|
|
The
Curse of the Black Pearl
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Part 2 |
| This
page was created on July 7, 2003
This page was last updated on
May 29, 2005
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—About this Film, part 2
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum |
| ABOUT
THIS FILM |
PRODUCTION
BEGINS
 Principal
photography on "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"
commenced on Wednesday, October 9, 2002. The first two weeks of production
were spent on stages. The construction and art departments had erected
the moody interior of the captain's cabin on the Black Pearl at KABC,
a local news affiliate in Glendale, California. At Raleigh Studios
in Manhattan Beach, they built a sizable portion of the Governor's
elaborate mansion-dining room, bedrooms, hallways, linen closet, a
first and second floor foyer and staircase-which the crew promptly
destroyed with cannon blasts.
The three-acre bluff in Palos Verdes where Marineland, a popular southern
California tourist attraction, once stood is now an empty, graded
lot atop a spectacular hillside offering 180-degree, milliondollar
views of the Pacific. Since the park's demise, and to the consternation
of many area neighbors, every major studio has taken full advantage
of the space and its breathtaking vistas. Massive suburban sprawl
has made it next to impossible for productions to find undeveloped
land with panoramic backdrops suitable for any historical reference.
Because there are no electrical wires, no buildings standing tall
against the horizon, no visible roadways, it was the perfect spot
to build Port Royal's Fort Charles.
With grand parapets atop her imposing stone walls and a beautiful
arched bell tower designed with a distinct Spanish flair to showcase
each and every radiant sunset, what in actual fact was an 18th century
military base felt more like a day camp. The immense faux fortress
also included the Commodore's office, a dank prison cellblock and,
in the center courtyard of the fort, a gallows to remind the townspeople
just where they were.
This same location also accommodated several other set pieces including
interiors and exteriors of the Governor's mansion, The Bay of Port
Royal and room for background blue screen work.
The collective imagination, skill and technical expertise of production
designer Brian Morris and his executive team of supervising art director
Derek R. Hill, construction coordinator Bob Blackburn and set decorator
Larry Dias, plus their dedicated crew of artisans, never ceased to
amaze their colleagues on the shooting crew. Walking onto a set for
the first time was tantamount to crossing the threshold of a time
continuum and discovering a new world.
For the tropical scenes, filmmakers initially considered trying to
save time and money by shooting on Catalina Island off the Long Beach
coast. They soon realized, however, that they wanted a more realistic
look and feel to their backdrop. "We could have considered looking
at Australia and Thailand," says executive producer Bruce Hendricks.
"But it would have looked like what it is- the South China Sea. We
really wanted to maintain the look of the Caribbean, similar to the
way we made 'Pearl Harbor'-you have to go to Pearl Harbor. We're shooting
'The Alamo' right now and it would be a cheat if we didn't go to Texas.
We always want to be faithful and accurate to the subject matter because
it shows on screen."
"There's a quality to the water, sand and palm trees in the Caribbean-so
we knew we wanted to go there," says Verbinski.
"We ended up searching around the entire Caribbean for months," he
continues. "I'm sure we looked at a minimum of 20 different islands.
"It's amazing when you scout a film like this how quickly you realize
that the world is insanely overpopulated," laughs the director. "You
go out looking for a lush, deepwater, cul-de-sac-shaped bay, one that
doesn't have a hotel sitting right in the middle of your shot. There
aren't any unpopulated islands out there anymore. They just don't
exist."
St. Vincent became an obvious choice for the base of operations for
the production because of its geographical aspects. While it doesn't
have white sand beaches, filmmakers were able to go to Petite Tabac
and Grenadines to achieve that look for certain scenes. The outer
islands of the Grenadines served particularly well for the abandoned
island where Jack and Elizabeth are left by Captain Barbossa.
In August 2002 a small contingent of 30 left to set up offices and
begin construction in the Caribbean. The main cast and crew did not
follow this first wave until January 18, 2003 when everyone packed
up, boarded a chartered 747, transferred to a wild ferry ride and
headed south-way south. St. Vincent is not a major resort location;
when the company booked every hotel room-numbering well over 325-as
well as every available vacant apartment and house on the island,
the production became the main attraction in town.
