Winches And Doors
Old Draft: Matt's experience filming Amy & The Doctor's kissing scene from s5 e5, most of the dialogue taken directly from the DW Confidential episode about that episode. (Sorry about the lack of a read more, tumblr mobile is the worst)
He’d say later that this scene was difficult to film, and it was. But not for the reason he implied. He’d say he had to be dragged to set. On a winch. He’d say he had to joke his way through it, which he had, but, again, not for the reason he implied. The truth was, he’d had to joke his way through it so he wouldn’t say something stupid to Karen. He was up an hour early, making sure he looked presentable. And it was difficult to film because he’d had to stop Karen Gillan from kissing him and act like that was something he wanted to do.
On the day of filming, his alarm went off after he’d been awake for an hour. He’d spent that hour repeatedly brushing his teeth and trying to decide which clothes to wear (even though he’d be in costume for the actual kiss). By the time he actually got to the set and to the makeup trailer, Karen was sitting in a chair and a woman was doing something to her face with a brush. “Make sure you get everything, I have to kiss her today.” he said, sitting in a chair. “Shut up.” Karen said, smiling, eyes closed so her eyes wouldn’t get covered in whatever was being put on her face.
They spent the day joking and teasing each other, trying to carry on as normal.
When they actually got on the set, however, the joking increased. He made faces at her while people messed with their make up and she did her best to ignore him while the director went over the scene with them. As soon as he walked away, however, she stuck her tongue out at him and shoved him into the TARDIS. “And, action!” he looked at the wedding dress hanging on the closet and then back in front of himself. “Well…” he said. “Yeah.” Karen replied, nodding. “Blimey.” “I know. This is the same night we left, yeah?” “Moving on five minutes.” he did his best to stop shaking. Karen leant over and grabbed the prop box with the ring inside, opening it and showing it to him. “I’m getting married in the morning.” she said. He took the ring from her, without breaking eye contact, and wondered how he was going to stop her kissing him when he couldn’t even stop looking into her eyes. “Why did you leave it here?” he asked, snapping back into character. “Why did I leave my engagement ring off when I ran off with a strange man on the night before my wedding?” “Yeah.” “Hmm. You really are an alien, aren’t you.” Karen said, and the flirty tone in her voice made him squirm. “Who’s the lucky fella?” he asked. “You met him.” “Ah, the good looking one! Or the other one?” he knew he sounded annoyed, but he couldn’t help it. “The other one.” “Well he was good too.” “Thanks. So, do you comfort a lot of people on the night before their weddings?” “Why would you need comforting?” “I nearly died. I was alone, in the dark, and, I nearly died.” Karen’s eyes were wide and “innocent” and he knew that with every word he was getting closer to getting to kiss her. “And it made me think.” “Well, yes, natural, I think sometimes, actually lots of times.” he thought to himself that he should win some type of award for acting clueless here when he was so aware of what she was hinting at and what it meant for their incredibly near future. “About what I want. About who I want. You know what I mean?” Yes he did know what she meant, he absolutely knew what she meant- “Yeah.” he said, thankful that that was scripted, and after staring into Karen’s eyes for a few seconds he quickly said “No.” “About who…I want.” “Oh right, yeah.” he was sitting on a bed with Karen Gillan who was blatantly saying she wanted him and he had to act like he had no idea that was what she was saying. “No, still not getting it.” he said, shaking his head. “Doctor, in a word…in one very simple word even you can understand.” and then Karen’s hand was sliding up his inner thigh and he was pulling away and everything was so bizzare and then the director was calling cut and now that his actions weren’t scripted he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. But then everything kinda caught up with him and he grinned at Karen. “Did you just put your hand on my thigh?