Swords & Stunts – George Marshall Ruge Q & A

Filed under Interviews, Pirates Facts by on April 27, 2011 at 3:55 am {no comments}

Pirates of the Caribbean Swords and Stunts

With Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest set for release in just a few weeks, it’s time to grab the popcorn and get ready for the return of the best or — depending on your point of view — the worst pirate in history.

Yes, Captain Jack is back, with Johnny Depp taking another turn as Hollywood’s most eccentric but best-dressed pirate, and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) along for the ride in another adventure full of intrigue, comedy and the supernatural.

Among the many pleasures of the first Pirates film, aside from Johnny Depp’s deservedly Oscar-nominated performance, were the cleverly staged sword fights and action sequences which were often as witty and elegant as they were thrilling. The man behind the action is George Marshall Ruge, sometime poet, screenwriter and actor, and the stunt coordinator on both the Pirates films already in the can and the third one to come.

Ruge’s previous credits include National Treasure and all three of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. “The whole cast and crew have really poured their hearts and souls into the Pirates films,” says Ruge, who talked to us about heat, humidity, Johnny Depp’s skills with a sword and the perils of working on water.

How would you compare Dead Man’s Chest to the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, The Curse of the Black Pearl?

I think people will be surprised by Dead Man’s Chest. This second film is visually stunning and the action is unique and oftentimes epic in scope. It’s a bit darker in some ways perhaps, but it’s also got all the charm, wit and good fun that made the first film so memorable.

As for your involvement in the film – action and stunts — did it seem challenging to top what you did in the first film?

I think it’s a huge mistake approaching work from the aspect of trying to top yourself, particularly in terms of action. If you take that approach, you’re simply creating action for action’s sake. It’s gratuitous. The challenge in this film, as in any film, was to create action that’s part of the fabric of the story.

Well, the first Pirates film certainly had some amazing action sequences, like the opening fight between Captain Jack (Johnny Depp) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). Do you have a favorite scene in Dead Man’s Chest?

There’s a 3-way swordfight that was the most challenging and personally rewarding scene in the film. It involves Jack, Will and Norrington (Jack Davenport) fighting with each other along a white sand bar in the middle of the ocean. The scene has a real panoramic look. The fight leads them to an abandoned church and continues along the ruined, skeletal walls and they end up on this huge mill wheel, which breaks free and rolls through the jungle, eventually landing them all back on the beach.

It sounds exhausting just hearing about it.

It wasn’t easy, but we’re all proud of the result. The actors and stunt doubles had to endure sand the consistency of a milk shake, intense heat and humidity, working high up with an elaborate overhead cable system, and dealing with the mill wheel, which was eighteen feet across, weighed eighteen hundred pounds and did a complete revolution in sixteen seconds.

Is it possible to quantify how much work goes into a scene like that?

Literally months of prep, training, rigging, rehearsals, etc., and it felt like twenty-four hours a day to me because it was never out of my mind. As for the filming itself, between the first and second units it probably took the best part of six weeks.

Both Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom have had experience of sword fighting before, and not just on Pirates of the Caribbean. Are they old pros at this point?

Every film presents new challenges but Johnny is a natural athlete and fortunately a very quick study because the demands on his time, as with all of the principal actors, limited rehearsal opportunities. I’ve now done six films with Orlando, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and he is very comfortable and skilled with the sword.

Do you try and design things so Captain Jack and Will Turner fight in a way that reflects their characters?

Absolutely. I focus on character first. For example, although we all know that Captain Jack can and does fight, I want there to be the overriding sense in any fight that if there were an easier way out of a situation, then he’d take it. Captain Jack has no interest in being a hero for the sake of it, whereas with Will Turner there’s no hanging back. He’s unafraid and willing to die for what’s right. Johnny starts tweaking his physical action to suit Captain Jack, processing and incorporating his character into every movement and detail from the very beginning, which is fascinating to see.

Are Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom enthusiastic about the action scenes?

Both of them want to do the best they can and they both approach the action scenes with great passion. On the other hand, I’m sure there are days when they would rather be doing dialogue in a scene that’s purely romantic or comic than being strapped inside a giant rotating wheel in 120-degree heat and humidity! That’s sort of a no-brainer.

Keira Knightley expressed frustration that she didn’t get to do enough action in The Curse of the Black Pearl. Does she make up for it in Dead Man’s Chest?

Keira certainly can’t be frustrated over a lack of action anymore! She is as much an action hero in this film as anybody and a very bright blade. She had worked on King Arthur prior to the start of Dead Man’s Chest and she’s simply a great athlete and has a near photographic memory in terms of learning choreography. To be honest, I think she was probably just a bit apprehensive when she saw the extent and complexity of the scenes we had put together. But Keira being Keira, that apprehension quickly transformed itself into determination and she pulled it all off fantastically.

Given that classic sword fights are less common than they were in Hollywood’s Golden Age, is it hard for you to find the additional actors and stunt doubles you need for a film which is on as big a scale as Pirates of the Caribbean?

Yes, it is hard. There was a time when all trained actors and stunt performers had a background in �stage combat� and fencing, now they just say they do! On the other hand, we’ve just gone through a cycle of period films inspired by films like Gladiator and the Lord of the Rings trilogy and that’s given performers a good reason to become better versed in the art of sword work.

How many stunt performers did you use for Dead Man’s Chest and do they substitute for the principal actors where possible?

There were over 80 stunt performers, and it’s hard to generalize about when they stand in for the lead actors. There are so many factors involved, with safety being the main consideration, as well as actors’ willingness to perform their own stunts. Luckily, all the leads on the Pirates films have being willing and able.

How does working in or on water complicate what you do?