The people and the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were
incredibly accommodating and supportive. It didn't take long for the
crew from Hollywood (made up of Americans and Brits) to relax and
adopt the pace of life in the islands. To do otherwise would prove
a waste of time. Life in the West Indies simply does not revolve around
agendas or deadlines. Even the local airlines run on their own timetable;
cabbies charge whatever they like or whatever loose change you can
dig up; most businesses close at four in the afternoon and many vendors
do not open at all on either Saturday or Sunday. The hospitality of
the location, however, made the prospect of filming a movie that takes
place primarily in, on, or around water no less daunting. The Caribbean
sets were spread over essentially 36 miles of open sea, so boats were
not only used for filming, diving and working, but for transportation.
Up to 400 people a day made the hour and a half round trip trek to
the Wallilabu and its surrounding inlets by boat.
For a particular two-week stretch, the company put out to sea, filming
on the open waters of the Caribbean, eight to thirteen miles from
the reassuring shores of Wallilabu where the art department had recreated
Port Royal's harbor and a comfortable base camp for the crew. With
waves swelling six to eight feet, most of the cast and crew swallowed
pills to combat seasickness.
From sunrise to sunset, with no land in sight, even the most fundamental
aspects of life became a major aggravation and impediment for production.
"It's all true what they say about shooting in water!" exclaims Verbinski.
"Everything that can go wrong will go wrong, that's just the way it
works. As soon as you get a boat in position the wind changes. Even
if you anchor things down, everything is moving, relationships are
moving. The camera is here, and we frame a shot of the actor, everything
is drifting away, so either the wind is right to fill the sails, but
then, the sun is in the wrong direction and if you want a good backlight
then the sails are negative."
"You would be waiting to do a really substantial, meaty, dialogue-driven
scene on the deck," explains Geoffrey Rush, "and then the wind would
change and the smoke would blow in the wrong direction. You would
have to wait for seven boats to come around. It was painstaking. as
it needs to be."
"You start shooting in the morning," explains Verbinski, "and you're
four miles out by the afternoon. Suddenly you've got this armada behind
you trying to catch up, chasing you with sandwiches."
PRODUCTION DESIGN AND CINEMATOGRAPHY:
FROM LOS ANGELES HARBOR TO ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
Produced under rather unconventional circumstances, the filmmakers
began designing and building many set pieces as well as scouting for
locations before a script was complete. "I was able to do storyboards
before many of the scenes were in place because a lot of the bones
were already there," says Verbinski. "Brian Morris [production designer]
and I would start exploring ideas, we'd discuss it with the writers,
and some of them would end up in the script."
Morris enjoyed collaborating with his director. "The scale of Gore's
moviemaking was very attractive and appropriate to this piece," he
says. "Gore is incredibly visual. Even in his personal environment,
you can tell immediately that he's got style and taste. He gave me
a feeling that he trusted me to handle the job, which is always great."
The story presented contrasting motifs. On one hand, the curse and
an overall sense of villainy were the most prevailing themes. On the
flip side was the spit-and-polish order of the stiff, uppercrust Brits.
Dariusz Wolski, who had worked with Gore Verbinski before on "The
Mexican," handled cinematography chores once again on "Pirates of
the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."
"He was the perfect choice," says Verbinski of Wolski. "I've worked
with him before but in a completely different way. 'Pirates' is about
creating a definite style and design; 'The Mexican' was about the
absence of style."
Like most of the crew, Wolski found shooting on water a formidable
challenge. "The hardest part from a director of photography point
of view was when we shot day exteriors," explains Wolski. "Normally
when you shoot day exteriors, you know where the sun travels and you
turn yourself around accordingly to maintain some continuity in lighting
throughout the day. Now you're adding another element, which is a
boat. And a boat is only going to go a certain way. It's going to
go the way the wind blows."
But Wolski enjoyed the work. "It's fantastic. It's challenging-you're
going out of your way to make it as good as possible; it's a big movie.
But I'm really happy I've done it."
While Morris pored over paintings from the period, Wolski and Verbinski
spent as much time as possible looking at old pirate movies and studying
story elements and visual aspects of great adventure films. They decided
to go in an even more majestic and embellished direction than their
predecessors. One of the examples of this extravagance is the pirate
cave where Barbossa stashes the many riches he and his crew have plundered.
