was being fired. I had to run and fall over which was great because it was like being a stunt person. Obviously I couldn’t put my fingers in my ears so I had to wear special earplugs that were skin coloured so that you couldn’t tell I had them in. It was really loud and cold but I was lucky because I was running around so that kept me warm.
Sunday 21st May 2006:
Had a day off so me, mum and Dan decided to go on the Gondola, which is a big cable car that goes really high up the side of the mountain. When we got to the top we went on a ride called the Luge where you have to sit in go-karts and go down this big track .. It was so cool ! .. I came first even though at one point a dog ran out in front of me so I had to slow down. Afterwards we did a bit of shopping and bought some more warm jumpers and hats for everyone made from wool from the Marino sheep from Mount Saint Nicholas where we were filming, then we went to this Ice Cream place that sells loads of different flavours, it was really hard to pick which one I wanted but I decided to try cookies and cream flavour and it tasted just like it.
Tuesday 23rd May 2006:
Today we filmed at the beach and I had to wade into the water for the first time. I wore a specially made wetsuit under my costume which stopped me from getting too cold and later I had to be strapped into a harness and put onto a crane which lifted me out of the water and onto the sand .. I cant tell you too much though because I might give away part of the story. It was cool hanging from the crane but the harness was a bit tight round my privates !
Monday 29th May 2006:
I had another day off and it was my grandads day to go back to England, so while he finished his packing we went paragliding. I don’t really like heights but it didn’t look that high when we watched them going past out of the hotel window. Some people even paraglide off the top of the mountain but we weren’t that brave. I was allowed to go up with my mum and Dan so me and mum sat at the back and Dan sat in front of us. We were attached to a boat and they winched us up really, really high. Me and Dan loved it and we all waved over to grandad’s hotel room but mum said she felt sick when we got off so we had to go straight into this underground place where you can watch under the lake so that mum could sit down for a bit until she felt better. Later that afternoon grandad went home which was sad because he had been over with me for so long. He said he had had a brilliant time but was looking forward to getting home to his own bed and English food.
Wellington - filming in the studio ...
Tuesday 30th May 2006:
We flew back to Wellington today. Dan said that we could have walked there because the plane journey was so quick. He thought it was really fast after the journey they had flying over to New Zealand. We got back to our new apartment at the Museum Hotel where we each had a huge bed and the biggest baths we had ever seen. They took about half an hour to fill. It was a bit warmer in Wellington than in Queenstown but it was definitely getting colder since I first arrived here. Me and Dan went for a swim in the hotel pool and met Tyrone and his mum in the lift. Ty was my stunt double on set and we became really good friends, although a lot of the time we worked opposite shifts because he would be filming nights while I was on days. Ty’s dad and brother are stuntmen and they have all worked on quite a few films. Ty worked on the fantastic Bridge to Terabithia and his dad even doubled for Tom Cruise on The Last Samurai which is also supposed to be a brilliant film.
Friday 2nd June 2006:
Today was my first scene back at Stone studios. I was doing a scene where I am in my dad’s workshop and they made it look just like an old workshop even though it was built in one of the studios. We worked on the King Kong stage. Weta Workshop had made a puppet of Crusoe so that I could actually act with something instead of looking at a tennis ball on a stick. In the scene Crusoe is trying to eat something he shouldn’t and so I had to grab his body and pull him off, but I must have pulled too hard and I accidentally ripped it’s head off !! .. Nobody seemed to mind though but I felt bad. Luckily they had another one on standby.
Tuesday 6th June 2006:
It was my sisters 16th birthday yesterday and we all felt bad because we weren’t there to celebrate with her. She had to stay over in England with our nana while she finished her exams at school and she also didn’t want to miss her prom night, so she was due to fly over in a few weeks. My mum felt really sad that we couldn’t be with her on her birthday or for her prom but we spoke to her on the webcam instead and sang Happy Birthday to her. Today we went to Titahi Beach to film the scene where I find the egg. It was a really sunny but cold day and I had to wear a horrible itchy pair of knitted swimming trunks ! .. I’m so glad they don’t make those any more. In between filming me, Dan and Tim (stuntie) started to collect crabs from the rock pools, I think we ended up with 18 by the end of the day and we named my favourite one Chompers, but we had to put them all back when we finished because my mum wouldn’t let us keep even one. It was a really good day, like being on holiday except much colder but I cut my hand a little bit on one of the rocks so it wasn’t such a good day.