Wind, rain, waves and tides can turn a good plan into a disaster! On this film we had hurricane evacuations and some very rough seas. When we had a rolling swell, the ships would sway wildly – the masts would go backwards and forwards as much as 40 feet. During what we called the Scuttled Ship sequence the crew had to find space on the partially submerged end of the ship and most of us were knee high in sea water and had a hard time standing up in the swell. By the end of the night the seas had worsened, everyone’s rain gear was wet through, we were frozen to the bone and our feet were pickled from being in the salt water.

Q. How do you think the Pirates films sit in relation to the rest of the films you have worked on? The most interesting? The most challenging? The most enjoyable?

It’s an interesting question and one I should probably answer when we complete the third film! To put it in perspective, when the Pirates’ trilogy is complete, I will have spent over three years of my professional life devoted to its well-being and success. For all of us who committed from the beginning and persevered to the end, it’s without a doubt a significant piece of our lives and a professional milestone. Has it been interesting? Definitely. Challenging? Enormously. The most enjoyable? Certainly not! [laughs]. But the question you didn’t ask is, Has it been worthwhile? And there’s no doubt about that. I think all of the trench warriors of the Pirates cast and crew have been through so many emotions and had so many varied experiences making these films, but the finished films are the ultimate reward.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Sorting Fact From Fiction

Filed under Pirates Facts by on April 27, 2011 at 3:41 am {no comments}

Pirates of the Caribbean: Sorting Fact From Fiction

He may be, depending on your point of view, the best or worst pirate in history, but there’s no doubt that he’s also the most entertaining (and most fashionable).

Yes, Johnny Depp is back for another turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in the soon-to-be-released Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the second installment (of three) in the rollicking adventures of the dandy, rum-loving pirate and his unlikely allies, the idealistic Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and feisty Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley).

What better time then to have a look at the fact behind the fiction and find out if Hollywood’s most dashing pirate could really have cut it on the high seas?

Did the pirates of history wear earrings and make their victims walk the plank?

Did they really obey the pirate code (more a set of guidelines) that played such a key part in the plot of the first Pirates film, The Curse of the Black Pearl?

Peter Twist, an expert on 18th century history and the historical and technical adviser on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, answered our questions about the pirates of history, their Hollywood counterparts, and the difference between the two.

Honor among thieves

Pirates may be notorious for being bloodthirsty and lawless, but, like Captain Jack and Captain Barbossa in The Curse of the Black Pearl, they still lived life aboard ship according to a strict set of codes. Before setting sail, crews often signed a contract establishing the division of booty and compensation for injuries sustained in combat (800 Pieces of Eight for the loss of a limb). Unlike the regular navy, pirate ships often elected their captains (and replaced them mid-voyage if they fell from favour).

Punishments were clearly defined and harsh: smoking in the hold without a cover on your pipe could get you forty lashes; for planning to desert his ship a pirate could expect to be marooned on a small island with one flask of water, a bottle of rum, one gun and one bullet. Says Peter Twist: “The captain and crew were more or less equal to one another. The code, which would vary from ship to ship, would cover everything from dividing up the treasure, sort of like today’s profit-sharing schemes, to general standards of behavior. Some ships were quite puritanical: no gambling, no drinking, etc, etc.”

The Skull and Crossbones

“Pirate flags in general were either red or black,” says Twist, “and they play a significant role in Dead Man’s Chest. “Pirates really did fly the traditional Skull and Crossbones too (as does the Black Pearl) although there were many variations on the best-known pirate flag and its origins are unclear. “The death’s head or skeletons or the devil were very common images on flags,” says Twist. “Basically anything that would let intended victims know that something bad would happen to them if they resisted.” When they weren’t flying the Skull and Crossbones, pirates weren’t averse to flying the Union Jack or French or Spanish flags to suggest friendly intentions as they approached their prey.

Buried Treasure

“The real-life Captain Kidd famously buried treasure when he knew he was going to be tried as a pirate,” says Twist. “But basically pirates would spend their money as they got it by going into the nearest port and drinking it all away. Typical pirates weren’t usually lucky enough to get their hands on much gold or silver either. They’d take any ship that they happened to come across and it might be carrying some less glamorous cargo, like food supplies for example, so they’d just take what they could.” Between groceries and buried treasure however, Hollywood has usually gone for the buried treasure. As for the final resting place of Captain Kidd’s loot, it’s still to be found.

Pirate Fashion

Just like Captain Jack, real-life pirates and sailors did wear earrings, though not just to look dashing. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries it was generally believed that piercing the ears with silver and gold improved one’s eyesight (oddly enough contemporary scientific studies — and acupuncturists — have suggested there may be some truth to the idea). “As for their clothes, pirates wore what they could get their hands on, “Twist explains. “If there was a high-born person onboard a ship they captured they’d just help themselves to their clothes. So if they were somewhat extravagant dressers, like Captain Jack, they’d have plenty of opportunities. There was a real-life pirate called Bartholomew Roberts who was renowned for his fine clothes.”

Hooks and peg legs

There aren’t any hooks or peg legs in Pirates of the Caribbean,” says Twist, “but usually Hollywood can’t resist them.” The idea of pirates using hooks to replace missing hands became a stereotype after the success of the fictional Peter Pan, while pirates with peg legs were popularized by Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island. The majority of real-life pirates who lost hands or legs in combat probably died of a subsequent infection (pirate ships didn’t have doctors). The survivors were often put to work in the ship’s kitchen. “People with missing limbs wouldn’t have been much use in combat,” Twist explains. Meanwhile, fans of Johnny Depp will remember that he played Captain Hook (and his creator James Barrie) in the hit film Finding Neverland.

Keeping Clean

Pirates would bathe in seawater,” Twist explains, “but they certainly weren’t what we’d call clean by today’s standards.” Fresh water was a luxury on a ship and wouldn’t have been used for washing. There were generally no toilets onboard either (just a hole in a plank). The dirty water that sloshed around at the bottom of a ship (the bilges) gave off the odour of rotting fish and the livestock kept onboard didn’t help matters either.