It was the centerpiece of the many sets constructed at Walt Disney
Studios in Burbank. The largest stage on the Disney lot, Stage #2
was the same space the studio had redesigned in 1997 to accommodate
Bruckheimer's enormous asteroid set for "Armageddon." The newly enlarged
stage was the perfect location to build a lavishly adorned cavern
complete with winding waterways, a moat, little grottos and treacherous
rocky terrain.
Production designer Brian Morris was given total freedom to create
the perfect pirate hideout. "Brian and Gore swung from one end of
the spectrum to the other," says Bruckheimer. "A pirate lair is an
utterly mythical place; creating a location like that is a dream come
true for any creative mind. Of course Brian and Gore had to consider
specific action and story points, but as long as the cave was built
as a workable space, they had carte blanche."
It took 100 craftsmen five months to build the cave set. It was then
filled with 300,000 gallons of water, a process that took three to
four days, and dressed over a period of three weeks.
Set decorator Larry Dias and his staff spent a considerable amount
of time researching the era and hunting for appropriate items to decorate
the vast set. "It was a big job just trying to stay true to the period
and to the style of movie Gore was making," says Dias. "We had to
make the sets look authentic because the film has a dramatic flair,
but it's also comedic; we tried to set a mood so that the atmosphere
would be realistic yet theatrical at the same time.
"The treasure cave was very large and very dark," Dias describes further,
"so getting the quantity and the quality of stuff these pirates have
been dumping there for years was quite an undertaking."
Verbinski wanted gold everywhere. He repeated his mantra to his art
department at every turn: Pirates are not art collectors-they're just
after the money. "Gore would remind us that pirates are only interested
in the face value of any given item," recalls Dias. "We painted hundreds
of cubic feet of rock to look like gold nuggets and collected hundreds
of yards of fake pearls and beads. We found a mass of odd objects
that would have been looted by pirates. It was tricky; we tried to
get a certain texture going without becoming too ridiculous. We were
very careful in creating disorder and making the cave look haphazard,
as though the pirates had taken boat loads of their loot and just
dumped it in heaps wherever they found space."
Dias found two manufacturers of imitation coins, one in New Orleans
used to turning out trinkets for Mardi Gras, and another company in
Canada. He ordered close to a million doubloons minted in three different
colors, all replicas of the "piece of eight," or Spanish silver dollar.
THE SHIPS: REAL AND IMAGINED
No pirate movie is complete without the proper pirate ships. Three
ships dominate the action in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse
of the Black Pearl." Filmmakers focused on two ships within the British
armada-the Interceptor, a sleek two-masted clipper purported to be
the fastest vessel commissioned to His Majesty's Service; and the
H.M.S. Dauntless, one of the Empire's premiere warships-and a third,
with a mysterious past, starring in the title role; the Black Pearl,
a galleon stolen from Captain Jack by Barbossa and his evil crew several
years earlier. Few ships in existence today could pass for a vessel
dating back to the 18th century. The studio and the producers initially
assumed they would have to build every ship featured in the story,
never imagining they would stumble across a virtual treasure trove
of information and contacts who knew just where to find viable stand-ins
when they hired Marine coordinator Matt O'Connor. A boating enthusiast
and a marine specialist working in the film industry for over 15 years,
O'Connor contacted an associate in Seattle and persuaded him to convince
his board of directors to allow the production company to use their
prized tall ship, along with a fully staffed crew, for an unprecedented
amount of time, in a location halfway around the world from her home
port, but only after making substantial structural modifications to
the vessel. Les Bolton, executive director of Grace Harbor Historical
Seaport Authority, which owns and operates the Lady Washington, embraced
the challenge, undeterred by the obstacles such an undertaking presented.
The offer was too exciting to pass up, and so the Lady Washington
became a valued member of the cast, 'starring' as the Interceptor.
The Lady Washington is a full-scale period reproduction of the first
American vessel to make landfall on the Pacific Northwest Coast in
1789. According to Bolton, the Lady Washington was a very appropriate
choice to star as the Interceptor. "Vessels of her type were considered
very handy and maneuverable, and quick to accelerate. They'd move
in quickly and easily harass larger, more powerful ships, which is
exactly how the Interceptor is used in the movie."
