As a crew member on "Gangster Squad" I had to navigate through a testosterone-laden set. But while the likes of Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte growled and shot up fake 1940's Los Angeles, it was the one young actress on set that had my attention.
Emma Stone was already one of Hollywood's most admired new stars by now. Indeed, it was all too easy for me to see why after just a week or two. There wasn't a trace of a diva in her – which shouldn't be a huge rarity for actresses her age, but that's getting off topic.
In any case, she got everyone to like her by being professional, easy going, funny and endlessly likable. She was willing to talk to anyone, including me a few times, and she wasn't intimidated by all the veteran co-stars. In any case, her "Zombieland" director Rueben Fleischer was in charge to help her, and she was romancing Gosling for the second time as well.
However, her big opening scene with Gosling wasn't filmed until the middle of production. By then, I knew what was involved, I knew my place on the set – and I knew that Emma would be playing this scene in a red dress.
Still, despite knowing what was coming, and despite my comfort around Emma up until now, it still blindsided me when I saw her come on set that day.
Emma was every bit the "woman in red" femme fatale of the 1940's noir genre. Her red hair was curled over her right shoulder, she had a long red sash around her neck, the red dress fit around her perfectly, and her right leg was exposed gorgeously. Clearly, red was her color all around, despite her blonde look for Spider-Man.
But that red colored figure had no business in my head – at least not compared to the red vision in front of me. While she was her usual chatty, dedicated, somewhat goofy self in getting ready for the scene, she was still sinfully sexy.
This isn't usually a phrase that most associate with Emma, however. There's no doubt that she's utterly gorgeous even without a fancy red dress, so there's no need to be delusional. But she's mostly best known for being funny, not for being a sex symbol. Even with that great smile, those beautiful green eyes, that rather lovely figure, and that often quite seductive voice of hers.
Still, Emma's most outwardly sexy work had been pretending to be a sexpot for laughs in "Easy A." But here, in her femme fatale garb, she was hotter than Hell – at least to me. And that was before they actually shot the scene and she got to act sexy with Gosling. By then, I made sure that no one could see me from the waist down, just in case.
Nevertheless, neither Emma nor anyone else noticed any....discomfort in me. The scene was shot without a hitch, and that brought an end to my work day. With that, I took a few extra looks at Emma before I headed off to get ready for home.
I'd just started walking out a while later, until I got another extra look at Emma walking alone nearby. With this extra chance to admire her, I kept my gaze on her – but I didn't run into any walls or trip over myself in the process, since I wasn't in some slapstick movie. Even when Emma noticed me, I didn't trip or stumble – at least not with my feet.
I didn't quite know what to say, or whether I needed to say something. Emma was coming up towards me, though, so I'd have to speak at some point. "Hey, heading out?" Emma asked, which bought me some time and helped me notice that she wasn't annoyed. She may have been dolled up and sexy, but she sounded as normal and genuine as ever.
"Oh, well, that was the original plan," I had the bright idea to answer. "Were you heading to change before I stopped you?" I had the even brighter/dumber idea to follow up with.
"Yeah, I guess you stopped me. But I wasn't going to change quite yet, so I stopped myself first. So I win," Emma quipped.
"Obviously," I conceded. "But I thought you were done for the day."
"I am, but...." Emma finally trailed off. "I've never had a costume like this before. I guess I wanted to enjoy it a while longer." Well, I could certainly relate to that – not in a creepy way. Hopefully not.
"So you're gonna go paint the town red?" I asked before I could stop myself. But I did roll my eyes a bit at my lack of originality, although it got a laugh from Emma.
"I probably can't leave the set with this. So I'll just start with my trailer and go from there," she responded. "Do you want to keep an eye on me?"
Now I really didn't know what to say, yet Emma spoke up and bought me time again. "I mean, this kind of painting works better with two people. And I'll have someone to take the fall if I do it wrong. For the movie's sake, you know," she excused.
That didn't give me enough time to process it right away. Eventually I asked, "Are you asking me...." but stopped before making a big mistake. I covered up my initial dumb train of thought by finishing, "To hang out with you in your trailer?"
"I can't go out to eat dinner in this. So eating snacks in my trailer with you will have to do," Emma reasoned. "But if you were really heading out...."
"No! I mean, uh, I didn't have any dinner dates myself. So I guess I can settle for you," I halfway saved.
"That's what I was going for with this, so thanks," Emma quipped, making a comical pose. Still, it didn't dilute all of the sexiness. But I stayed composed enough to follow her, get some food nearby, and head for her trailer.
I tried not to check Emma out when I walked behind her, or next to her. In the process, I tried to convince myself she didn't invite me over to....check me out. The rumors about her and Andrew Garfield had just started out, so I could sidestep that obstacle – if I wanted to. And if she wanted to fool around in that outfit, it would have to be with someone like Gosling and not me – right?
But it was me that Emma opened her trailer door for later on. It was me who came in and sat down at her table. It was me she shared snacks with and talked to, as normally as she talked to everyone else. And it was me who finally started to relax and enjoy talking to her, which seemed easy enough to do.