Tuesday 13th June 2006:
Today we were filming in the workshop again but there seemed to be a lot of setting up in between scenes and I think they were having a problem with one of the cameras so I went for a wander around set. Sarah and Ben from the Art Department had also been a little bit bored and so to kill some time they had made a potato person from one of the potatoes that were meant for Crusoe. I was really impressed and wanted to make one of my own so I did and so did my brother. With some help from Sarah we made one as a cowboy with a horse which we were really proud of (A few days later they got pinched out of my trailer and we had to put up wanted posters around set offering a reward but they never returned although we did get some pictures of them in very strange places like at the amusement arcade. To this day we still don’t know who kidnapped them).
Thursday 15th June 2006:
I got stuck in the middle of the big water tank today. I had to row out on a little boat with some oars and look around for Crusoe, but I got stuck and ended up going round in circles until the stunties helped me and showed me properly what to do. Each time I went out onto the water I was surrounded by stunties who were under the water making sure I didn’t hurt myself or even drown.
Monday 19th June 2006:
I think today was the hardest day of the whole shoot. Big wave machines were put into the outdoor tank (which was about the size of a football pitch) so that the water looked just like a very rough sea and then I had to swim over to the boat. We had to shoot the scene lots of times and everyone felt sorry for me because it was so cold, they even had to turn the temperature in the tank down because mist was coming off the water, but I was warm because I was in my wetsuit and doing lots of swimming. In between takes I was whisked off into a warming tent and wrapped up in tin foil blankets with my hot water bottles all over me and my feet in hot water. Brenna, my P.A., kept bringing me drinks of apple juice and muesli bars to keep my strength up and all the wardrobe department were fussing round me making sure I was ok. One good thing was that I wasn’t able to do tutoring because I was too wet and it wouldn’t have been possible to keep changing me in and out of my wetsuit and clothes, so school was off for today .. hurray !!
Saturday 24th June 2006:
Barry Osborne (Producer) had a big party at his house, which was brilliant. He has got a big fireman’s pole right in the middle of his house that goes through each floor so we all had a go .. I really want one at my house ! .. I also met the man from Lord of the Rings who plays Gollum, his name is Andy Sirkus.
Tuesday 27th June 2006:
We did more scenes on the water today where me, Emily, Ben and David are in a boat. The wave machines were going up and down and being on the boat was making a few of the cast feel very sick so they had to shout the medic over for anti-sickness pills. We had the rain machines on us and it was really cold again and the scene just wasn’t going right. I think the lighting wasn’t good and I wasn’t getting my expression right when I was talking to Crusoe (a tennis ball on a stick) and then I felt guilty because everyone wanted to get off the boat, so after lots of takes I came off set and cried. I think I was just having a bad day and even though everyone was being really nice and telling me it wasn’t my fault I just felt upset so I got into the warming tent and cried. Jay came in and looked upset because I was upset and told me that it wasn’t my fault and that they had been having technical problems and in the end I had a muesli bar and a drink and I felt much better. Oh well, work can’t be fun all the time !
Monday 3rd July 2006:
We got the giggles today on set. It was David’s fault because we were doing a scene where he and his soldiers have just moved into the house and he started doing this funny fake laugh. Then I started laughing and that set Emily off. It is hard to stop laughing when you know you are supposed to be serious but it is even harder when other people are laughing as well. Jay tried to get us all to be serious and David started to get annoyed with himself because he kept having to repeat his lines when he laughed. It was really funny but we managed to keep our faces straight in the end.