Parrots on the Shoulder

Pets were popular on ships but it had to be something that wouldn’t need too much care or food, “ Twist says. “Barbossa’s monkey and the parrot who talks for the mute in The Curse of the Black Pearl would live on table scraps, so are probably quite typical. “ Still, a parrot on the shoulder would be a little messy and during lean times at sea a parrot might well substitute for a chicken in the cooking pot. More common and unwanted shipboard companions were rats, fleas and poisonous spiders.

Food

As Twist explained, being cook on board a pirate ship was a lowly position often given to a crew member no longer fit to fight. The reluctant chef didn’t have many ingredients to work with either: usually hard crackers made of flour and water and some dried or salted meat. Cattle, sheep, chicken and pigs would be brought on board at the start of journeys to provide some fresh meat, as would fresh vegetables, but, as Twist points out, they wouldn’t last for the length of an entire voyage.

Drink

Surprisingly enough, tea and coffee were drunk aboard pirate ships, but, like Captain Jack, pirates generally preferred rum. “Welcome to the Caribbean, love,” says Jack in the first film, proffering a bottle of rum to Keira Knightley. Small amounts of rum, or other spirits, were often added to the stale and filthy water on board ship to take away the taste. A large amount of rum was an antidote to boredom and the tough conditions of the pirate’s life. “One famously unsuccessful pirate captain, Jack Rackham, was actually captured because his crew was too drunk to fight,” Twist says. Bartholomew Roberts, the famous teetotaler pirate, was definitely the exception to the rule.

Walking the Plank

Walking the plank – as Elizabeth and Jack do in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – was probably not as common a form of punishment among real-life pirates as it is in Hollywood. On the whole pirates probably preferred the swifter and simpler method of the “heave to” — simply tossing their unfortunate victims overboard – or came up with things much grislier than walking the plank. “Often pirates would consult with the crews of the ships they captured and if the captain had a reputation for being brutal, they’d come up with some truly nasty punishment for him,” Twist explains.

Pirate terms

Whether a real life pirate ever said, “Shiver me timbers” is unclear (it’s the parrot’s line in The Curse of the Black Pearl). But like all sailors of the time, Twist explains, they did call non-seafaring folk “landlubbers”; they did “swab” (clean) the deck and drink “grog” (rum mixed with water). “Davy Jones” was sailor slang for the evil spirits that lurked in the sea. “Davy Jones’ Locker” was the ocean floor. To be “sent to Davy’s Locker” was to die at sea. To “send someone to Davy Jones” was to kill them. To “awaken Davy Jones” was to cause a storm. In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Davy Jones is an actual character (played by Bill Nighy).

Getting Caught

“Virtually all pirates that were caught were hung,” Twist explains. British maritime law ranked piracy, along with desertion and mutiny, as the most serious crime a sailor could commit. A condemned pirate was to be hanged within ten days of being found guilty, the only hope of a reprieve being snitching on one’s former crew members, convincing a judge you had been forced into piracy against your will, or, as in Captain Jack’s case, making a daring escape.

Avoiding a Fight

“I think the single biggest inaccuracy in Hollywood pirate movies,” says Twist, “is that pirates were always spoiling for a fight. Pirates were essentially just after the money, so the last thing they wanted to do was actually fight with another ship and risk damage to their own ship or being injured or killed.” Typically a pirate ship would come alongside its intended prey and fire a warning shot in the hope that the other ship would surrender without a firing a shot. “And that’s what usually happened,” Twist says. “People knew that if they resisted they’d be killed. The Pirates of the Caribbean films and Captain Jack are much more realistic in that respect. Like most real-life pirates, Captain Jack enjoys his rum and has an eye on the main chance, but he’s not going to fight unless he really has to.”

At World’s End: Introduction

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 3:20 pm {no comments}

Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Geoffrey Rush reunite in Walt Disney Pictures’ / Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” an all new epic tale in the blockbuster series chronicling the fantastical adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. This time around, the quartet is joined by international superstar Chow Yun-Fat as Captain Sao Feng, the pirate lord of Singapore.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski, Captain Jack and the others set sail on the spectacular new adventure, once again laced with lashing of rollicking and irreverent humor, which takes them into new realms of adventure and fantasy. Their two previous “Pirates” adventures smashed records around the world, with “The Curse of the Black Pearl” garnering more than $650 million worldwide, a figure nearly doubled by “Dead Man’s Chest,” which became the third highest-grossing movie in international box office history with more than $1-billion, and a gigantic domestic take of $423,315,812, the sixth highest position in history.

The writers of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” are Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, co-writers of the first film and its follow up “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” also have such hits on their resume as “Aladdin” and “Shrek.” The film is based on characters created by Elliott & Rossio and Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert, and based on Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. The film’s executive producers are Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Bruce Hendricks and Eric McLeod.

Johnny Depp has become one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed actors, with a hugely versatile range of performances marking his outstanding career. He was nominated for Best Actor Academy Awards for both “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and “Finding Neverland.” Depp’s extensive motion picture credits since the late 1980s have included “Cry-Baby,” “Platoon,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?,” “Ed Wood,” “Benny & Joon,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Don Juan DeMarco,” “Donnie Brasco,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Chocolat,” “Blow,” “Once Upon A Time in Mexico,” “Secret Window,” “The Libertine,” “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” and Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Orlando Bloom became a major international star with his portrayal of Legolas in Peter Jackson’s award-winning “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy after co-starring in Jerry Bruckheimer’s production of “Black Hawk Down,” directed by Ridley Scott. Since then, the increasingly popular actor has starred in Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy,” Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven” and Cameron Crowe’s “Elizabethtown.”

Keira Knightley was first brought to the attention of international audiences in the sleeper hit “Bend It Like Beckham.” In addition to “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” she was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress for “Pride & Prejudice,” and also starred in “Love, Actually,” Jerry Bruckheimer’s production of “King Arthur,” and the upcoming “Atonement,” “Silk” and “The Best Time of Our Lives.”

