And the travel wasn’t entirely over for the company, either. The resumption of “At World’s End” shooting on August 3rd, 2006, would see the company jetting to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah for a couple of ruthlessly hot days, with temperatures in the dry heat hovering at 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping to the code-Gore Verbinski’s, that is-the tough location was nonetheless perfect for scenes in which Captain Jack Sparrow is slowly losing his mind in Davy Jones’ Locker.
Of course, `Pirates’ being `Pirates,’ the bad weather curse followed the company even up to Utah. “Two days before we started shooting we discovered that it was raining in the flats,” recalls first assistant director Dave Venghaus. “And when it rains, it doesn’t get deep, but becomes a gigantic reflecting pool of water. We panicked, because we wanted the dry element of the desert and not the wet salt look. When we got there, we drove through a couple of inches of water on top of the salt on the way out to our location some 10 miles into the flats, but thank goodness the water dried out pretty quickly and we were able to get the work done. It didn’t surprise me, because no matter where we went, somehow or another, water would affect us.”
Confirms executive producer Eric McLeod, “We shot in August, pretty much the warmest month of the year in that part of Utah, and we got an inch of water two days before we arrived, which luckily mostly evaporated. But if you want a weather pattern change, have the `Pirates’ movie show up and you’re going to get one!”
The troupe traded the tropical heat and humidity of the Caribbean for the desert conditions of the otherworldly, barren expanses of the Salt Flats, which stretches over 30,000 acres and is famed as the site of rocket-powered land vehicles setting all kinds of speed records. Except for a brief sojourn to the beaches of Santa Maria, on the central California coast, the company blessedly stayed closer to home for the duration of the “At World’s End” shoot, filming more sequences on Rick Heinrichs’ gloriously gloomy Flying Dutchman and lavish Endeavour captain’s cabins on Walt Disney Studios soundstages, and aboard the Black Pearl in the waters off of San Pedro and Redondo Beach.
This presented its own headaches in more ways than one, as the load-in at the Redondo Beach Pier is a public facility and obviously the production drew an enormous amount of attention from the public and media alike. Hundreds of fans descended upon the base camp day after day in a way that the production had never before seen, accustomed as they were to the more remote locations in St. Vincent, Dominica and The Bahamas, where frankly, the local populace had more urgent matters to attend to than getting movie stars’ autographs. “I only realized how huge `Pirates’ had become when I went to the premiere of `Dead Man’s Chest’ at Disneyland,” notes Kevin R. McNally. “It was like being a Beatle for a moment. Then, when we were shooting off of Redondo Beach, people were just going crazy. It was amazing. It’s a real honor to be in something that has such wide reach and that so many people love.”
Ironically, after shooting in the often rough open waters of the Caribbean and Atlantic, some of the most turbulent seas the production encountered were right off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes, as high swells twisted the Pearl this way and that, and along with it, the stomachs of cast and crew. More than one stalwart actor or behind-the-scenes worker heaved over the rail on those days, and weren’t embarrassed either.
The ultimate crowd-pleaser and fan-appreciator, Johnny Depp-even after 12 to 14 hour days on the Pearl-still devoted up to an hour-and-a-half on most nights signing autographs and taking pictures in Redondo Beach with an ever-growing army of devotees, many of whom arrived before sunrise in the hopes of even catching a glimpse of their hero, let alone shaking his hand or getting a hug and kiss. “I think Johnny is the best thing since sliced bread,” says fellow pirate David Bailie, who has played the silent Cotton in all three films. “He’s a total gent. The way he treats everyone, and perhaps more importantly, his public, is a wonder to behold. I worked with Laurence Olivier in the 1960s when I was in the National Theatre. He was never offhand with his public. He was always thoroughly polite and he recognized that they were his bread and butter, and I’ve seen Johnny behave in exactly the same way.”
The company then got back into their cars, trucks, SUVs and semis, and headed north to the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes on California’s beautiful Central Coast for scenes on the beach involving all four leads: Depp, Rush, Bloom and Knightley. This area has quite a history of its own, having hosted several previous films, including Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 version of “The Ten Commandments”… with some of the sets, having been buried nearly 80 years ago, now peeking out through the dunes in shards of wood and plaster, a mute testimony to Hollywood history. Unlike DeMille and his gang, however, Bruckheimer, Verbinski and company left no trash behind, instead leaving the pristine preserve just as they found it.
Next Page – Chapter 9: The Brethren Court