Tuesday 4th July 2006:
My sister, Becky and some other family members flew over today. It had been ages since I had seen them all (in the flesh, not on webcam) and so it was really nice. We went with Brenna to pick them up from the airport and they didn’t look as tired as I thought they would be, although they all couldn’t believe how long the journey was. After lots of hugs we went back to the hotel and then they came to the studio for a while. We filmed a scene with the dog who plays Churchill (actually played by two dogs called Sid and Ralph) where he has to chase after Crusoe and I have to crawl very quickly under the table. It was really funny because the dog (I can’t remember which one) was supposed to run over the table knocking everything over but it either went under the table or over it but without knocking anything down. Everyone on set was laughing, except for Jay who was going red in the face and saying words that I can’t repeat, because it just wouldn’t do what it was supposed to do, but in the end it managed a perfect performance and everybody cheered.
Monday 10th July 2006:
Watched the World Cup Final today with France vs. Italy. It was a brilliant game and memorable because Zidane was sent off for headbutting someone. It was very tense all the way through and Italy ended up winning.
Thursday 13th July 2006:
When we were in Queenstown, Barrie Osborne (Producer) had taken the cast out for a gorgeous meal and kindly promised that he would pay for me to go out again for a meal with my family and some of my new ‘crew’ friends. We waited until my family had started to get over their jet lag and then we went out to a lovely Italian place called Maria Pias. Maria is the lady who owns it, she cooks everything herself and it feels like you are all sitting in her kitchen. We had loads to eat including her home made pizzas and the grown ups had lots of wine and we had a really nice evening.
Sunday 16th July 2006:
Some of my family flew back home today because they had to get back for work, but Becky (my sister) had decided to stay with us until we finished filming because she was off on her summer holidays. It was a tough decision though because it was winter over in New Zealand and there was lots of wind and rain, but England was having a heatwave (very unusual) and my mum and Becky both love the sun so they were really missing home. It was nice living in such a lovely place and having a cleaner and room service whenever we wanted, but we were all starting to look forward to going home, especially me because I hadn’t seen my friends in ages and it wasn’t always easy to talk to them because of the time difference. I was looking forward to the end of school leaving party that was going to happen on 26th July and my mum wanted to get home in time for her cousin’s wedding on 29th July, but we had to wait and see whether we could definitely make it or not because we were behind on the shooting schedule. We were all keeping our fingers crossed that we would be finished in time.
Wednesday 19th July 2006:
There had been a problem with planned filming in a particular street in Scotland and so the Art Department had very quickly and cleverly managed to construct a Scottish street in the studio grounds, full of old shops and pubs etc. Today I had to film with Emily where we walked through the street and I had to carry a bucket which got really heavy as the day went on. I was supposed to be carrying the egg home in it but it actually had stones in to make it look heavy. The worst part was the smell of fish that were lay out on a stall, they stank horrible !! .. It was nearly as bad as the sardines that I had to hold when I was feeding Crusoe. Later that day Jay hid some tins of sardines in my trailer as a practical joke because the smell was knocking me sick. (It’s ok though because I got him back with a brilliant trick on wrap day!!). We also found out that I will be finished in time to go home on Sunday, which means that I can go to my school party after all .. Hurray, !!!
Thursday 22nd July 2006:
It was the last day of shooting in New Zealand before we start filming in Scotland (well for most of us anyway, because I have to come back over to New Zealand again for another couple of weeks when we finish in Scotland). Because it was the last day for many of the cast and crew, I decided to get my own back on Jay. I can’t reveal my helpers (because Jay will probably read this) but a few of us plotted together and came up with a good plan. When we got a break later in the day we sneaked into the make-up department and borrowed some talcum powder and paper and then we managed to bribe the drivers into lending us the keys to Jay’s car. First we got the paper and folded it down the middle and then we used the paper to pour talcum powder into all of the air vents in Jay’s car. They still had some stuff to do after my last scene so I went home to get changed for the party but I had some of the crew watching out for me to see what happened. When I got to the wrap party later on Jay was half laughing and screaming “I’m going to kill you!!” Apparently he’d had a really stressful day and was looking forward to going home when he got into his car, turned on the engine and got completely covered in talc !!! .. He screamed out a few words that people didn’t want to repeat and knew straight away I had something to do with it because I had been telling him for a while that I would get him back for the sardine incident. Everyone said it was really funny to watch and I was gutted that I didn’t see it or get it on video. After that we were shown some really funny outtakes on a big screen and then I partied hard with Ty and his mum until 3am because my mum, Becky and Dan had gone home a couple of hours earlier but I convinced her let me stay because I was having such a good time.