Geoffrey Rush won an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for his captivating performance in HBO Films’ “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” in which he portrayed the title character. He first became internationally known for his starring role in Scott Hicks’ feature film “Shine,” which garnered him an Academy Award for Best Actor as piano prodigy David Helfgott. He also won a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Film Critics’ Circle of Australia, Broadcast Film Critics, AFI and New York and Los Angeles Film Critics’ Awards for the film. Rush also received an Academy Award nomination for his performances in Philip Kaufman’s “Quills,” and both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for “Shakespeare in Love.”

Chow Yun-Fat exploded into international stardom after more than a decade as Hong Kong’s most popular leading man in a memorable series of portrayals that included director John Woo’s now classic films “A Better Tomorrow,” “The Killer,” “Once A Thief” and “Hard-Boiled.” Chow has also starred in Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Anna and the King” and most recently, Zhang Yimou’s “Curse of the Golden Flower.”

With only seven features to his credit thus far, Gore Verbinski’s highly acclaimed films have totaled more than $2-billion worldwide. His films have included the immensely successful “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” the chilling horror film “The Ring” and the acclaimed drama “The Weather Man,” starring Nicolas Cage.

Jerry Bruckheimer holds an undisputed position as one of the most successful producers in both motion pictures and television. First in partnership with Don Simpson, and then as the chief of Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Television, he has produced an unprecedented string of worldwide smashes, hugely impacting not only the industry, but mass culture as well. Bruckheimer’s films have included “American Gigolo,” “Flashdance,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop II,” “Days of Thunder,” “Bad Boys,” “Dangerous Minds,” “Crimson Tide,” “The Rock,” “Con Air,” “Armageddon,” “Enemy of the State,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Remember the Titans,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Bad Boys II,” “Veronica Guerin,” “King Arthur,” “National Treasure,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” and the upcoming “National Treasure: Book of Secrets.”

On television, Jerry Bruckheimer had an unprecedented 10 television series airing simultaneously in the Fall season 2005, a record in the medium for an individual producer. JBTV’s series have included “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation” and its spinoffs “C.S.I.: Miami,” “C.S.I.: NY,” “Without a Trace,” “Cold Case,” and “The Amazing Race.”

Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Television have been honored with 39 Academy Award nominations, six Oscars, eight Grammy Award nominations, five Grammys, 23 Golden Globe nominations, four Golden Globes, 53 Emmy nominations, 14 Emmys, 16 People’s Choice nominations, 11 People’s Choice Awards, numerous MTV Awards, including one for Best Picture of the Decade for “Beverly Hills Cop” and 14 Teen Choice Awards.

Along with Depp, Rush, Bloom and Knightley, cast members returning to “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” include Stellan Skarsgard as Bootstrap Bill Turner, Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, Jack Davenport as Admiral James Norrington, Jonathan Pryce as Elizabeth’s father, Governor Weatherby Swann, Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma, Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett, Kevin R. McNally as Joshamee Gibbs, Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook as Pintel and Ragetti, David Bailie as Cotton, Martin Klebba as Marty and, from the first film, Giles New and Angus Barnett as thick-skulled British soldiers Murtogg and Mullroy. Vanessa Branch and Lauren Maher return for a third time as Jack Sparrow’s favorite Tortuga wenches, Giselle and Scarlett. New cast additions include Reggie Lee (“The Fast and the Furious”) as Tai Huang, Captain Sao Feng’s lieutenant, and a diverse group of international actors portraying the Pirate Lords, including the legendary Keith Richards as Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code.

A large contingent of the award-winning “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” creative team reunites for “At World’s End,” including director of photography Darius Wolski, production designer Rick Heinrichs (Oscar nominated for “Dead Man’s Chest’), costume designer Penny Rose, supervising art director John Dexter, set decorator Cheryl Carasik (who shared the nomination with Heinrichs for “Dead Man’s Chest”), film editors Craig Wood and Stephen Rivkin, visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Charles Gibson (both of whom won Academy Awards for their work, along with ILM’s Hal Hickel, on “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”); special effects coordinator Allen Hall (who shared the “Dead Man’s Chest” Oscar with Knoll, Gibson and Hickel); stunt coordinator / second unit director George Marshall Ruge; three time Academy Award-winning key makeup artist Ve Neill and key hair stylist Martin Samuel, both of whom shared an Oscar nomination for “The Curse of the Black Pearl”; and composer Hans Zimmer. Joining this world-class team on the new film is Academy Award-winning special effects coordinator John Frazier (“Spider-Man 2”)

Next Page: Short Synopsis

At World’s End Short Synopsis

Filed under At World's End Posters, At World's End Production Notes, Poster Store by on April 26, 2011 at 2:53 pm {no comments}

Pirates Of The Caribbean - At World's End

Pirates Of The Caribbean – At World’s End
39 in. x 27 in.

Buy This Allposters.com

It is a dark time as the Age of Piracy nears to a close. Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) of the East India Company has gained control of the terrifying ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman, and its malevolent, vengeful Captain, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy). The Dutchman now roams the seven seas, unstoppable, destroying pirate ships without mercy, under the command of Admiral Norrington (Jack Davenport).

Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) embark on a desperate quest to gather the Nine Lords of the Brethren Court, their only hope to defeat Beckett, the Flying Dutchman, and his Armada.

But one of the Lords is missing–Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), either the best or worst pirate ever, and now trapped in Davy Jones Locker, thanks to his encounter with the monstrous Kraken.

In an increasingly shaky alliance, our heroes, including Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), Pintel (Lee Arenberg) and Ragetti (MacKenzie Crook) must first travel to dangerous, exotic Singapore and confront Chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) to gain charts, and a ship, that will take them off to world’s end, to rescue Jack.

