Sorry for the Dead by Nicola Upson

Author:Nicola Upson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED LANE BOOKS

CHAPTER 2

“Will he film any of it here?” Marta asked, looking out of the window as Alfred Hitchcock and his art director tramped around the inn that lent its name to his latest project.

“I doubt it, but he’s found a stretch of rough track on the moor near Altarnun for the coach scene, and an old post office in Tintagel to base some interiors on, so it hasn’t entirely been a wasted trip.” Alma Reville smiled and joined Marta by the window, more than used to her husband’s painstaking approach to his work; if anything, as the person in charge of continuity on his films, as well as some of the script work, Alma’s attention to detail was just as demanding as his. “I never imagined it would be quite so difficult to find a hundred yards in Cornwall without a telegraph pole or a stretch of tarmac,” she said. “You’ve been very patient, and I’m sorry about the rewrites.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me. I’m not the one who’ll object to them.” Marta gathered together the research materials that she had used during the script meeting—scores of photographs of Cornish architecture, old maps of the county, and books on wrecking or the history of Falmouth’s Packet ships; everything, in other words, but the novel that had inspired the film in the first place. “Fowey’s not far down the coast, if you wanted to speak to Miss du Maurier in person.”

Alma laughed and shook her head. “If we started doing unpleasant things like that for ourselves, what would be the point of agents? Anyway, there’s no choice in the matter. If the film is to play in America, we have to change the villain. Daphne will forgive us eventually.”

Marta had her doubts about that, although she didn’t argue. She knew how much Josephine still resented the changes that Hitchcock had made to her book, and if Marta had written Jamaica Inn, the changes to the plot would be the least of her objections; it was the loss of atmosphere that she felt du Maurier would hate most, the taming of the novel’s raw brutality to accommodate an actor of Charles Laughton’s stature, and she was surprised that Hitchcock was allowing it to happen, no matter how keen he was to get the film done and make his move to Hollywood. “And talking of America,” Alma continued, “are you sure you won’t come with us? There’s always a place for you—you know that.”

Marta was aware that Hitch and Alma would no longer be as free to pick and choose their team once they were part of the Hollywood system, but still she appreciated the offer and the respect it implied. “Don’t think I haven’t considered it,” she said, “but I’m settled here now and happier than I’ve ever been—and when you’ve been as unsettled and as unhappy as I have, that counts for a lot. Too much to give up, no matter how tempting the offer.” Alma nodded, accepting her answer.

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