Various modifications were necessary not only to transform the Lady
Washington into the Interceptor but also to make the vessel seaworthy
enough to tackle the 4,500-mile trip from Port Townsend, Washington
to Long Beach and then to the Caribbean. These changes included everything
from re-planking sections of the deck and installing traditional grated
hatch covers intended to provide ventilation for sailing in warmer
climates to increasing the number of gun ports and giving the ship
a fresh paint job.
The Lady Washington departed Long Beach for St. Vincent and the Grenadines
on December 2nd, stopping first in Acapulco to refuel and restock.
On Christmas Day they made their way through the locks of the Panama
Canal. Traveling against heavy trade winds at the worst time of year,
sailing through some of the very roughest weather, the ship's jib
boom was completely sheared off. Once the crew retrieved the equipment
that went over the side, the ship headed for the nearest port, which
was Cartagena, Columbia. Once the Lady Washington was again seaworthy,
they sailed on to St. Vincent, arriving on January 12th, 2003. The
Lady Washington's crew was also used in front of the camera. The crew
was a combination of men and women, experienced professionals as well
as trainees, ranging in age from 16 to mid-50s, all of whom can now
claim to have appeared as a pirate in a major motion picture, the
ladies even on occasion sporting facial hair.
Stranded with no apparent way to pursue Barbossa, Jack and Will Turner
have no choice but to 'borrow' a vessel, so they jump aboard the Interceptor
to make way for open water. As the crew filmed running shots of the
Interceptor from the deck of the Dauntless, Verbinski decided Jack
Sparrow should be at the wheel, captaining the ship, while Will hoisted
and trimmed the sails. Unfortunately, the actors had no clue how to
do any of these things. Verbinski yelled across to the Lady Washington
crew who were actually sailing the Interceptor to duck and hide so
that only the two actors were visible on deck as the two ships passed
one another.
"The cameras were rolling, they'd just done the sticks and next thing
I know, the captain kind of disappears and it was just me by the ship's
wheel, so I had to grab it," says Depp incredulously. "No one told
me I'd be steering the ship. It was trial by fire. On the second take,
I thought we were going to hit the Dauntless barge, and then Gore
says to me, 'Johnny, come closer, bring the boat closer.' And I thought,
'Oh man, I just steered a massive ship for the first time at what
felt like breakneck speed! Come closer?'" he laughs. "But we survived."
Orlando Bloom recalls the scene as well. "We were just sailing this
huge ship on the open seas," he says. "I looked over my shoulder one
time and there's Johnny at the wheel with the hat and the gold teeth,
and there's me just yanking on a rope going, 'I can't believe I'm
doing this.'"
Commodore Norrington's ship, the Dauntless, was constructed to resemble
the British warship, the Victory. A famous 100-gun ship that won countless
battles during its heyday, the Victory was the pride of the British
fleet. Because no such ships exist today, the company was forced to
recreate portions of the vessel using models of its vintage predecessor.
To create the ship, they ended up building sections of it on a floating
barge docked at Pier C in Long Beach. Construction Coordinator Bob
Blackburn and his crew began building the Dauntless here before moving
the launch to the Port of Los Angeles for filming.
The Dauntless was one of the most innovative movie sets ever produced.
Construction began before plans for the vessel were even complete.
At one point, 150 people worked on construction of the floating set,
which took about three and a half months to build, rain or shine.
The set itself looked like a partially dissected ship with a section
cut out of its port side. At completion, the ship measured 170 feet
long, 34 feet wide and consisted of approximately 40,000 pounds of
steel and 1,000 square feet of sails. Seven cell phones, five men,
three welding hoods, two dozen tape measures, one metal cutting saw
and countless tools fell overboard during construction.
Fabrication of the Black Pearl in the Long Beach Dome next to the
Queen Mary was a little tamer. This stationary set was built on a
moving gimbal. Blackburn's crew worked on the set for three months.
Says Gore Verbinski: "The Black Pearl is a ghost ship. We shot it
in sections; some on stage and some on a barge that was towed in open
water." Often, the Black Pearl had a tugboat pulling it, which had
to be painted out during the visual effects process.
Like any tricked-out luxury sports car on the road today, the Black
Pearl is 'loaded,' equipped with all the bells and whistles, all the
appropriate accoutrements of any good pirate ship. There's a good
reason why both Captain Jack and Captain Barbossa lay claim to the
vessel.
"The Black Pearl had to be the quintessential pirate ship," says Bruckheimer.