But even if Captain Jack is successfully rescued, the gathering of the legendary Brethren Court may not be enough to hold back the fearsome tide of Beckett, Davy Jones and their powerful Armada… unless the capricious sea goddess Calypso, imprisoned in human form, can be freed and convinced to come to their aid.

As betrayal piles upon betrayal, it becomes clear that Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Sao Feng, and Barbossa each have their own agenda, and no one can be trusted. Yet each must choose a side, and make their final alliances for one last battle, in a titanic showdown that could eliminate the freedom-loving pirates from the seven seas — forever.

Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Stellan Skarsgård, Bill Nighy, Chow Yun-Fat, Jack Davenport, Naomie Harris, Kevin R. McNally, Jonathan Pryce
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Screenplay by: Terry Rossio, Ted Elliott
Produced by: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Eric McLeod
Running Time: 145 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action / adventure violence and some frightening images.
Release Date: May 25, 2007
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Next Page: Chapter 1 – Success Can Be A Tough Taskmaster

Success Can Be a Tough Taskmaster

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 2:46 pm {no comments}

Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp

Success can be a tough taskmaster… and coming off of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which garnered more than $1 billion internationally and took third position for the top grossing films of all time, Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski were absolutely determined to once again rise to, and then go beyond, audience expectations.

“It’s scary when you make a picture that’s such a huge success,” confesses Bruckheimer. “You never quite know. It was against conventional wisdom that a pirate movie based on a theme park ride could be such a hit. Then we came back with the second film, and it’s common knowledge in our business that a sequel will make 20 to 30 percent less than the first one. And yet, `Dead Man’s Chest’ made almost double of what `The Curse of the Black Pearl’ took in.”

Bruckheimer attributes the massive success of the first two “Pirates of the Caribbean” films to the enormous amount of hard work put in by the filmmakers and talent on both sides of the camera. “You start with the writing, and Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio did a brilliant job creating great new characters and exciting arenas for them to work in. Then you add a director who’s as talented as Gore Verbinski, who gave audiences such a thrill ride in the first film, and took them even further in the second. And what really makes it all come together is when you see actors like Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush going through the paces of what Gore, Ted and Terry worked so hard to create with characters who are engaging, funny, romantic and witty. It took a lot of energy, brain power and time on the part of Gore, Ted and Terry to work out all of those amazing characters, situations and set pieces.

“Then you go behind-the-scenes,” continues Bruckheimer, “with Rick Heinrichs’ production design, Darek Wolski’s cinematography, Hans Zimmer’s music, and the rest of the people who worked so hard on these pictures and helped make them the huge success they became.”

For the third film, the producer and director encouraged screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio to push that envelope even further…quite literally, to the ends of the earth. “What we set for ourselves with Jerry, Gore, Johnny and everyone else,” says Elliott, “was to figure out a way to do two more movies that were of a piece with the first one, and yet still be unique in their own right. What we had to do with each one was, as quickly as we could in the story, satisfy expectations. And then set ourselves the challenge to go past that, and create events that people could never anticipate. Which isn’t easy.”

“The overall theme that we’re dealing with in `At World’s End,’” adds Terry Rossio, “is the nature of what it takes to be a good person, and each person faces that struggle. We embrace the idea that all pirate movies are about moral ambiguity, and good people can be forced into circumstances wherein they do something bad. So from the point of view of every character, they all have to go through that challenge, that transformation, facing their own ability to do something they’re not comfortable with, and making really tough choices. In that sense, every character in the story has a villainous moment at some point.”

“There’s never a trust between any of our characters in the movie,” adds Jerry Bruckheimer. “There’s always a devious plan to benefit their own ends. `At World’s End’ is a movie about who’s going to end up where, when and how, with constant one-upmanship.”

Once again, as with the first two films, Elliott and Rossio were constant presences on the set, from the Caribbean to Hollywood and beyond. “Their contribution was enormous,” says Bruckheimer, “because they would work with Gore and the actors right on set to make sure everything was right for the movie and their characters.

“Screenwriting is a real craft,” Bruckheimer explains. “Back in the 1930s and `40s, Hollywood decided to bring out journalists, novelists, anyone who could write, and many of them failed at screenwriting, which is a very different art form. Ted and Terry are masters of this craft. They love movies, old and new. They’re on top of everything happening in film. They know what it takes to write a great character, because they’ve studied and worked at it for years. And they’re fresh…Ted and Terry take pirate movie conventions that might seem mundane and clichéd, and flip them in a way to make them interesting and new. Along with Gore, they’ve completely re-invented the entire pirate movie genre.”

The geographic range of the story expands all the way to old Singapore and mythical realms beyond, such new characters as Chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng are introduced, and one crucial character is re-introduced: Captain Barbossa, freshly returned from the other side of the pale, this time in an uneasy alliance with his old nemesis Jack Sparrow against the forces of the East India Trading Company. We also get to meet the entire international Pirate Brethren in their hideaway of Shipwreck City, a rogue’s gallery of cutthroats from all the seven seas, including the Keeper of the Code, Teague, played by none other than immortal Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Also returning from the first film are Murtogg and Mullroy, the two thickest skulls in 18th century British uniforms.

Next Page – Chapter 2: Pirates Saga by Numbers and Awards

Dead Man’s Chest Poster

Filed under Dead Man's Chest Posters, Poster Store by on April 26, 2011 at 2:40 pm {no comments}

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Poster

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Poster
20 in. x 28 in.

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Pirates Saga by Numbers and Awards

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 2:28 pm {no comments}

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann and Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Using the famed Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney Theme Parks (the last one in which Walt Disney himself had a personal hand in creating) as a springboard, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” defying some less than enthusiastic anticipation for a “movie based on a ride,” was a smash hit everywhere it played upon opening on July 9th, 2003, amassing a domestic U.S. gross of $305,413,918 million and, including its record-breaking overseas engagements, a worldwide total of $653,913,918.

