We knew it the whole time - a hunch we had, bugging us in the pit of the stomach - but after this weekend, the proof is undeniable. The past exists, the ghosts of Julio and Carol (and their Dragon) thrive and bustle, and will take every opportunity to remind us. They are here – though never in the way you might expect.

The photo above was taken just a few days ago. But who is that? Who is the girl with the pixie hair cut, the aviators, looking up and beyond like a great explorer, there at the Quai Marcel Pagnol, where Julio and Carol ended their adventure 30 years ago… It looks exactly like Osita. 

We met Lore, a romanian German teacher, with a book of scars all over her forearm from the time she spent a year in hospital, thanks only to the fact that we had our eyes open a split second, that an email was checked, and wasn’t buried in the deluge of our fast paced movie making lives. And what a strange and perfect enounter and way to start off what would be the end of our filming mission in the south of France. 

I will save the details for the film - but there’s no better way to question and play and have fun with a story about a past and promiseland that only exists for the authors who wrote about it, but to go out there and play in it your self. We had no idea the Osita doppleganger was going to be along for the ride. But I can’t say I am surprised by the graceful and hilarious gestures of the Fates that brought her to us. To watch a perfect stranger discover the pages of the book, and help us track down all the milestones, all the corners of Marseille and the Cosmoroute as they were written and as they have evolved and dissapeared in the three decades since they were left for us, was too perfect. I found myself smacking Poll, the director on the back every five minutes. As if this wasn’t possibly happening, compadre. But… boludo. This is perfect.

The moment when a Fafner was parked in the full sunlight of Marseille harbour, the owner of which was fast asleep inside, and our modern Osita stretched out, smoking a cigarette, in the sun, the book as her pillow… the door of the VW was left open. And what would it take for us to steal inside, to take the wheel, to emabark, maybe just the two of us (maybe the camera for good measure), on our own, new, and unspeakable adventure. There is more, so much more, but the 2500 character limit of this update will stop us there for now. 

What a week to the south of France to finish our filming of Europe. Onward!

Tobin