On Stranger Tides: The New and Fresh Characters

Filed under On Stranger Tides Production Notes by on December 10, 2011 at 8:32 am {no comments}

On Stranger Tides: The New and Fresh Characters

To portray the two younger leads of the story—the beautiful and enigmatic mermaid Syrena and stalwart missionary Philip Swift—Bruckheimer and Marshall, along with U.S. Casting Director Francine Maisler and U.K. Casting Directors Lucy Bevan and Susie Figgis, embarked on a classic worldwide talent search. Selected from thousands of candidates were France’s Astrid Bergès- Frisbey and England’s Sam Claflin, both in their early 20s and with some experience in their respective countries (Bergès-Frisbey, of French/Spanish parentage, had appeared in films both in France and Spain), but as yet unproven on an international level.

“That was a real search because we were looking for fresh faces— new, young actors,” Marshall says. “We looked everywhere. We saw candidates in Europe and in the States too. It was a long process, involving hundreds of actors. But as it came down to the final few, it became pretty clear who stood out. Sam is a marvelous actor and handsome as well, but he’s also so fully rounded—he has humor, is as charming as can be, and is incredibly physical too; he’s actually a really good football [soccer] player. Astrid is playing a mysterious mermaid in the film, and we were looking for someone otherworldly. We saw that immediately in Astrid—she had this ethereal quality. She is incredibly grounded and very true, and so beautiful as well. And when we finally put the two of them together, we knew it was right.”

Adds Jerry Bruckheimer, who knows a thing or two about discovering new talent, “Astrid had already done some wonderful work in both French and Spanish films, and has a radiant beauty and is very soulful as well. Sam was a very recent drama-school graduate in London, classically trained, very handsome, and had already had major roles in two big television miniseries, ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ and ‘Any Human Heart.’ Astrid and Sam both did screen tests that excited us enormously. We just knew that they both had what it takes to make a major impression on the big screen and were proven more than right in that regard.”

“I play a missionary named Philip Swift who stands up for what he believes in and tries to right Blackbeard’s wrongs,” notes Claflin. “In the course of the story, Philip goes through a surprising journey, especially when he meets Syrena. He’s never really had any contact with women, so that’s quite a turn of events, to say the least.”

Bergès-Frisbey was just as gobsmacked as Sam Claflin when she learned of her selection to star in the newest “Pirates of the Caribbean” epic. “I couldn’t believe I was part of it until I arrived in Kauai for the first fitting,” she admits. “Syrena is different from the other mermaids because, in the story, she connects to the human characters, which changes her. Philip changes Syrena, and Syrena changes Philip because, from the first moment, they see in the other something similar to themselves. Syrena is different to the other mermaids as Philip is different to the other humans. He’s a really good person, and Syrena responds to him differently than to other sailors and pirates, who are at war with the mermaids.”

Before filming, Bergès-Frisbey set forth on researching the legend and lore of mermaids. “From the time of Homer’s ‘The Odyssey,’ everywhere in the world, there are myths about mermaids,” she notes, “seducing with their charm and then killing sailors. Then these myths began to change in the 19th century when Hans Christian Andersen wrote ‘The Little Mermaid,’ which was a more romantic view. That’s now become more common, especially with the Disney animated film of that story and other films like ‘Splash.’ I think that Syrena is a link between the frightening older stories and the more romantic, recent versions of mermaids.”

During the entire two months of filming in Hawaii, Bergès-Frisbey—in order to retain the pale complexion that a mermaid must have, living as they do mostly underwater—was not permitted to have fun in the sun. “I had to live like a vampire,” laughs Bergès-Frisbey, “staying indoors during the day and only able to come out at night!”

The remainder of the huge cast was assembled from a pool of renowned international talent which included Great Britain’s Stephen Graham, who had worked with Depp on Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” as the scrappy Scrum. “My character was originally from the Greenwich area of London,” notes Graham, “a true sailor who’s been out to sea since he was a kid. I kind of think of Scrum as being like the Artful Dodger of the pirate world, always looking for something to do, always with his hand in something. He’s always looking for another way to make more money, or go on another adventure. Scrum is a great, fun character to play, and after playing a few psychos lately, it’s great to be able to let all that go and just really enjoy myself.”