The film also received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor for Johnny Depp. So successful was the first “Pirates” opus, that the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction was modified by Walt Disney Imagineering at both Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida in time for the opening of “Dead Man’s Chest,” so that characters from the films, including Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa and Davy Jones, were seamlessly inserted in a way that retained what made the original ride such a perennial favorite among Disney theme park visitors… with hopes, of course, that the second film would at least equal the first in popularity.

But not even Bruckheimer, Verbinski, nor The Walt Disney Studios, could have predicted what would happen when the second film in the trilogy, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” opened on July 7th, 2006. The zeitgeist is a mysterious entity, and “Pirates” had obviously plugged directly into its circuit board, as “Dead Man’s Chest” became an instant cultural phenomenon. Upon its opening three-day weekend, the film blew every preceding U.S. box office record apart, amassing an astonishing $135,745,219, surpassing the previous champ, 2002′s “Spider-Man,” by more than $20 million.

“Big Booty for Bruckaneers,” screamed a headline of the Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety in its unique parlance, pointing out that the three-day numbers even beat the standing four-day weekend record…that the Friday totals of $55.5 million set a new mark for the biggest one-day numbers ever… that by Saturday, its $100.2 million take was the biggest ever two-day gross, which meant that “Dead Man’s Chest” was the first movie in history to break the sacred $100 million mark in 48 hours. By this point, the film had taken on major event status, as evidenced by the legion of “Pirates” fans, sweeping across the demographic board, who lined up for hours, many sporting an array of buccaneer gear, some so comprehensively attired from head to toe that it looked as if they stepped right off the set.

By the end of its second weekend, “Dead Man’s Chest” had passed $200 million on its eighth day of release-another record sent crashing to the ground-and amassed $258.2 million in only 10 days, with an additional $125 million in 24 countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. Any lingering doubts about the Pirates’ sea “legs” were laid to rest after the third weekend of “Dead Man’s Chest,” in which the film soared past four major new releases and became the fastest film in history to pass the $300 million mark in the U.S. and Canada (and broke “The Curse of the Black Pearl”’s $305 million milepost).

And overseas, opening in 11 new markets, it was the same story over and over again. Number one everywhere. Long queues from Tokyo to Mumbai to Warsaw, and back again. By September 2006, “Dead Man’s Chest” became only the third member of the billion dollar club and became the third highest grossing film, internationally, in motion picture history. The public had spoken, and very loudly too, across the entire world. The film was also honored with four Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Visual Effects prize for John Knoll, Charles Gibson, Hal Hickel and Allen Hall.

The filmmakers all knew that audiences, although having been thrilled by the first two films, would obviously be seeking the “Astonish me” factor in the third. And they were fully prepared to reward their expectations. “We wanted to tell a story which would be an epic struggle between freedom and conformity,” says executive producer Mike Stenson. “A fundamental question of the movie is, why are we supposed to like pirates? It really does come back to the sense that when you’re growing up, you want to be a pirate… you want to do something that’s about freedom, no rules, not dealing with authority. As we go through our lives, we have to deal with more and more issues of dealing with authority and conformity… but that doesn’t mean that on a Friday night you don’t want to leave the suit and tie behind and spend a couple of hours of experiencing that darker, more swashbuckling and independent version of yourself. Which is what I think elicits people’s passions for these movies.”

“The first movie wasn’t even on the top ten preview list for the summer,” adds executive producer Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films. “Then `Dead Man’s Chest’ did double what we hoped, which was pretty amazing. The problem is that after the celebrations came, the realization that we had to really deliver the goods for `At World’s End.’”

“In a way, the most satisfying aspect of `Pirates’ is that it has become this kind of cultural phenomenon that audiences have embraced so passionately,” says executive producer Bruce Hendricks. “You’ve got to give Jerry, Gore, Ted and Terry, and Johnny and the cast credit for that. This has forever changed the approach to the pirate genre, which was basically dead. It’s now been re-invented, whether or not we make more pirate movies, or someone else does, there’s a different way of looking at pirates now.”

Next Page – Chapter 3: Revealing the True Nature of all the Characters

Revealing the True Nature of all the Characters

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 2:14 pm {no comments}

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Main Characters.

In the aftermath of the “Dead Man’s Chest” sweep of worldwide box offices, the stars of the film were still processing its impact. “It’s shocking you know,” admits Johnny Depp. “I’m still sort of amazed that so many people in so many corners of the globe embraced the films and Captain Jack, and in a lot of ways just sort of claimed ownership of the character. Nothing like this has ever happened to me, but what’s happened with `Pirates’ hasn’t happened to many people. It’s very, very moving and emotional, the idea that people feel this very strong connection with Captain Jack. You know, seeing little kids dressed up as the character, talking like him. It’s just amazing.”

Depp was enthusiastic to pursue the development of Captain Jack’s journey in “At World’s End.” “When we last saw Jack in `Dead Man’s Chest,’” Depp explains, “he was swatting his way into the mouth of Kraken, and when we pick him up again in `At World’s End’ he’s in Davy Jones’ Locker, which is kind of beyond the idea of purgatory, a kind of hell in which he’s surrounded by himself. I thought it was a brilliant idea of taking this guy and not have him face his demons, but rather the various sides of his personality.”

“It’s an interesting idea that Jack Sparrow has an honest streak that will likely be his undoing,” adds screenwriter Ted Elliott. “He says it in the first movie, it actually does happen in the second one, and in this third film Jack has said, in effect, look, I’ve given up on the whole honest streak thing because we all saw where that one led to. That becomes Jack’s struggle throughout… what are you willing to do to get what you want?”

“Johnny Depp is a very surprising, unusual and unique actor,” adds Jerry Bruckheimer, “who creates memorable, original characters that audiences just fall in love with. Captain Jack was unlike anything that audiences had seen on screen before, a drunken, swashbuckling character who can barely stand up sometimes, yet is so clever and smart that he outwits everybody around him. And Johnny does this on every movie. Whether it’s Willy Wonka in `Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ J.M. Barrie in `Finding Neverland’ or `Donnie Brasco,’ he creates something so indelible that you can’t quite put your finger on how he invents that magic.”

