The annotated Lupus tweets

Photos, Scenology, Shooting Films — By Adele on 22 June, 2009 10:19 pm

Before I dive into the story of last weekend’s Lupus shoot, I thought I’d post the collection of messages I sent to Twitter while it was going on. With commentary, plus a couple of the stills I’ve been sent.

19 June 2009: The day before.

8:13am Woke up at stupid o’clock, freaking about the shoot. Do I still remember how to do it, it’s been several weeks! LOL Silly sleep brain. [I was oddly more worried about the acting than the pain. Which attitude last until, oh, about Saturday afternoon.]

11:25am Feeling alarmingly ladylike in a dress. Haven’t packed jeans at all – not wearable with the marks. [Unless, apparently, you're a super-human like Ester Slaba, who was pulling on her jeans half an hour after her thrashing.]

6:48pm Me: ‘My knickers are falling down.’ Husband: ‘This could turn into a theme for the weekend.’

8:05pm They are asking Ludwig to shave his beard. He’s had it for 10 years! I think he’ll cry. [He was, in fact, very brave about it when the time came the following morning. Aw. Even when they shaved off his real moustache, only to stick on the fake, historically appropriate specimen.]

9:40pm Everybody is very intent on making Art. Which clashes a bit with the goofy nature of the plot.

10:00pm Mr Haze (who isn’t acting) to Ludwig: “If the girls are shaving, why shouldn’t you?” Good point. [According to Producer Thomas, it's virtually impossible to convince his girl models not to shave before the historical dramas - hence the frequent need to insert excuses for scarcity of pubes.]

20 June 2009: The Shoot.

6:04am Alarm has gone off. Taxi in an hour. Time to get scared maybe. [More of a pleasant tingle of apprehension, this.]

7:03am Feeling a bit naked setting off without my wedding ring… or my bra. [In the taxi I noticed that I had a narrow pale tan line on my ring finger, which comforted and grounded me throughout the day.]

8:17am People are slowly getting into costume. Lights are being set up. I’m still in civvies though.

8:42am Costumed, with tons of underthings. My stockings are going to fall down all day. [And so they did, until I gave up on yanking them up. It's not like you could even see them underneath the multiple skirts. Garters would have, of course, left unnatractive lines.]

8:53am Ludwig and I are learning our Czech lines. [Of which, in fairness, we didn't have many.]

9:29am The first scene is being shot outside. Messed up by cars and helicopters – not very 1901. [I don't actually know what year it was supposed to be; I took a random guess. Throughout the day, planes seemed to fly past every time a take was going particularly well.]

9:52am Ludwig’s first scene! His Czech is very… German. [As is the rest of him. Naturally.]

10:52am Done my first talking scene. Only about 50 takes.

11:45am Resetting the scene. It’s a garden party now. I’m the maid and serve cakes. [They smelled so good. And guess who was the only person whose role didn't require eating.]

12:21am It’s raining all over the garden party! [The speed with which the crew cleared out the set and covered up the equipment made my head spin.]

12:41am I think we’re moving again. Wish I could get whipped already!

12:56am I didn’t drop the tray of cakes!  [Nor did I let Producer Thomas filch any until the scene was done. Which, given that he finances the whole thing, including the cakes, was oddly hilarious.]

1:28pm Just had to run on cobbles about 7 times carrying a cane and a birch.  [Me. Running. With no bra. I did say it was a comedy.]

2:01pm My maid’s outfit is so unflattering, it’ll be a relief to be naked. [Having seen the pictures, I think I deserve to be spanked for being a primadonna. The outfit is fine.]

2:32pm The first smacks have sounded. Gearing up to the canings of the other two girls. [And birchings, as it turned out. The girls were Ester Slaba and Vera Vranova, which I didn't mention at the time because I didn't know their screen names.]

4:33pm First birchings done. Now on to Ludwig an his cane for the same 2 girls. My turn isn’t for hours. [The birch was shredded! Ester and Vera got 25 each with it, plus the same again with the cane.]

5:11pm Ludwig is done for the day, and so are the Czech girls. Just me to go.  [I'll let him tell the story, but note that he was a lot better at it than he'll ever admit.]

5:17pm Oh my dear fucking baby Jesus, I just saw the whip they’re using on me. [Lars Moebius showed up on set nonchalantly waving it around. Mr Haze could have acted less amused.]

6:02pm Oh good, Lars is left-handed. [Which turned out to be completely untrue. Thanks, Producer Thomas, for scaring the living daylights out of me.]

7:09pm 25 with cane and 37 with the monster whip. I should be in pieces, but I’m flying! [More on this later, naturally.]

9:50pm So, the monster whip turns out to have been a pizzle. Figures! Fighting endorphin low with chocolate. [They were vodka-filled bonbons.]

21 and 22 June: The Aftermath.

11:51am This morning I’m all kinds of interesting colours. Sitting down is undesirable, too.

3:44pm Bruises are more spectacular today than they were last night. Not pretty unless you like purple. [Seriously. I'll post the next-day pictures once I've downloaded them from the camera, but they're in no way erotic.]

10.09pm Subdrop has failed to come – probably because the film was a comedy. Bum is shredded though.

12:16pm Now to my least favourite part: healing. Judging by my state I’m in now, this is me done for the rest of the summer, shoot-wise.

This is the first of a series of posts about my Lupus Pictures shoot of 2009.

Part 2: “Remembering the Pain”.

Part 3: “Lupus marks in development”.