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. “No!” Karen said. “Yes you did!” he insisted, pushing her. “I didn’t!” she grabbed a pillow and shoved it in his face. “You did! That wasn’t scripted!” he shoved the pillow off of his face and into hers, “Prove it!” “It was on camera!” “Oh, god.” Karen said, putting her head in her hands breifly, and then there were DW Confidential people asking her to talk about Amy’s room and Steven was motioning for him to come talk to him. “Are you okay?” Steven asked. “Yeah, fine, why?” “You seemed a little bit tense during that scene.” “Did I?” “Yes.” “Oh.” The Confidential cameras were rolling and Karen was talking to them about Amy’s bedroom, being impressed with the two mattresses and how it was “kind of old, and, cool”. “Go do Confidential, just, try not to flirt with her.” Steven said, pushing Matt towards Karen. “I don’t flirt-” “Go.” Matt walked over to Karen and stood at the end of the bed until she seemed to be done talking about Amy’s room. “Hi!” he said, plonking down next to her and leaning in front of her, “No one cares about your silly bedroom.” and then his head was being pushed down by a pillow and he could sense Steven rolling his eyes at them. They talked to the camera for a bit about how the scene was kinda weird, them sitting on a bed just “chilling out” and not running. “Yeah, um, and we’re just kind of having a normal conversation, um, without the fear of-” “A normal conversation, without the fear of-” Matt repeated in a mocking tone. “Shut up, that’s how I talk!” she said, putting the pillow in his face yet again, “Let me- let me do it again.” Matt made stuttering noises at the camera as she tried to continue her sentence. “We’re just having a normal conversation-” “We’re just having a normal conversation-” “Oh will you shut up!” and he did shut up, though it wasn’t what he wanted to do. “It’s a lighthearted scene, it’s at the end of episode five, um, and Amy decides to come on to the Doctor.” she giggles at the end of the sentence and Matt points to himself, “Uh, and he’s completely oblivious at the beginning, so it’s quite funny um…” “Well,” Matt says, “Let’s hope so.” “Well,” Karen says, making a face and jerking her head towards him, and he tries to look offended, “As funny as he gets.” “Yeah, it’s true.” ordinarily he’d find some type of come back, but he was still a little bit caught off guard from the fact that her hand had just been on his inner thigh, which he’d actually like to tease her about some more. “And then they have a little smoochy.” Karen says. “Ohh, which we call smoochy smoochy time.” he says, Karen joining in at the end. “Oh yeahhh…” she says. “Oh, well, that’s enough.” he mutters, and she rolls her eyes at him. Eventually, Adam, the director, came over to talk about it with them. “When we rehearsed, for the wide,” he said, “Karen actually,” and here Karen anticipated what was coming and put her head in her hands again, “subconciously put her hand on Matt’s inner thigh.” “Subconciously.” Matt said, making quotation marks. Karen groaned and pressed her face into the pillow. “And then denied it afterwards.” “Been batting her off for months.” Matt said, as Karen laughed into the pillow next to him. “But it was on camera, wasn’t it, Kazza?” “Oh, god, it was.” Karen said, still laughing. “You were lost in the moment, weren’t you?” Adam said. “You were.” Matt said as Karen looked away, trying to seem only annoyed and not embarrased, but failing. “I seduced you.” he said. “You didn’t seduce- urgh.” Karen said, resing her chin on her fist and shooting him a look that said very clearly “I’m gonna get you for this later.” “I mean you know, come on, listen,” Matt said, “The Doctor, nine hundred years…” he wasn’t entirely sure where he was going with that, but it didn’t matter, because Adam interrupted him. “They’d been through a tough time, you know, they’ve been- Amy and the Doctor have just been through a big, big adventure, haven’t they.” “Yeah!” Karen said, nodding, glad the focus was off of her and back on the actual episode. “So why does that make her wanna- well, why does that make her wanna…kiss him?” Matt asked, actually somewhat curious. “‘Cause they’ve shared something, together-” Karen started. “Well, cause she’s seen him, invest, and, she was gonna die.” Matt interrupts, but Karen doesn’t pay attention. “And, it’s also, like, I dunno, sometimes you do things in the heat of the moment if you’re like-” “Well she does!” Matt says, obviously referring to the hand-thigh slip up of earlier, “Amy Pond does.” “Yeah,” Karen says, oblivious, “Well she certainly does, hmm. Um, I don’t know, when you’re like excited, and, and you’ve shared something with someone, and…” Matt had placed his hand under his chin and was now imitating her, shaking his head and making faces. She tipped her hand out to the side and he did the same, “Oh, would you- stop!” she mumbled, elbowing him and starting to push the pillow back into his face. “And he hasn’t, and the man hasn’t, and he hasn’t, tried her on, yet.” Adam said. “Yeah, and Amy can’t understand why this man hasn’t tried her on.” Karen says, dissolving back into giggles at the end of the sentence.