Geoffrey Rush, an unabashed enthusiast for the three films, was thoroughly delighted to once again transform himself into Captain Barbossa. “I’ve always thought that `Dead Man’s Chest’ and `At World’s End’ are really one big film, with a cliffhanger interval,” he notes. “I say that quite selfishly, because I don’t do anything in the second film. I’m dead. But I have a fabulous sort of curtain line at the end of the movie. But `At World’s End’ galvanizes 15 major plot lines that have all been simmering through the first and second movies, and kind of brings them home.

“There’s a shift in Barbossa’s character in the third film,” Rush continues. “I think that in `Dead Man’s Chest,’ Davy Jones becomes the villain or dark force at the center of the film. And with Barbossa being absent, when he re-emerges, he actually comes back as a kind of politician, which is great for me because it meant I didn’t have to play the same flavors, or work off the same dramatic palette as in the first film, which was pure rivalry with Jack. I mean, that’s certainly still there, but my job in `At World’s End’ is to make sure that the romantic true heritage of the pirates being the vagabond brotherhood at sea maintains its identity against this rather ruthless corporate world of the East India Trading Company that wants to stamp it out. So I become an arch manipulator, and I think Barbossa’s familiar qualities of betraying people and forcing them to do things they don’t particularly want to do, is how he works.”

“We’re all still in character,” adds Orlando Bloom, “but thankfully, the character development is really great in the third film. Will Turner definitely has a few more edges. In the second movie, the major conflict for Will is whether to choose between his father or his love for Elizabeth. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to rescue his father, Bootstrap Bill, and he also wants to be with the girl he loves, but the two are opposite magnets that push away from each other.

“By the time `At World’s End’ begins,” Bloom continues, “Will has embraced the pirate code that he so hated at the start of `The Curse of the Black Pearl,’ to pursue his own purposes. A promise has been made that he will save his father’s life, and Will will try and do everything he can to honor that vow…not forgetting that he still loves Elizabeth, and wants to get her back into his life. The third movie reveals the true nature of all the characters, and it’s great to go on a journey with Will where you’re not quite certain which direction he will turn to.”

“There’s a certain amount of guilt that Elizabeth feels about having delivered Jack to the Kraken at the end of `Dead Man’s Chest,’” says Keira Knightley of her increasingly strong minded and determined character, “but I think that was something that had to be done at the time. But then she finds out that actually, what they really need to do is save him. Elizabeth is certainly more than the girl who stands in the corner by this point in the story. It’s been great to play a girl who’s strong and interesting, and isn’t afraid of a fight.”

“Keira became a woman through the course of making these three films,” notes Jerry Bruckheimer, “and Elizabeth is a character who has an enormous arc. She starts out as a kind of spoiled rich governor’s daughter, and through the course of the story becomes a woman who bucks convention and becomes as fierce and competitive a fighter as Will and Captain Jack.”

Bill Nighy was also delighted to take Davy Jones more than a few steps further in the third film, and again infusing the devilish character with a large dollop of recognizable humanity. “Davy is now in service to the East India Trading Company and Lord Cutler Beckett, certainly the first time he’s been in service to anybody. He’s no longer the free lord of the seas. In `At World’s End,’ you see how love and betrayal wrecked Davy’s life and ruined his existence. He just wants Calypso, and peace from this terrible love pain. He suffers in a major way. Davy is a lover, and he’s been deeply, deeply hurt, devastated by the loss of this woman. People like Davy who never connected with anyone, ever, and then do and lose it, cleave for all time. And these are dangerous men, you know, they’re almost certainly emotionally damaged. It’s a central fact of Davy Jones’ life that he’s never getting over it.”

“I have had a long life with Gore already, and it’s a very pleasant life,” smiles Stellan Skarsgård, who returns as Will Turner’s cursed father, Bootstrap Bill. “And it’s surprising because when you work on a production this big, you would think that working in front of the camera would be very different from the kind of independent films I’ve done before. But it isn’t, because it’s very intimate around the camera. You work basically in the same way, or you’re free to try things. Gore is not only a technical director, but he’s very interested in actors and to see what actors can produce. It’s one of the reasons I wanted this job…because when I saw `The Curse of the Black Pearl,’ I saw a bunch of actors who enjoyed themselves and obviously had a lot of fun.”

Bootstrap Bill also continues on a progressive arc throughout the third film. “It’s pretty sad, because his deterioration has gone quite far. He’s already falling apart, and only has glimpses of remembering and vague ideas about his relationships to people. As with other crewmen of the Flying Dutchman, Bill is becoming more and more a part of the ship, losing his humanity.”

Explains the compulsively witty Jack Davenport of his character, James Norrington, “Where you left me off at the end of the second film, I was still modeling homeless person chic…but with Davy Jones’ heart in hand. I well know that I managed to give the heart to probably the last person on earth or indeed the high seas that I should have given it to, it’s now allowed me in the third film to once again dress like a Mardi Gras float. I’m much more comfortable in blues and yellows, and I once again sport the deeply flattering white wig. So joy is unconfined all around.”

On a somewhat more serious note, Davenport says, “In `At World’s End,’ Norrington comes to realize that he’s made a terrible mistake, and he has to live with that. In terms of his feelings for Elizabeth, he’s not the same swooning chap that he was in the first film, which I think is a good thing in terms of deepening the character. She broke Norrington’s heart, very embarrassingly and very publicly. Subsequently, I don’t think he harbors any great illusions about them sailing off into the sunset together. In the third film, he looks on rather helplessly at the gigantic mess he’s created, and he has some opportunity for redemption.”