"Gore and I agreed it had to be iconic. Because this is the ship that's
caused the lifelong feud between Jack and Barbossa, to the victor
go the spoils. The ship is a symbol of every treasure they've targeted."
VISUAL EFFECTS:
CREATING THE LIVING UNDEAD
"We have an added ingredient in this film," says Bruckheimer. "And
that's the supernatural aspect of the story. It lends itself to incredible
visual effects, so we went to ILM because they've done a great job
for us in the past."
"The effect of the pirates turning into living skeletons in the moonlight
adds to the level of excitement on screen," says Verbinski. "It allowed
us to have even more fun with the genre and the characters. "The first
time animatronics were used was in the Disney ride," the director
continues. "Seeing the barking dog and the talking skeletons made
you question whether or not it was real. But today's audiences are
savvier because of effects. We are using computer-generated animation
to achieve that same reality for today's audience."
John Knoll and a team of experts at Industrial Light & Magic were
entrusted with the job of bringing the skeletal pirates to life. Under
an unheard of deadline, Knoll and animation supervisor Hal Hickel
started with sketches and an animatronic sample. Knoll, Bruckheimer,
Verbinski and Bruce Hendricks spent countless hours discussing just
how to go about illustrating the pirates to find the perfect balance
between being alive yet decomposing.
Visual effects are used not only when the actors are seen transforming
into skeletons, but also when each character becomes a completely
animated skeleton. The filmmakers did not want to use stopmotion or
other similar effects used so frequently in mythical stories.
"John Knoll and his team came up with some unique images that really
impressed us," says Bruckheimer. "The time constraints ILM had to
work under were unspeakable. It's amazing the detail and care that's
been taken."
For Knoll and his crew, the visual effects on the picture fell into
three categories: the matte paintings that are for establishing environments,
the ships at sea (since there weren't complete ships for the Black
Pearl and the Dauntless), and the skeletal pirates.
Creating the skeletal pirates was the most exciting aspect of the
job for Knoll. "It's such a bold image. You only see them as skeletons
in the moonlight, so it's always very spooky circumstances to begin
with. These are cool shots."
The process of designing the skeleton pirate characters began with
taking photographs of the actors in wardrobe and makeup. "Then VFX
Art Director Aaron McBride spent time painting a version of each of
them in skeletal form," says Knoll. "We went through a couple of revisions
until we got approval from Gore on what these characters should look
like."
From there, the team got 3-D scans of all the actors. "So for each
of the actors we've got a full body scan and we have a more detailed
head scan," continues Knoll. "We built one very detailed skeleton
that has all the right bones in it. Since everyone's skeleton is a
little bit different from everyone else's, the first step is to take
the skeleton and kind of fit it properly inside the particular person's
envelope, or 3-D scan. There's a lot of scaling and smushing to get
it to fit."
A few layers of skin are then built; designers scanned turkey jerky
to help them replicate what McBride calls "the dried and desiccated
meat look" of the skin of the skeleton pirates. The skin is then painted
with different textures and transparencies for a complex look.
Of course, all of the characters have hair, clothing and props. "The
wardrobe is multi-layered, and so we need to simulate that so it all
folds properly and interacts with all their props. A lot of them have
sashes and muskets and swords and necklaces and all sorts of things
that the cloth has to properly behave around," says Knoll.
A lot of work went into designing the individual characters so that
they are recognizable in both live action and as skeletons. "Some
of them have particular bits of wardrobe or particular facial features
that we try to carry through," says Knoll. "Ragetti's got a wooden
eye and he's skinny with bags under his eyes. Pintel has got long
hair and he's bald on top, so he's got a lot of exposed skull up top.
Koehler's got these really interesting dreadlocks; when he moves they
sway all around. Twigg has got a beard, and he has this knit cap with
a big hole exposing skull through it. Jacoby has got this very long
beard-kind of in the form of dreadlocks-and he's got fuses woven into
his beard. When he is fighting they are lit, so they are smoking."
"When you see the characters as skeletons, you'll know immediately
which pirate is which," says Verbinski. "Even when they're 100 percent
computer generated and their clothing is in shreds, you'll know. Not
just from the actor's voice, but from every nuance, which is why we
shot entire scenes only as reference."