Friday 23rd July 2006:
Decided to go to the zoo today because Becky absolutely loves the zoo, she was sooooo excited when we got there. The best part was when some of the monkeys had a big fight, they can get really vicious and quite scary. Everyone was crowding round to watch. Emily had kindly bought us a voucher to feed the giraffes which was a great experience. We were shown how to hold the buckets of food and then we were taken into this shed thing and had to climb up a ladder and hold up the bucket. Giraffes are huge and they have really strange tongues. Me, Bec and Dan fed one each and it was really good fun.
Scotland shoot ...
Tuesday 1st August 2006:
Me and my mum flew over to Scotland today after a few very rushed days at home. The plane was much smaller than the ones we had flown on to and from New Zealand and it felt a bit strange and bumpy and I got a bad pain in my ear from the pressure so we were glad to get off. Had a brilliant time with all my friends at the school leaving party and I surprised everyone because I didn’t tell them that I was coming home in time for it. We also had a lovely day at the family wedding, but we were a bit disappointed because the weather was starting to get cooler and quite windy .. so much for the heatwave .. typical, I knew it would stop once we got back !!
Wednesday 2nd August 2006:
We were staying at a lovely place called Creggins Inn which was a really big change from our apartment in Wellington. It was a very small hotel and there were absolutely no shops around for miles unless you wanted to take a walk up the road which took about an hour to get there and back. It only sold groceries though so no-one bothered to do the walk. Our hotel was right across the road from a fishing jetty and so Jay bought us some fishing rods and we spent much of our free time fishing. Jay’s wife and son, Beau, came to Scotland as well. (When you see Waterhorse, Beau is the young boy at the end of the film). Daniel didn’t come to Scotland so Beau was like a substitute brother and we used to play pool a lot in the hotel bar. Beau managed to catch a big fish while he was in Scotland, but I’m not sure whether he was pleased at having to eat it afterwards. Jay enjoyed fishing as well, in fact me and Beau were lucky to get a turn sometimes.
Tuesday 8th August 2006:
A lot of the filming in Scotland was done in a place called Ardkinglas House in Argyll. It was weird because the Art Department run by Tony did a brilliant job of constructing the inside of the house back in the Wellington studio, so when we stepped into the house it was just the same as we had worked on back in Wellington. There was also a really huge pool table in the living room and so me, Ben and David would have quite a few games in between takes and schooling. In one part of the film I have to train to be a soldier and I had to wear a soldier’s hat just like my great grandad wore in the war. I think they expected the weather to be quite warm in Scotland but (unlucky for us) we had quite a lot of rain there as well so it looked very similar to New Zealand. My agent, Oliver, visited me on set today and said that everyone was really praising how well I had been doing. He was also surprised at my Scottish accent.
Wednesday 9th August 2006:
Me and Ben got the giggles on set today. It was the final scene of the day and it was quite late but we just couldn’t stop. I can’t even remember what it was about but we had to run down some steps and then turn to face each other but we just couldn’t keep a straight face and kept bursting out laughing. It was raining and it took us absolutely ages to get the scene done and all the make-up and wardrobe girls had to hide away from us because they were laughing as well and making us worse. It was over something really stupid but once you start you just can’t stop, especially when Jay was being all serious and shouting “ Ben, Alex, you gotta get this scene right!” I think he secretly wanted to laugh as well but he kept his face straight the whole time.