Joining the company were other distinguished international actors, including Richard Griffiths, Roger Allam, Greg Ellis and Damian O’Hare (the latter two repeating their earlier roles as Groves and Gillette), and 15-year-old Robbie Kay, the first kid to portray a pirate in the series; Spain’s Oscar Jaenada and Juan Carlos Vellido; Japan’s Yuki Matsuzaki; and Australian supermodel Gemma Ward as the mermaid Tamara.

Also returning to the “Pirates” fold is Keith Richards, legendary guitarist of The Rolling Stones, once again portraying Captain Teague. Depp, who has openly stated that Richards was one of his key inspirations for Captain Jack Sparrow, says, “After having Keith on the third film, I knew that he had to come back. I spoke to Jerry and the screenwriters early on, and everyone agreed. The global reaction to Keith’s presence as Captain Teague was monumental. Keith was more than ready to come back, as long as it made sense within the context of the story. I thought the way Ted and Terry handled it was wonderful, because yet again, he comes in just at the right moment.

“He’s a fascinating man, you know,” continues Depp. “I’ve known him for a long time, and to get periods like that where it’s just him and me hanging out, sitting around in the trailer yakking about music, movies, whatever, was a real pleasure.”

“Johnny was the engineer,” adds Richards. “He said to me, ‘Are you in?’ And I said, ‘Just give me the rig, baby.’ It’s so much fun.”

Rob Marshall was also thrilled to be working with the rock legend. “He is a very sweet man and very funny, very self-deprecating,” says the director.

“After we shot his scene, I said, ‘Keith, that was fantastic. I’m so impressed.’ And he said slyly, ‘You should see my Hamlet.’ It was a joy to work with him, because he’s such fun. He’s terrific in the movie and Johnny adores him. They have this amazing chemistry.”

On Stranger Tides: When All Is Said and Done…

Filed under On Stranger Tides Production Notes by on December 10, 2011 at 7:18 am {no comments}

On Stranger Tides: When All Is Said and Done...

With 106 first-unit days of filming completed on November 18, 2010, it was then up to Jerry Bruckheimer, Rob Marshall, John DeLuca and Associate Producer/post-production maestro Pat Sandston to marshal their vast team of film editors, sound- and visual- effects artists, Composer Hans Zimmer and others to complete the film in a pressure- cooker six months before its mid/ late May 2011 openings around the world.

Zimmer had already given Captain Jack and the gallery of “Pirates of the Caribbean” characters their distinctive musical sound in the three previous films, creating full-bodied orchestral scores which managed to walk the tightrope between the stirringly traditional in grand Hollywood tradition and simultaneously innovative, imaginative and adventurous.

“I love writing music and coming up with new themes,” he notes, having already created memorable leitmotifs for the likes of Captain Jack, Barbossa, Will and Elizabeth and Davy Jones in the previous films. “It gets trickier because the style was established very quickly in the first one, and then suddenly you start falling into things and start identifying the new characters in a musical way. Then it just starts rolling again, and you begin getting fresh ideas.”

“You try to treat each film as an autonomous movie,” Zimmer continues, “but at the same time, there’s great fun in revisiting old friends, as it were. We now have Penélope Cruz playing Angelica, who’s Spanish, so I felt that there could be some Latin influences in the score for ‘On Stranger Tides.’ I’ve been a big fan of Mexican guitarists Rodrigo y Gabriela for years now, and I asked them if they wanted to come and play with us. We’ve been having a really great time with them being part of the musical world this film gets to inhabit.”

For all of his years as a film music composer, Zimmer, a keen student of world music, has often brilliantly interwoven ethnic sounds into many of his scores, from African (“A World Apart,” “The Power of One,” Disney’s “The Lion King,” Jerry Bruckheimer’s “Black Hawk Down”) to Asian (“Black Rain,” “The Last Samurai,” “Kung Fu Panda”) and beyond. But as one who started his career as a rock musician in The Buggles, Zimmer has maintained his links to that world. “I always saw ‘Pirates’ as rock-and-roll scores,” notes the composer, “because pirates were sort of the rock-and-rollers of the past. Rodrigo y Gabriela are basically flamenco guitarists, but they come from metal music and very much inhabit the rock-and-roll world as well. So it was a perfect fit between us and them.”

“It’s very exciting because it’s the first official invitation for us to collaborate with a great composer for a film,” says the duo’s Gabriela. “That’s very different from what we usually do. All of a sudden, we are here, building all this music from scratch. It’s very challenging and very inspiring to work on.”

