Lady Di and the sugar substitute

This past Tuesday, A. and I ventured out into Paris to shoot a few scenes that might become part of a larger film/internet project that A. and a few friends are working on for an unnamed sugar substitute product. My friend Susan and her husband Emud, who is a very talented filmmaker, also came along to help. The idea behind the project was to shoot scenes of Aaron blowing all of the money for this film project in Paris, so there were a few ridiculous scenes to shoot (if for some reason this footage is not incorporated into the project, I will post it on my blog as it is very funny). One of these scenes took place at the golden flame on the Pont de l'Alma, which has become the de facto memorial for Princess Diana, since she died in the tunnel underneath it. I had for some reason thought that this flame was put up in her honor, and had declared it very tacky indeed, but have recently been corrected. It is in fact a replica of the flame from the Statue of Liberty and just sort of became the Diana memorial because it was there. This is what it looks like:


Now here in France, Diana is known as "Lady Di" (pronounced Lady DEE), and normally people (by which I mean American tourists) leave flowers and letters all over the flame. However the day that Aaron had randomly chosen to shoot these scenes, Paris had turned into central Wyoming, with wind gusts up to about 50-60 mph, so whatever memorials had been there had long since blown away. This was by far the worst weather I have ever experienced in France, so shooting these scenes became all the more desperately hilarious. While we were waiting for Susan and Emud to arrive, Aaron and I were huddled on a corner, hiding from the wind. The spectacle was something else. Because it was also raining from time to time, everyone had their umbrellas. They would come up from the metro station, feel the moisture, put up their umbrellas, turn the corner, and WHOOSH - there went their umbrellas! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of this because we were laughing too hard. I'd have to say that we saw between 10-20 umbrellas destroyed in the space of five minutes. It's worth noting this because it helps set the scene - in order to walk into the wind, everyone had to lean precariously forward to avoid getting blown over backwards. I dropped Aaron's hat that I was holding (you will see that he has wisely switched it for my beret - très classe, as Emud said), and it completely disappeared in seconds, never to be seen again. By the end of the day we were all soaking wet and completely exhausted from the wind. The worst spot was up on the Trocadero, which is where we shot some important Eiffel Tower scenes, and where we had to shout just to hear one another. (In the Trocadero scene, I play an American tourist, who asks a beret-wearing, cigarette-smoking Aaron (in English) to take a picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower. He blows me off, replying that he doesn't speak English (also in English) and then says something like "Damn tourists").

But back to the Lady Di memorial. In one of these scenes, Aaron is shown giving a moving tribute to Lady Di and wasting the film's money on flowers. This was not really part of the script, however Susan and I were sent on the mission to find some flowers for the scene, and we were in the 8th arrondissement, on the Boulevard George V (of the famous hotel) and all of the designer flagship stores. We searched all over, and even asked a friendly pharmacist where we could find a flower shop. Her directions were less than clear so we headed back down the Boulevard George V and suddenly found a small, unobtrusive flower shop. We walked in and asked the gentleman if we could buy a single rose (all I figured I could afford in that shop). He said that all the roses except the red ones only came in arrangements of ten or more, so I settled on a nice crimson rose. He took it out, tied it with a few branches and then handed it to me, and charged me 7 Euros. Yes that's right - 7 Euros for one stupid rose! (Never buy flowers in the 8th Arrondissement if you can help it). So I bought it, and we took it back to the Lady Di memorial, where Aaron laid it at the base of the flame and had a nice moment with her (I had to keep running in and rescuing the rose before it blew away). Then he walked over and looked down into the tunnel, gazing sadly at the place where she died. That is in fact moisture in his eyes because it was raining on his face (either that or he was cutting onions and making a lasagna... for one).



After this touching scene we headed up to the Trocadero, bravely battling the wind in our faces. We stopped a little ways up to take the requisite picture of us for the family, and of course had to include the 7 euro rose because it happened to be at that moment the most expensive item in the picture, and I wanted to make sure my 7 euros were not wasted. I was laughing hysterically the whole time because the wind kept blowing my hair in my eyes and I kept stabbing myself on the super thorns of this rose. But alas, here we have a nice picture of us, and as CBAM has pointed out, I am nearly smiling, which is in itself a novelty.


Let's just hope now that the sugar substitute people like the footage and we can become rich and famous, and I can turn in my receipt for the rose for "miscellaneous prop expenses" and get reimbursed.