GobSmacked82

OK, shippers. Here is another convo for you. Close but no cigar, on TBG negotiations.

Whitney is in a hotel room. She picks up the phone and dials a number. After it rings a few times …

KC: Hello?
WH: Hi, Kevin. How are you?
KC: I’m great! California weather never killed anyone. It might kill their complexions, but the rest of it? It’s all good.
WH: Listen to you, ‘it’s all good.’ You’ll be Ice-T in a minute.
KC: No, I don’t think so. He’s got so much street cred—
WH: Juice. He got juice.
KC: See? I can’t keep up. I’m that corny white guy from California.
WH: Corny you are NOT. But brave? Yes. I promised I would call you with any questions about the script.
KC: Sure. Fire away.
WH: Well, what about all this … making out and … getting naked and stuff. I mean, is that negotiable.
KC: Are you uncomfortable with some of the suggested nudity and stuff?
WH: (Nods) Yes, I am. I keep my clothes ON during performances. I’m just not comfortable pulling it off, and there would be the cameramen, grips, the director, everybody just staring.
KC: Not really just staring. They do have other things to do. (Laughs) But we can use body doubles for some of the nude shots, if that makes you feel more comfortable. We can also write something into your contract that basically says—
WH: Whitney will not be showing her butt! I like it. Baptist girls, at least the ones who mean it, don’t need to be going around showing their butt to everybody.
KC: Well, we Baptist boys agree. And here’s a secret: the good girls are sometimes hotter than the more outwardly adventurous ones.
WH: You’re Baptist?! Get out!
KC: Oh sure. Born and raised on it. My family’s church was -------.
WH: Well, isn’t that something? A nice church boy like you running around Hollywood taking all these ladies’ clothes off.
KC: (Laughs out loud) It’s interesting, yeah.
WH: I don’t think I’ve ever read that about you. Do you like to keep it quiet?
KC: Well, I generally like my privacy. If it comes up, it comes up and I talk about it. But people these days are not interested in what church you grew up in.
WH: Tell me about it. My church was, is , New Hope Baptist in Newark. I guess you can say it’s growing. It’s in an OK part of Newark, but in a definite working-class neighborhood.
So they talk all about being Baptist and this and that. Trading stories, etc.
WH: What about all this making out? Frank must kiss Rachel about a dozen times.
KC: You counted? (Laughs) Well, it’s a romantic thriller. They fall in love. There has to be some kissing scenes.
WH: And it’s like full-on? No camera tricks or anything?
KC: Nope. What do you think about that?
WH: My girls are going to give me a warm time. I can hear them now, ‘Ooooh, you kissing Kevin Costner. Get him girl! And plant one on him for me!’
KC: HaHaaaa! I’m flattered. But it is work, once you mix in the lines, set up the shots. You have to hit your marks. Your timing has to be on. It’s a process. It’s acting. It’s not like we’ll be caught making out by our parents or anything.
WH: I know that’s right. But I don’t like tongue. At all.
KC: So it’s a yes?
WH: Well— (something interrupts her) What is it? Hold on, Kevin.
KC: Sure.
There is a muffled conversation in her room. A guy’s voice.
WH: I said I’m almost done. No. Not now. You go ahead now and we’ll both go out together after dinner. I know all that!
Muffled noises again.
WH: Sorry about that. Just a minor interruption from the boyfriend. Like I said, IF I do this, there can’t be any tongue whatsoever. I’m just not comfortable with that one bit.
KC: Sure, sure. You don’t need to make out quite like that to convey intimacy, either.
WH: And speaking of intimate, I wanted to ask you about this other scene. Where they … um ... get down? You know what I mean?
KC: Yeah, I know that scene.
WH: I mean, they do the DIRTY, Kevin. Have you seen this?
KC: Whitney, I’ve seen that script for years. I know the one you’re talking about. (muffles a laugh)
WH: What?
KC: You’re such a novice. Look, everything is so staged and set up, and we do this take and that take sometimes. You’ll think you actually came in, punched a clock and—
WH: Put it on you. Rachel went and put it on this man, Kevin. She is aggressive! And he got her back. He’s flipping her over, putting the leg here, throwing her there. Man. It’s like, ‘OK. Alpha male versus alpha female. Who wins? It’s a draw.’
KC: Yeah, they can get pretty involved, these scenes. But that’s what we like about this character. She’s a strong female personality, and you don’t get a lot of that in the movies these days. But hey, it’s the 90s now, right?
WH: Yeah, that’s right. 1990. A new decade. Less hair spray. More making out scenes for Whitney. Well, I know B---- won’t like it.
KC: Yeah, that is something to think about. Sometimes these scenes are hardest on the wife or boyfriend. But you can be sure that we’ll do everything to make sure you’re completely prepared and comfortable. That I can make sure of. Do we have a ‘yes?’
WH: Almost. Hang on, Kevin. (To someone in the background) What is it? No, I have not been on the phone for two hours. What are you—. Oh, wait. Dag. Kevin? Are you still there?
KC: Yep.
WH: We’ve been on the phone for two hours?
KC: Yes, we have. But that’s OK. You had questions, and you raised some important points that we needed to talk about.
WH: I have to go. (To someone.) Alright, I’m coming. I’m almost decided. I think. You really think I can do all this? For a big project like this?
KC: I absolutely think you’re the one.
END of Part 2