Just before my daughter became so ill that I had to retire from acting, I was cast in a two-character stage production in Los Angeles in an actress' dream role, that of a widow (Maggie), a successful artist, living alone on a small Island off the coast of South Carolina.
In this script, Maggie's husband has been dead for 15 years, and she's never been able to move on. The other character, Nick, is a big-name box office movie star, twenty-five years younger than Maggie. He suddenly loses his marbles in an "I can't fucking take it anymore" breakdown, just as a major production he's to star in is getting ready to shoot. He impulsively takes off in his Porsche, leaving his Malibu home, and drives East, with no end in mind, able to steer clear of any paparazzi. He gets lost and ends up at the ferry that goes between the mainland, and Maggie's Island. He shows up on Maggie's beach at twilight, while she's talking to her dead husband. That's when the play opens.
The writer had a crush on Keanu Reeves at the time, and that's who she visualized while she was writing the script, but I smile now, remembering how she became completely tongue-tied when in the actor's presence. I remember being over the moon when I was cast, not only because it was a killer role, and not just because it was a well-known director and Burbank producer, but also because the writer had really wanted me for the role. So, I was cast, but we needed a Nick.
Now this is hilariously sexy: the call-back actors, of which there were seven, had to do a kissing scene with me. You see, the chemistry had to be there, or there couldn't have been a vibrant story to perform and offer paying audiences. Hell, those guys were all gorgeous, they were right for the part, and I knew some of them. I hadn't yet met the last one who was auditioning to read with me. I'll use 'Nick', because he is now recognizable, so due to privacy and respect, I don't want to put his name out there. He's matured greatly since then, so I have no problem about sharing the pic here. So. We did the scene, and when the time came for us to kiss, magic mojo arose.
The chemistry was exploding all around us and there was a moment when he looked into my eyes, and... everyone else disappeared (the writer, director, and producer were present), and my body felt like a ripe fig on the verge of exploding. He started coming towards me and I moved towards him, and there was this palpable, stretchy, sweet demanding charge between us... and then he kissed me. My panties were drenched even before our mouths came together. That kiss went on and on, and from somewhere off in the distance, I heard Jay the director yell 'cut'! They were laughing, high-fiving, and Nick was cast on the spot.
Rehearsals were wonderful, and I've always been one who loves the creative journey towards opening night. My partner T was performing a play in NYC, and I was all on my own. Nick and I got to know each other very well. It was an intense rehearsal schedule of eight-hour days, five days a week, for a month. I missed T like crazy, but hell, I was working with a guy who has literally been cast as a Greek god. To give an idea, just imagine the real Apollo, blue-black hair, electric blue eyes, and a ridiculously cut body that was almost too good to look at without sunglasses (he was doing major men's underwear spreads then).
The play is an erotic love story. Nick and Maggie have a slow burn in the first act and end up naked & fucking just before intermission. In the second act both characters are wound around each other physically and emotionally; the conflict being that Nick wants to bring her back to Hollywood with him, and she 1. Must let go of her husband, and 2. embrace herself as a woman who is loved by such a man, and not care that she's old enough to be his mother. (Yes, the ending was sappy, she did go, and audiences loved it). I was intermittently birthday-suit-in-the-stage-lights-naked in Act Two. Let me tell you, it is an exhilarating feeling to be completely naked on stage.