The most problematical challenge for filmmakers was illustrating the
fight sequences; Verbinski and director of photography Dariusz Wolski
were forced to rely on a combination of skill and guesswork. "It wasn't
only difficult for us, it was equally demanding for our stuntmen,
our stunt coordinator, and ultimately for our cameramen," says Verbinski.
"They had to do a lot of handheld composition during the swordplay.
First we'd photograph the British Navy and the pirates fighting. Then
we'd do another reference pass with just the Navy, followed by another
with just the pirates. The guys are essentially fighting air, which
looks pretty silly by itself.
"We'd be photographing air," the director continues, "and then pan
over to a skeleton that wasn't there, saying his line of dialogue,
and panning back to another skeleton. We had a lot of technical discussions
about how to pull focus to a fictional point of reference while still
keeping the excitement of a combat scene. We really didn't want to
get into motion control and that sort of static, sterile composition."
Always on the cutting edge, the artisans at ILM rose to the challenge.
THE STUNTS
"The biggest trick for George and the stunt team was how early on
we had to shoot the skeletons," says Verbinski. "Because our delivery
schedule was so insane, we had to shoot completely out of order and
begin even before we were able to figure out exactly how we wanted
the fight sequences to fit into the rest of the action. That's also
why we had to build some ships on stage and some down in the Caribbean.
All of those factors presented a lot of challenges in terms of rehearsal
time."
In early November 2002, production moved to San Pedro to begin shooting
in the Port of Los Angeles and dockside with the Interceptor and the
Dauntless. Portions of intricate ship-to-ship battles and elaborate
fight scenes were staged in the South Bay, some of which were then
completed in the Caribbean. For close to two weeks, shooting at night
with the temperature dipping into the 40s, stuntmen and actors alike
scaled the ship's rigging, climbing over her bulwark and onto the
deck, in a surprise attack. Suddenly dozens of pirates and sailors
were dueling to the death, dueling over and over again, until Verbinski,
his cinematographer and stunt coordinator were satisfied. Then Verbinski
would find a new angle for his camera, and the action would start
again and keep going until sunrise.
"There are moments when the pirates get involved where it gets a bit
vicious," Verbinski says, "but it's a tricky balance because I want
my seven-yearold son to be able to see this."
When Keira Knightley first glanced at the script, she had no idea
what physical feats would be demanded of her. "I remember thinking
to myself, 'Oh, this is going to be easy! I'll sit in the back of
carriages, I'll wear pretty dresses, I'll pout a bit; it will be fun,'"
she jokes at her own expense. "I never imagined the amount of stunt
work I'd do, and for someone as lazy as I am, it was rather challenging."
Every pirate movie requires that someone "walk the plank." In "Pirates
of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," Johnny Depp and Keira
Knightley spent almost three entire shooting days standing at the
end of a long two-by-four, protruding from the side of the Black Pearl's
deck, 15 feet over the rolling ocean waves. No stunt person, no body
double, no look-alike or dead ringer need apply; it was Johnny and
Keira balancing at the end of that plank.
"I'd been standing on that plank for two days, with nothing but air
around me and water below. I was absolutely petrified," recalls Knightley.
"The plank is quite narrow like a diving board, so it bounces up and
down when you move and even when you just stand there.
"When it came time to jump off the board, Gore told me I didn't have
to do it, that he'd have my stunt double, Sonia, do it," she continues.
"I said, 'I've been standing up here for two days! Do you really think
I'm not going to jump off this thing?' So I jumped in that long dress.
I was terrified. I asked Gore if he wanted me to scream and he just
said, 'Whatever comes out.' I screamed my head off. The only interesting
bit was when I hit the water and the dress went over my head, I showed
off my knickers. I was so girly, but I was proud of myself. I don't
know what I must have looked like," she laughs. Despite her initial
fear, Knightley came up smiling, unscathed by the experience.
"Attempting to swim fully clothed in pirate gear with boots strapped
to your legs was more difficult than I'd imagined," agrees Johnny
Depp. "The stunt work on this film was infinitely more intense than
other stunts I've done, and I was dragged on the ground for blocks
by a team of horses in 'Sleepy Hollow!'" he jokes. "Luckily I had
a great stunt double in Tony Angelotti who took care of me and made
me look good. I just stepped in and made faces."