Wednesday 16th August 2006:
There were lots of problems at the airports today because of extra security checks so we ended up getting the train back home instead. My mum was pleased because she didn’t like the little plane that brought us over to Scotland and she’s not very keen on flying anyway. It took about 4 hours to get back but it seemed to go really quick .. I think every journey seems quick now after you have been to the other side of the world.
Return to New Zealand ...
Saturday 19th August 2006:
After a couple of busy days at home unpacking and packing again, me and Grandad set off back to New Zealand. We flew with Singapore Airlines this time and the food was really nice. Anyway we arrived back in good old Queenstown on Monday after a stop in Singapore and a stop over in Auckland for the night on Sunday and this time we had our own apartment in downtown Queenstown, it was very modern, white carpets and glass all round instead of walls. It was so open that if I had chance to lay in bed in the morning all the office workers would see me in bed if I had left the curtains open. Production asked if there was any chance of me doing some scuba training on Tuesday so no time for rest because they had to have the shooting finished on Friday 1st September.
Tuesday 22nd August 2006:
Woke up when Grandad called me for breakfast and opened the curtains but all the office workers were in their offices ! .. Brenna collected us as normal but instead of going to the pool we went to the studio where the wet set was. It was really cold because it was getting into the winter in New Zealand. I did some scuba stuff with Tyrone, Tim and Augie for about an hour and then had my hair done. Lunch was next and then tuition. After tuition I had to do some harness work on A stage and then went home for some sandwiches for tea then some TV, e-mails and bed.
Wednesday 23rd August 2006:
Our call time was 9.15am to arrive at the studio for 9.30am where I did the usual hair, makeup and wardrobe but this time with a wet suit under my clothes which were special lightweight fabric to make them move in the wind like they would do in water. I spent the morning in A stage on the Crusoe rig swinging round his neck and getting air blown at me while I rode on Crusoe’s back. The special effects people had organised a company to make a computerised rig like the bucking bronco things you see in films when the person riding gets thrown off, but I wouldn’t be allowed to fall off because I had my harness on but it was a bit rough though. In the afternoon it was in the big tank doing the diving scene where Crusoe dives in to the water with me on his back. They had a camera underwater looking up at me as I came through the surface of the water so I had to keep my eyes open and look at the camera.
Thursday 24th August 2006:
We were picked up at 8.15am today and the mornings were getting colder. Today we did a reversal of yesterday which was something to do with the light. We worked on the wet set in the morning and the nice, warm and dry A stage in the afternoon. On the wet set I had to do the scene where I walk into the loch and nearly drown when I slip on the rocks. My grandad didn’t like this bit because he said it looked so real on the monitors they had on the side of the tank. They also had to weigh me down quite a lot by putting weights in my socks, pockets, shirt and wet suit and I was so heavy that I could hardly walk. We did pretty much the same as yesterday in A stage, just different parts of me riding Crusoe underwater. The rig I mentioned before was designed to do the same moves over and over again so that it would always be the same even if they had to cut it together later. Then it was home time after I'd got showered and changed into some proper clothes and shoes.
Saturday 26th August 2006:
Today we had to finish the scene where Angus nearly drowns and is saved by Crusoe plus some more stuff. Most of today was on or in the wet set and me and Tyrone had to keep getting hot showers to keep us warm even though they have heated the water up to about 21 degrees it was still cold when you are in it all day. The people in charge of the wet set tank say that if they heat the water up any more it will start to steam and that won’t look very good on camera. The wet set tank had been built in the car park of Stone Street Studios and it was very big, the walls were reinforced by 40 foot containers which were filled with stone, around a wall made of 3/4" plywood which was then lined with polythene I think, then another layer of plywood as a second skin then there was a sort of balcony all round the tank so people could walk all round it. Everything was painted in this blue paint so that the special effects people at Weta could easily edit the blue out and put their stuff in. There were 3 JCB type digging machines which had been adapted to make waves, they had had the digging tools taken off and replaced with very large flat paddles made of metal which make the waves .. and they were very high !! .. Once they were doing it so well that the plywood second skin started to be ripped off so they had to stop one of the machines, it was too rough. My grandad tried to count how many of the sheets of plywood it took to make the tank and walls, it was some stupid number like 400. Also on the wet set the camera crew have a special camera and rig which is water proof because some of the scenes we filmed had to have rain machines in them to imitate rain and the gusty winds would blow the rain everywhere. Sunday tomorrow and grandad had booked a helicopter trip for Ty and me and grandad which I am really looking forward to.