In the end, as Bruckheimer notes, the best memories of shooting “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” are “the relationships with the cast and crew. Johnny is back, Geoffrey and Kevin are back, and now there are new friendships with Rob, John [DeLuca], Penélope, Ian, Sam and Astrid. The fun of it is making new friends and working with them.”

Director Rob Marshall sums up, “It was a grand adventure on-screen and off. Each moment as we were making this film, whether it was in Hawaii or London or wherever we were, I believe everyone felt part of this unique experience.”

Jerry Bruckheimer Talks

Filed under Interviews by on April 27, 2011 at 4:10 am {no comments}

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley

The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy represents the very essence of why legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer makes moves.

“I love Pirates because there are very few films you can take your children to and you can all enjoy the experience. It is rare,” he says. “And, you know, I have made enough money, I don’t have to do this anymore. But I do it to entertain people and a movie like this really entertains people on a global basis and that is a real thrill.”

When the first Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released in 2003 it was a critical and box office triumph. Now Bruckheimer has re-untied his team – director Gore Verbinski, cast Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom and indeed crew – to make Pirates 2, Dead Man’s Chest, and Pirates 3, virtually back to back.

“If that had not all come together – same director, same cast and crew,” he reflects. “I don’t think we would be here right now.”

Bruckheimer reveals that he was thinking of a sequel when the first Pirates was being filmed – long before, of course, it become a box office phenomenon. At that time, a skeptical media was casting doubts on the commercial chances of a film based on a theme park ride. How wrong they were.

“And it wasn’t until the picture started making steam that we got the studio to say “Yeah, let’s go! Start writing another one!” Johnny loves the character and he’ll tell you that and he was excited about coming back.”

Bruckheimer isn’t gloating – his remarkable track record speaks for itself – just delighted that a project he clearly adores is back with a massive fan base anxious to discover what happens to lovable rogue Jack Sparrow (Depp) and young lovers Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) and Will Turner (Bloom).

“The anticipation for the movie is very high,” he says. “We feel that there is real want and need to see a continuation and since we have created what we consider a full story between the three movies – because everything that you will see in the second and third movie really relate to the first – it’s created a real arc and a real trilogy for the three films.”

Indeed, such is Bruckheimer’s enthusiasm for the project he would quite happily make a further three films. He certainly wants the ships used in the movies, The Black Pearl – pirate Jack Sparrow’s ship – and The Flying Dutchman, to be kept shipshape and Bristol fashion just in case.

“Hopefully, we’ll make more,” he says. “Hopefully Disney will save these ships, unlike last time, and save the sets and we can continue another trilogy – another three films. I would love to do that but it’s not my money.

“Johnny loves the character and he’d love to play it. He has a fan base at home; his two kids love it. So that’s a good start.”

Bruckheimer, 60, is one of the most successful producers in Hollywood. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he started his career producing television commercials before moving on to films with his partner, the late Don Simpson.

His list of credits is truly remarkable – ranging from American Gigolo, Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, Bad Boys, Crimson Tide, Con Air and Armageddon amongst many others, in the seventies, eighties and nineties. More recently, he has produced Gone In Sixty Seconds, Pearl Harbour, King Arthur and Glory Road.

This interview was conducted on set at the Universal Studios biggest sound stage.

Was it a risk to make these movies back to back?

It’s made around $600m in revenue, just in theatrical revenue not counting DVDs and all the other stuff, so it’s a pretty good bet. Especially if you can get the same writers back, the same directors, the same director and the same cast and had that not all come together I don’t think we would be here right now.

Did everyone commit to the project straight away? When did you decide to make two and three?

We were thinking about it while we were making the first one but the studio wasn’t. Then the press was slamming us for making a movie about a theme park ride that involved pirates because pirates were a dead issue at the box office – at least in the past. And it wasn’t until the picture started making steam that we got the studio to say “Yeah, let’s go! Start writing another one!” And Johnny loves the character and he’ll tell you that and he was excited about coming back.

You actually do have a bit of a break in between two and three. There was the two month hiatus and then in early 2006 Gore will have to go off and finish editing number two. What was the thinking behind that?