COSTUMES, MAKEUP AND HAIR:
THE PIRATE LOOK
Gore Verbinski knew exactly what he wanted his Pirates of the Caribbean
to look-and smell-like. "I didn't want these pirates to look similar
to what we've all seen before," Verbinski explains. "No hooks for
hands or eye patches everywhere. I didn't want to see trick-or-treat
belts or striped shirts. In reading about that period, it's clear
that people didn't live very long; they were essentially rotting away.
Ships leaked, there was nothing in the way of medical attention, and
not a lot of personal hygiene. Things were pretty disgusting. Strange
as it may seem, it was fun finding that disgusting quality and texture
as we began casting extras and creating the looks of all the pirates.
Some of the extras were so dedicated, you could smell it," he laughs.
"It's ultimately about the teeth," the director continues. "If you
get the teeth right, you're okay." On his own, Johnny Depp had his
dentist cap four teeth: one in 14 karat gold, one in 18 karat gold,
another in 22 karat gold, and the last in platinum. "It's mathematics.
He's a pirate. You expect it. I wanted more, but Jerry wasn't particularly
enthused," he laughs.
Costume designer Penny Rose went to portrait galleries, maritime museums
and other resources to learn about costumes from the period. "I spent
three weeks just absorbing the ideas," she explains. She also consulted
with British pirate expert David Cordingly, author of such books as
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the
Pirates. "David came in and spent the day with us, and we just fired
questions at him like, 'Port Royal, Jamaica-who would have lived there?'
Well, out of his wallet comes a list of how many blacksmiths, how
many this, how many that-he had already done this material over and
over again! He had also worked on several films, so he understood
that we weren't going for historic reproduction. It's the little nuances
that he was really helpful with."
Rose wanted lots of movement in the costumes, since there is so much
action in the movie. Some of the film's signature costume pieces included
full shirts with very big sleeves, which echoed the Errol Flynn look.
In addition, "The coats all had six or eight pleats in the back, so
they had plenty of movement, but they actually fit," Rose explains.
Rose was also concerned about the Caribbean heat during filming, so
"everything was made out of silk or linen or cotton so nobody had
anything scratchy or heavy on. And they move. You see them during
film fighting, and they've got a lot of movement."
The crew went to great lengths to maintain authenticity from head
to toe-Jack Sparrow's sword is an original that dates from the 1750s.
Many of the swords used in the film are originals, purchased in London.
For Johnny Depp, his character came together in every respect during
the costume fittings and makeup/hair tests that traditionally take
place a few weeks prior to filming on every movie. "The first day
I was in full makeup and wardrobe, seeing the guy for the first time,
I was very pleased because I knew it was Captain Jack," he says. "Gore
came in, looked and said, 'Yeah, that's it.' He got it immediately;
he knew where I was going with the character. He supported it, he
understood it and he got the humor. It was the beginning of a great
relationship."
Jack Davenport, in the self-described "ice cream" costume, admits,
"my costume did do a lot of the work for me. It's a cheap laugh, especially
when you play an authority figure who constantly loses authority."
Will Turner, as the blacksmith, has a simpler, cleaner look, although
his overall appearance transforms by the end of the film. "Will has
an identity crisis," explains Verbinski. "When he encounters Jack
Sparrow, he turns from this lovable, earnest dork into a romantic
leading man. His hair comes down, his body language changes, all due
to his interaction with Jack and the effect they have on each other."
Elizabeth Swann not only makes an emotional transition throughout
the course of the film, she also makes the most dramatic physical
change. "I've got the best of both worlds," says Keira Knightley.
"I get to look every bit the prim and proper young lady in beautiful
dresses, albeit tied up in a corset; then I get to wear a sexier,
looser gown that's been hand-selected by Barbossa; and by the end
I'm barely in a shift, wet and freezing; and then I had the opportunity
to wear a soldier's uniform. My costumes ran the gamut. Poor boys,
they wore the same outfit every day for six months," she laughs.
Nearly 400 London-made wigs and hairpieces were used in the film.
Orlando Bloom was the only major actor who didn't wear a wig, but
he wasn't entirely spared-he was given hair extensions that took between
5 and 6 hours to attach.
THE DISNEY RIDE
"I grew up in San Diego and all five of us kids would load into the
station wagon and my parents would drive us up to Anaheim," says Verbinski.
