Montana actress
Chantal Stanfield writes a special guest column for us about her experiences on the show. Chantal plays rich-witch Dalene Phillips, who uses her cash to promote her dubious, often sex-andalous agendas. Here's Part 6 of her column: The Wicked Witch of Montana ...
Please note: this column was previously published last week but the episode was delayed because of the soccer broadcast.
Things are really starting to heat up in that little town of Montana. Really simmering, if you like. All the storylines are beginning to show signs of spilling over and it’s clear that everyone has agendas. Wait until it reaches boiling point!
The drama at the casino’s really put a strain on Nolitha’s family and herself. So much so, she’s resorted to “Dalene-tactics” and blackmailed Richard into talking to the casino boss and asking for her father’s job back.
She’s also sneaked back to Lwazi, leaving Victor quite forlorn - will he show his mettle eventually and step up to the plate? Many viewers think Victor’s a bit of a boring, quiet loser so here’s hoping …
Last week saw Dalene retracing her steps back to Richard and away from Charles. She seemed pretty confident of her actions until Mr Johnson pitched up at her salon demanding to see her.
Dalene seems to have walked smack-bang into the worst guy to bump into - his constant voicemails, sms’s and last appearance at the salon really spooked her.
Charles wasn’t pleased one iota when Richard waltzed in from the backroom and Aunty Maud rubbed salt in his wounds mentioning that they were ‘school buddies’. Yes, Maud, they know each other but evidently Richard doesn’t know Charles well enough.
Within the next few weeks, we’ll see just how powerful Mr Johnson is. And it gets very personal. On one occasion a bloodied Winston stumbles into the salon after being involved in some kind of ‘traffic incident’ - he is forced off the road by an unknown, unmarked vehicle and Dalene has her suspicions…
This particular scene is the one I referred to in the
last column, the one that took the longest - unnecessarily! The scene itself wasn’t tricky at all and should’ve been easy. What tripped me up were two lines in the script.
In Afrikaans, I simply had to ask my husband, “Who was it? Did you recognise them?” and “Would you be able to point them out?” The problem was that the two lines sounded so similar in my head and it was always just one or two words that were out of place.
That scene took almost two hours to shoot because I kept messing up my lines! My poor, fellow actors - Az, June (Maud) and Lu (Rochelle) - really practised an insane amount of patience with me, as did the crew. Az’s ‘injuries’ must’ve used up about half a litre of fake-blood what with resetting everything, I took so long!
I apologised profusely. But, like Aunty June said, everyone has to have one of those scenes, we can’t be perfect - it’s like camera-karma! I really, really hope it comes out okay on screen…
I’m sure you picked up on Dalene’s talons in last week’s episode while she gave Richard an Indian Head Massage (fyi, they’re really good, imagine your hairdresser washing your hair multiplied by a hundred!).
Those nails caused me such grief; I really don’t know how some women handle daily life with cat-like claws and a couple hundred rand every two weeks (production paid for them and the maintenance).
When we started, the nails were pretty long a lá Head Massage. This looked great on screen but trying to put my contact lenses in or taking them out (short-sighted) became a chore as did many everyday tasks.
We then realised - with much pain and agony - that the fake nails were actually so long, my own nail-beds was being damaged by the strain. The emphasis being on multiple fingernail-beds!
So, after a very short adamant discussion (especially on my part), the nails too became short and still looked good. And we all lived happily ever after…
Behind-the-scenes
• The salon we used was a working salon so it was a real business when we weren’t there. We used a few of Eve and Steve’s actual staff in the background for the interior salon scenes. You can catch a glimpse of them every now and then.
I think it lent an air of authenticity to the place. The phone also rang a few times in between shooting scenes in the beginning - I think it actually rang in the middle of one scene too!
Our assistant director, Dylan, answered a few times to explain to the customers but eventually someone did what should’ve been done in the first place - plugged the damned thing out!
• Shooting in Eve and Steve caused a few headaches for our camerawoman, Nicole. Look at the scenes in Dalene’s Salon and notice all those mirrors! We had to be super-aware of reflections - especially of the camera or crew trying to hide in the corners or under counters!
Ooh, just to whet your appetitie about Charles Johnson and Dalene - he pays an unwelcome visit to the Phillips’ residence on a dark, rainy night. And pretty soon too, things go awry at Dalene’s Salon…