Sunday 27th August 2006:
The stupid gusty winds meant that our helicopter trip had to be cancelled ! When grandad phoned the helicopter place they told him that it was cancelled because of the wind, so we just arranged to go for a meal instead. Luckily there was a joke shop near the restaraunt and me and Ty went to buy some stuff to make Monday a bit more exciting.
Monday 28th August 2006:
It was now the last week of filming and we found out today that from Wednesday we would be going into night shooting so when we finished this shoot we will fly back to England and then I would start at my new school on 7th September. Today I had to finish the falling off the rocks scene and nearly drowning, except for Crusoe saving me. It’s only a short scene but there must have been some technical problems that were making it so long to do. The rest of the scenes were all parts of the underwater stuff where I'm riding on Crusoe's back going through caverns and shipwrecks. The SFX (Special Effects) people made a kind of railway line under the water so that I could sit on a pretend Crusoe and move through the water going past the cameras. The stunties told me that the underwater railway rig was powered by compressed air but I couldn’t see any bubbles when I was on it so I don’t know how that worked, it felt a bit like being on a jet ski but under water.
Tuesday 29th August 2006:
Unfortunately we still had to finish the drowning scene, I found out that it was something to do with the way I sink to the bottom that’s causing the delay so they had to put more weights on me, but there were no more places to put them. They were in my socks, trouser pockets, shirt, weight belt and even in my underwear. All I could hear when I got to the surface was "Ok let’s reset and go again" so I had to go pretending to drown over and over again. While I was doing this Tyrone was helping to set up props, camera angles and SFX for the next scene so he was wet all the time as well, but he had a full wet suit on and mine was only a short version because I wear short pants. The weather was very cold as soon as the sun went down, once I was out of the water I did a quick run to the shower room and had a hot shower before getting dressed for lunch or afternoon tea.
Wednesday 30th August 2006:
We worked until 8pm tonight to start us off on nights so pickup times changed to mid to late morning to allow for the extra night work. The rumour was that if we couldn’t catch up with the schedule then we would be asked to work on Monday. If we were working on Monday and we were still doing nights then me and Grandad would finish work on Tuesday morning and get on the plane to Auckland at 8.30am to go back to England. To make things worse we still had to finish the drowning scene.
Thursday 31st August 2006:
Hurray, we finally finished the drowning scene last night and everyone cheered when it was done. Today we did the scene where Angus tells Crusoe to go because the torpedo boat is closing in - this is scene number 194 (for anyone who is interested). I’m not sure whether I have told you about the rain making machines so I’m sorry if I am repeating myself. Apparently normal rain won’t show up on film so they have to make the rain more like a monsoon which does show up on film. To create this rain effect they had to use rain towers which are large frames made of scaffolding poles with sprinkler heads attached. Water is then pumped up to the heads with fire engine type hoses and this creates the monsoon effect. The water has to be stored in huge tanks because the normal mains supply can’t release enough. When I got a bit bored on set I would challenge the crew to give me more water by shouting "Is that the best you can do?” and they would try to get me even more wet by using the massive fans to blow more rain towards me, it was cool. But I did get very, very wet and cold so I would jump into the wet set to keep warm because the water was heated.