Tom Hollander, the charming Englishman who plays the distinctively uncharming Lord Cutler Beckett, was also dazzled by the success of “Dead Man’s Chest.” “Being in the third biggest grossing film of all time, I felt like it was as if I’d been standing next to the man who discovered penicillin,” jokes the actor. “It was thrilling, a fantastic feeling. Being a part of something which people absolutely love is just wonderful. It’s been quite a tough job, but amazing as well.”

In the third film, Beckett’s cold-bloodedness ascends to even more dastardly levels. “Davy Jones can be seen as the main villain of `Dead Man’s Chest,’ but Beckett becomes his boss in `At World’s End,’ so technically speaking, I’m on the top of the heap of villainy,” adds Hollander. “Davy Jones’ heart is my secret weapon, what’s known in show business as `leverage.’ Because he who has the heart of Davy Jones controls the seas. So even though Beckett is physically unintimidating to Davy Jones, he has his heart, which although a gloopy, nasty, smelly thing, gives him all the power.

Next Page – Chapter 4: Some New Faces Aboard

Some New Faces Aboard

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 1:57 pm {no comments}

Chow Yun-Fat as Captain Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

In addition to the stars already established in the two previous films, Bruckheimer and Verbinski brought some special new faces aboard for “At World’s End,” most notably international superstar Chow Yun-Fat, cast as the smart if duplicitous Singaporean pirate, Captain Sao Feng. “You want to hire enormously talented actors who are at the top of their game,” says Bruckheimer, “and that’s the definition of Chow Yun-Fat. He’s a masterful actor, an international star, and a perfect addition to the trilogy.”

“They were all pirates in reality, and betrayal was normal,” notes Chow of his character. “Therefore, Sao Feng treats it as a business transaction. There is no good or evil in the pirate world, and Sao Feng is neither a good person nor a villain. They are all pirates, and that’s how pirates are.” In terms of the films’ international appeal, Chow explains, “I think everyone has a fantasy to do things that cannot be controlled by parents or the authorities. Pirates are rebels, so especially in the minds of young people, the movie has global appeal.”

For such grizzled “Pirates” veterans as Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook, who play the tag-team duo of Pintel and Ragetti, “At World’s End” presented another opportunity to expand their characters. “In the first film we were pretty vicious,” says Crook. “We shot the servant in the governor’s house straight away, really nasty, cutthroat villains. In the second film, we lightened up a bit and became a real double-act. But I think that Gore, Ted and Terry were keen to keep a vicious streak in us, because we’re pirates when you come down to it, so we can’t always just be goofing around. So I have a good kill count in `At World’s End.’ I think I dispatch three or four souls.”

“We were funny bad guys in the first movie and funny good guys in the second one,” adds Arenberg. “And from here on out we’re funny good guys no matter which team we’re on. We certainly don’t gain any intelligence. I always say that Pintel and Ragetti still share half a brain.”

Next Page – Chapter 5: Every Saga Must Make a Start

Every Saga Must Make a Start

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 1:41 pm {no comments}

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

…And for “At World’s End,” that beginning was as early as April 6, 2005, when the first scenes for the film were shot in production designer Rick Heinrichs’s Tortuga set constructed in Wallilabou Bay on the beautiful and atmospheric island of St. Vincent in the West Indies, giving that tiny country a three for three batting average, having hosted all of the “Pirates” films.

And ironically, the sequence was one of the final moments in the film. Of course, shooting this scene was in concert with the simultaneous filming of “Dead Man’s Chest,” and it’s doubtful if the challenge of producing and directing not one, but two massively scaled epics could have been more daunting to Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski, and their collective production teams and company of actors. But the point was, they were up for it, and then some. “Anytime you make a movie it’s a challenge,” says Bruckheimer. “But when you try to prepare two movies at the same time, that’s a serious challenge. You just don’t get the kind of preparation time that you need for the second movie, let alone the first movie.

“But from the producer’s point of view,” he continues, “it was the only way to make the second and third `Pirates’ films. You have Gore Verbinski, who is a directing star based on the first movie and his other work. You have Johnny Depp, who has been a star for years, but who broke out into a huge, mainstream audience on `The Curse of the Black Pearl.’ You have Orlando Bloom, who blossomed even before the first `Pirates,’ and became a superstar after it was released. And then you have Keira Knightley, who’s come into her own right as a phenomenal young actress. To get all of them together for two movies, if you did it separately there would be three or four years in between before you could figure out their schedules and make all of their deals to get slots. Blocking out their time based on two back-to-back movies, as well as Gore and the screenwriters, Ted and Terry-as well as keeping together the rest of the crew-meant that this was the only way to go.”

Although the majority of filming in both St. Vincent and the following West Indian location of Dominica were for “Dead Man’s Chest,” Verbinski also took full advantage of the exotic locales for required “At World’s End” sequences as well. A convoy of production vehicles bumped along half-constructed or barely constructed roads to access St. Vincent’s Black Point Beach, a spectacular stretch of sand and rugged surf. On Dominica, the very first scenes shot on the re-designed and re-built Black Pearl-which had sailed almost 2,000 nautical miles from the Steiner Shipyard in Bayou La Batre, Alabama-were filmed, re-uniting Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush as his old nemesis, Captain Barbossa. Here on Dominica, at Capucine Point, we see the Black Pearl and her passengers approaching Shipwreck Island, one of the most spectacular settings in “At World’s End.”

Despite the fact that less of St. Vincent and Dominica are seen on screen in “At World’s End” than in “Dead Man’s Chest,” executive producer Eric McLeod points out that “in the end, technically, this film was shot in more places than `Dead Man’s Chest.’ In addition to St. Vincent, Dominica, The Exumas and Grand Bahama Island, `At World’s End’ was also filmed in different locales in Southern and Central California as well as Hawaii and second unit filming in Greenland and Niagara Falls. Gore wants to take the audience on a journey to places they haven’t been to before.”

Next Page – Chapter 6: Singapore Sling

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