And then they were shooting again, and she was trying to kiss him but he was scrambling over the foot of her bed and protesting and she was saying things like “Well the morning’s a long time away.” in a voice and then he was pushed up against the TARDIS and her mouth was on his mouth and he tried so hard to push her off but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it so he just gave up and his hands went to her head and then Adam called cut and said they had to do it again because Matt was supposed to push her off. The second time he did his best to make it look like he was pushing her off while kissing her back as long as possible. “Definitely can’t use that one, Matt, he’s not supposed to be enjoying it, alright?” “Nope, yeah, got it.” They did five more takes, and every time Matt just tried to look flaily while Karen kissed him, put his hands on her face to push her off but ended up pulling her closer, and he envied Arthur for not having to push her off in any of their kissing scenes that were sure to happen. He’d find out later that, in the best take they actually got, he did kiss back, he put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer, briefly, before remembering that he was supposed to push her off and pushing her off. He was very glad to go home at the end of the day. However, just has he was starting to relax, there was a knock on his door, and he answered it to find Karen standing there in his doorway, arms crossed, grinning at him. “Can I come in?” she asked, after they’d been standing there a while. “Yeah, yeah, of course Kaz, come on in.” he moved aside and she walked in. He shut the door behind her and turned to face her. “So what was all that about today?” she asked. “What was all what about?” he replied, trying to act oblivious. “You kissed me back. You weren’t supposed to.” “You put your hand on my inner thigh.” “Don’t make this about me, you were supposed to push me off instantly but you. Kissed. Me. Back.” she took a step closer, “Why?” “Well, uh, because, I, uh…” he stuttered, and she stepped forward and kissed him, and it was completely unlike how she’d kissed him as Amy. One of her hands was on the back of his head and the other on the back of his neck. It was similar in that he was pressed against a door again, but the biggest difference was that he didn’t have to push her off. He cupped her face and slid his hands down her neck and shoulders until he reached her waist and pulled her closer, then sunk his hands into her hair. Eventually they did have to break apart to breathe, but they rested their foreheads together, breathing heavily. Then, reality hit him like a ton of bricks. This wasn’t allowed, Moffat had specifically told him not to do exactly this. “Kaz,” he said, “We can’t.” “Shut up, yes we can, of course we can.” she said. “No, Karen.” he put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her off, “We’re costars, we can’t do this, if it goes wrong our chemistry will be ruined and-” “Matt.” Karen said, “It won’t go wr-” “You don’t know that, Kaz. We can’t.” She stepped back. “I…” “No, Kaz, look, I, I care about you, okay, I really do, I’d love to date you, it’s just-” “No, I get it.” she said, nodding, “It would…yeah, no, this was a bad idea, I shouldn’t have…I’ll see you at work.” and with that she runs out of his flat and the door slams behind her.
The next few years are torture. Karen seems like she doesn’t even remember the kiss, and acts completely normal. And he does too, after a while. They don’t even hint at the kiss until Karen and Arthur are done with the show. It’s the last day of filming and they’re all having cake. Matt and Karen and Arthur talk and eat and drink, and have a generally good time, when they’re not hugging and trying not to cry. They say good bye and thank you to the cast and crew and everyone hugs everyone else and then Arthur goes home but since Karen can’t drive and he’d like to spend more time with her anyway Matt drives her home. They walk to the door of her flat and Karen turns to him. “Do you wanna…come inside? I have some leftovers we could eat.” she says. “Yeah, that sounds fun.” Matt replies. They go inside and sit on her floor eating crackers and hummus and talking about the last few years. “Remember that time we had to kiss?” Karen says, still laughing. “Oh, yeah!” Matt says, “That was…difficult.” “Yeah, remember how you kept kissing back?” Karen’s stopped laughing now, and her voice sounded strained. “Karen?” Matt asked, but she wasn’t paying attention. “And remember how, after we went home, I came over to your flat and kissed you, and you said we couldn’t because it might ruin our chemistry?” “Kaz?” Matt said, trying to get her to at least look at him, she’d been staring at the carpet since she first mentioned having to kiss for the show. “And remember how I left the show? Remember how I’m done filming? Remember how we don’t need to worry about that chemistry anymore because it’s over? Remember that? That’s hilarious.” Matt leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed back, instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck and pushing him back upright, her lips never leaving his, and then wrapping her legs around his waist. “We should’ve done this years ago.” she muttered between kisses. “Yeah.” he agreed.