Friday 1st September 2006:
Today we were mostly doing scene 183 which is the one where Angus and Crusoe get shelled by the Gun Boat. Most of it was done on the wet set and a bit of it was done on A stage on the Crusoe Rig. Today was great because at lunchtime everybody had planned a surprise early birthday party for me. I walked into S stage which they had laid out with table cloths and party type stuff AND party type food, and Augie, Tim, Moo and the rest of the stunties were all doing the Haka for me .. it was brilliant ! .. Lots of people came that I hadn’t seen since Queenstown, Priyanka and her mum had brought their new puppy and we all had a really good time. The Props department had even made this thing which looked like the Waterhorse hung from the roof which was full of sweets and the idea was that you are supposed to bash the thing as hard as you can with a big stick to get the sweets out. They did a really good job of making it and I had to hit it really hard to get it to break so the sweets fell out, but I did it in the end. Then after all the fun it was back to the wet set again !
Saturday 2nd September 2006:
Tyrone had to go home yesterday to go to his mum’s birthday party in Auckland and so he had been replaced by Moo's nephew, Taylor. I'm surprised that there are so many people who can be made to look like me. There were 31 different things to film today according to the call sheet and a hand written note that said “All remaining shots to be carried over to Monday". We were all not looking forward to filming on Sunday. Tonight there was even more rain and wind and I had to be wet and still do the scene where Crusoe and Angus are getting away from the Gun Boat. There were so many sweets left over from my birthday party that everyone was eating them all the time in between shots. We had to make more rain because the rain on some of the previous stuff wasn’t enough so they planned to use a fire hose to spray me from a great height as well as the usual rain. I had to stand on the submerged platform and still shout "Is that all you've got" and they would try to wet me even more but in this part I had to swim anyway. We had some bad news tonight .. the waterproof camera that cost thousands of pounds broke. Somehow the water got into it and it stopped working so they had to get the camera from A stage and make a temporary water proof jacket for it so that we could still film.
Sunday 3rd September 2006:
Only 2 more days to go until we finish filming. I was looking forward to going home but I was also getting a bit sad because all the people who you have lived, worked and socialised with for 4 months would be gone. All the scenes on the call sheet were what was left to be done, which was 28 little bits of film that if you joined them all together it would only last a minute or less but it will take 2 days to do them. Grandad said we should pack either tonight or tomorrow morning but to see how tired we were when we had finished. There were also some notes on the call sheet about returning the company mobile phones, cars, trucks, waders, dry suits, dive tanks and air bottles etc. so it will definitely finish tomorrow because there won’t be any equipment left to work with. Things were being sold off too like diving stuff, a jet ski and office equipment and I really wished that I could have bought the jet ski but I didn’t think I would have been allowed to take it on the plane !
Monday 4th September 2006:
Today was the last day ! Tyrone was back and Taylor was staying as well to help finish everything off. My finish time was 10.45pm, but Tyrones finish time was 1.30am on Tuesday because he did not start until 4pm today so they plan to work after I had left. We all wanted to play a practical joke on Jay and so we decided to push him in the wet set after the last shot so I really hoped that he could swim ! The camera was working fine today and all the crew were here except for a couple who had a contract to go and start work somewhere else today.
The day/night was pretty much the same as all the others until it came to my last scene which was at about 10.30pm and then when that was done everybody’s eyes went towards Jay who was standing on the side of the wet set. I just turned round in time to see and I think it was Joe (the 1st Assistant Director) who pushed Jay into the tank .. It was really funny and I was pleased that he could swim ! .. When he climbed out onto the submerged platform with me he gave me a big hug and everyone cheered because we had finished .. except for all the editing and SFX work that still had to be done. After that we had a party that had been prepared for us which was really good with loads of party food and drinks. Everyone was really happy and we played badminton until about 3am when it was time to go home. We just had time for a short sleep and then Tim Wong and Brenna came to pick us up to take us to the airport. It was very sad having to say goodbye to them L .. I will always remember my time in New Zealand it was fantastic. I really, really hope that one day I will go back.
Notes:
I would like to thank everybody who I worked with on The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep and everyone who has been patient reading my story. I would especially like to thank Jay Russell for working me so hard (just kidding) and for teaching me so much about acting. Thanks once again and PLEASE make sure you all go and see the film and/or buy the dvd. I hope you enjoy it.
