Bella waves over a PA with water bottles—the same guy I helped before, Tyler—and points him toward me as she heads over to chat with the crew about the mats.
I only realize how thirsty I am as I start to drink—and then down the whole bottle. Guess I’m still dehydrated. At least that won’t raise any eyebrows; it’s consistent with the food poisoning story.
Tyler hands me a second bottle, and I drink this one more slowly, splashing some across the back of my neck. The sun’s heating things up more than I expected.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tyler pull his hoodie tighter around himself, shivering.
Oh, god fucking dammit.
Not again.
Comparing to how I felt before… I probably have a few hours to work with. Enough to get through the rest of the stunts scheduled for today, if we stay on schedule.
Sweat prickles on my palms, and I resist the urge to pull my bodysuit away from my neck. I’ve had to work through sweltering summers before; this’ll be no different. Even though it’s technically winter.
While the team lays down a couple mats for my practice climb, I change into the specialty climbing shoes made to match Melinoë’s costume. In the final film, several shots of me sprinting toward the ravine, leaping up the wall, and climbing it will be spliced together into one continuous sequence that will leave no evidence of the specialty wardrobe, careful planning, and different days of shooting.
In the original script, this scene was meant to be done with wire work, using a rig to pull the stunt professional up the ravine while they pretend to climb. But after Bella saw my demo reel, we agreed that we could do much better.
The climbing shoes are snug around my feet, and the slightly pointed polymer toes offer a far more versatile grip than athletic shoes would. There’s a climbing consultant already suited up by the narrow point of the ravine, and we work together to identify potential pathways. I climb slowly at first, getting a feel for the rock. I need to figure out which holds are secure enough for me to launch myself across the ravine, at which point I’ll rely on skill and practice to catch the holds on the other side.
If I were out here just to climb, I’d be slinging a lot more chalk around. Even though it can be cleaned up in post, we want to keep myself and the rock as clean as possible, so I use it sparingly.
Once we work out a path I like, I give it a couple practice runs with the mats down. It’s something between climbing and parkour as I bound from wall to wall up the ravine. There’s no room for hesitation or second-guessing—just movement and instinct.
To get back down, I walk around to where a ladder’s been set up behind the cameras, saving my energy for the climb.
As we prepare for the first take, I stand in the shade, drying my palms on a towel. It’s hard to tell how much of the heat prickling along my limbs is from the exertion or from my core temperature trending slowly higher, but I put that out of my mind.
Right before I find my mark, I lightly chalk my hands, using only what was necessary for my previous runs.
“You ready?” Bella asks.
I take a deep breath and nod.
The rest of the crew’s confirmations echo around me, and Bella calls action.
I jump to my first target spot, pausing only long enough to feel my grip before leaping upwards, muscles exploding with power. I aim for a flat plane and push off, twisting and findingholds higher on the first wall. There, I scramble up for a few beats, then leap back to the other side.
I find my rhythm and continue like that until the top is within reach. After clinging to the cliff’s edge for a moment, I pull my weight up and over, tucking into a roll as I exit the frame.
Bella calls cut, and I jog around and down.
“I can go faster this time,” I say, getting ahead of Bella’s feedback.
She nods, and we reset for the second take.
This time is faster, but my foot slips briefly—a stutter in the fluid rhythm.
I return to my mark.
Bella checks the clock. “Actually, let’s keep it moving.”
I frown, wiping my sweating palms on a towel again. “I can do much better than that. Two takes is nothing.”
“I know, but we only have so much time. We’ll cut together the best parts of each run. I don’t want to tire you out.”
“We can squeeze in two or three more though, right? I can be snappy.” Last time I checked, we were still ahead of schedule.
