Four days went by in a whirlwind of crazy preparation. Sophia had taken everyone's defiance personally.
"If you all insist in this crazy scheme then fine," she practically spat the last word, "But I'll make sure we get this."
After that she had hauled Kiera to her personal training room and called all her assistants and Eduard's assistants and they've gone through a deep dive of the novel.
"Amateurs think that playing a character is all about crying, laughing and shouting when the script tells you to. While professionals, study and understand their roles. To understand the character, you need to not only understand how she was depicted in the plot but also what made her that way before the plot started. What people see is only a slice of that character's life, but she would have had a life before the first episode her childhood, her first love, her family dynamics, all this and more are what you need to understand in order to portray her at that point in time."
And they crammed all the information they can into Kiera's head and Sophia had let her go through the understanding part on her own. "Consider this a test, there will not be all the time that someone is there to hold your hand through the process. You need to do it yourself."
So, despite the grueling practice, Kiera still had to spend several hours every day putting together what she knew about Veronica York. She slowly put her together one piece at a time. At one point she grew frustrated when the Veronica she had put together and the Veronica in the script were not meshing together. She had to ask herself why, why would she do the things she did?
And that question haunted her for the entire four days. It was a piece of the puzzle that she just couldn't find.
Sophia had let her go home early on Thursday, with orders to take a warm dip in the tub, eat something filling and to get some rest.
Kiera didn't want to go home, she felt like she was on the verge of something at that last run of the scene. It was there just barely out of reach. But Sophia had insisted and personally took her back home with stern orders to sleep it off.
Kiera did heat up the food Nan left for her, but after her dinner she found herself in front of the piano she had asked her sister to get for her. She needed to practice outside the training room.
She let her mind wander as she went through the muscle memory of playing the piece she had been practicing on.
Rachmaninoff Prelude in C sharp minor was a piece you do not ask beginners to play and Sophia had buried her face in her hands when Emmanuel told her that was the piece the previous actress played to get the role. They tried looking for other classical music that would compare but the same people had heard this music be played and they would expect something that is its equal or can top it off.
That was until Emmanuel told them that no, another sheet wasn't an option, the director and script writer had already decided on it.
At that time, Kiera was sincerely afraid Sophia would pounce on Emmanuel.
Rachmaninoff Prelude in C sharp minor was an intense piece. There were initial mournful notes then suddenly it turns frantic. It was that frantic intensity that Emmanuel said captured the producers and made them decide on this piece.
But for the past few days Kiera did nothing but put herself in Veronica's shoes. There was no reason for her to have a fiery temper. That intensity was never in the scenes before this. Veronica was the type to smolder. She kept her feelings to herself because that was what a well-bred lady of a rich family does. All she previously did was controlled and measured; she did not give in to petty bursts of anger.
And that's when Kiera realized her problem. The song didn't fit. It wasn't because she lacked a piece but she had a piece that was too big and she was trying to fit her other pieces around it.
She knew it was going to be a gamble and Sophia would blow up when she finds out. But she taught Kiera to understand her character and she will do that and she will make them rethink. But she wasn't so stupid as to gamble on something without approval.
She took her phone out and called Sophia, "You'll be very angry at me and we might have wasted time practicing that song but I want you to hear me out."
Sophia's sigh at the other end of the call was long-suffering, "I'll be at your place in 15 minutes. I'll call Emmanuel."