"Back then you could see the Matterhorn from the freeway, and the
big thing would be who could see it first. The first ride we would
always go on was Pirates of the Caribbean. Something in the song and
in the images of the ride is ingrained in our collective psyche. It
was very scary when I was young, yet we celebrate that macabre sensibility.
We're trying to do a contemporary version of that while keeping the
same spirit of the ride."
The filmmakers are quick to point out that the film is an homage to
the popular Disney ride, not a direct interpretation of the attraction
itself, although they did rely on sketches and original concept drawings
by Mark Davis, one of the ride's innovators, for reference points.
"Since we use the title of the ride, it's important to give an appreciative
nod to the artistry of so many people who worked to put it together,"
says Bruckheimer. "If the ride itself weren't as good as it is, it
wouldn't have stood the test of time and captivated so many of us
for over 35 years. It's the seed from where the idea for the movie
began."
"I remember being enthralled and completely buying the illusion of
the sky and being outdoors as the ride begins," says Ted Elliott.
"But the minute the skull started talking, and for the rest of the
ride, I felt a combination of utter dread and excitement. I just knew
that the scariest thing I was ever going to see was going to pop out,"
he recalls with a laugh. "It was frightening and fascinating at the
same time; it's an amazing ride.
"And that's what we wanted to do with the script," he explains. "We
wanted to come up with a story that would affect people emotionally,
so that audiences would feel something akin to what I felt as a kid
the first time I experienced Pirates of the Caribbean, and we had
to make it appeal to audiences across an entire age spectrum."
"The ride provides a narrative," Terry Rossio explains further. "It
brings you in quietly, and then there's a dramatic turn and escalating
conflict. Mark Davis and, of course, Walt Disney did an amazing job.
Serious fans of the ride will look for and recognize similarities,
even in small details, such as the crab in the sand next to the back-stabbed
skeleton. I couldn't believe we actually had a crab wrangler on set,
I was so pleased to see that attention to detail. So the movie offers
plenty of vignettes and tributes to the ride. But more importantly,
for us, we hope people will find the same spirit of excitement, fear
and humor they experienced when they first plummeted down into those
haunted caves."
***
"I think this movie is for anyone who enjoys a sprawling adventure,"
says Gore Verbinski. "It's got action, romance, intrigue. I think
there's a child in all of us who enjoys these kinds of movies that
are exciting, fun, with oddball characters, conflict and resolution."
Funny as it may seem, the word 'sprawling' was a big surprise to Johnny
Depp. Despite his fondness for the script and his devotion to the
intricacies and idiosyncrasies of his character, he was utterly unaware
of the production's magnitude and the enthusiastic public response.
"I actually never saw the project as particularly gigantic," Depp
admits. "Oddly, it wasn't until I saw some rough cuts for the trailer
that I suddenly realized, 'Oh my God, this is huge!' It felt like
we were doing an intimate little pirate movie," he laughs. "It was
a friendly, easy set, very collaborative, and just didn't give the
impression of being some enormous production."
After Depp's four-year-old daughter saw the trailer, "She actually
went around telling people what her father did for a living: 'Yeah,
my daddy's a pirate!' I was quite proud," says Depp.
"The elements you need to produce a biggerthan- life adventure sometimes
aren't all that sexy on their own," says Jerry Bruckheimer. "It's
our job to make the difficult, painstaking details appear effortless.
We want to amaze the audience so that you can lose yourself and forget
your troubles for just a little while. And that's just what audiences
will enjoy.
"There's romance, there's adventure and there's a lot of humor in
the film," the producer raves. "You're in for a terrific, romantic
ride." |
| Continue: |
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—About this Film, part 2
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum |
|
| COMMENT
ON THIS FILM |
| BULLETIN
BOARD (Rules)
Post
your thoughts in the forum
View or post comments -click
here.
Your
Private Comments.
I will not post these comments.
What are your personal thoughts? I also welcome your spiritual
concerns and prayer needs. I will correspond with you, usually
within two weeks.
Click here |
OFFICIAL
SITE
Publicity information and images ©
2003 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
No other uses are permitted without the prior
written consent of owner. Use of the material in violation of
the foregoing may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. Credits
and dates are subject to change. For more information, please
visit their official site.
Hollywood
Jesus News Letter
Receive the Hollywood Jesus Newsletter FREE.
Sign up here
|
| | |
|
|