Well, first of all Gore needed time to edit the movie so he needed the two months to cut the two together and then jump to three and you don’t want the audience to over dose on it too, give them too much, so we thought the year apart was good as far as generating more interest. Plus, you have the DVD coming out and revitalising two, before three comes out. So it was a good plan from a business point of view

It must be an added bonus that both Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley have become bigger stars since the first movie?

Yeah, it’s great. The anticipation for the movie is very high. We feel that there is real want and need to see a continuation and since we have created what we consider a full story between the three movies -because everything that you will see in the second and third movie really relate to the first – it’s created a real arc and a real trilogy for the three films.

Is there more pressure after having so much success with the first one?

I feel pressure on every project even the tiny ones. I feel pressure every time I take somebody else’s money and try to get a good return on it. So sure.

You’ve worked on so many different movies- big scale, small scale. How does this compare? Is this the biggest so far?

Yeah I think it is the biggest undertaking that I have ever done. I’m doing two movies back to back plus all of the other things, ten television series and there are two other movies that we are currently working on. This is a big chunk of my time, let’s put it that way.

Q: The first film was a great surprise and no one knew what to expect. But now we kind of know what Johnny’s performance is going to be like. How do you conquer that and still make it surprising?

Well it’s all about story telling. It’s all about really good story telling. We have a new character, we have a number of new characters and we have a creature. It is a bigger, funnier, more exciting script. You don’t know how the movie is going to turn out but I know the script is wonderful and the dailies and cut footage I’ve seen seem terrific. I don’t make the decisions about what you spend money on when you go the theatre, you do,. So whether you’re going to spend your six or ten bucks to go and see Pirates, I don’t know. But I hope you will.

How much input did you have in the scripts?

Well it `s a team; Gore, the writers, myself, my group of executives all work on it together. It’s certainly a vision by the writers and by Gore. The writers came up with the ideas and the new characters for the second and third films then Gore certainly worked on it and embellished it as did our company. It’s a team. But it’s the writers who are the driving force creatively, along with Gore…

Whose decision was it to cast Chow Yun-Fat in the third film?

I think it was a combination of Gore and myself and the writers. He’s just a wonderful actor and he is a real gentleman .I’m thrilled to be able to work with him.

Is the Asian element in the third part an attempt on your part to tap into the huge Asian audience?

Well we had a huge Asian audience for the first one . It did really well out there and we kind of wanted to give them something too. Why not? We really did well in Japan, Hong Kong and all those markets.

The first Pirates introduced Johnny Depp to a much wider audience…

Yeah, sure, Disney made a PG13 movie for the first time and parents thought �Well, it’s a Disney label, maybe my 10 year old can see it.’ Before most of Johnny’s pictures were R rated, or wonderful artistic endeavours, that were not big crowd pullers. But, suddenly kids knew who Johnny was. And we’ve got kids now who want to be Johnny Depp ; 8 year olds running around in pirate hats and swords. Pirate costumes are the most bought costumes now.

Is there going to be a whole lot of merchandise to go with the film?

I hope so because there wasn’t much on the first one. It caught Disney by surprise.

Is the script now driven by something that you can merchandise?

I don’t think we look at it that way, but I think we’ll probably take advantage of everything we have in there in terms of merchandising it. For example, we have a dice game that’s a lot of fun and hopefully we’ll get some company who can do the same dice game. It shows up in the Pirates Two.

Why have you employed so many British actors?

A number of reasons. One they’re really good. I like good actors and they are very talented and this kind movie really lends itself to that. An American accent probably wouldn’t work too well in this movie. So I think it is that old fashion kind of English drawl that they have. It is perfect for a pirate movie.

Do you have to pay your professional cast a little bit more than in the first part?

Yeah, you are absolutely right (laughs)

What are the advantages of a sequel?

For a studio it gives them confidence that there is an audience that is pre-sold. So, if you liked the first one, chances are that you’ll sample the second.

What is the key to controlling a film like this?

Nothing is ever under control. I’m not under control. I can’t control my wife! (laughter) Let alone anything else.

But it’s a big movie?

Yes, as a movie it’s got a lot of moving parts and it is doing quite well. Some parts break down and you fix them. But as, as a movie of this size it’s as good as you can imagine. You don’t know because tomorrow something could happen that you just hope doesn’t happen. I was getting ready to make a movie in New Orleans, and we were supposed to start last October, obviously we didn’t g at that time. So you never know what can happen on a film. But it all comes down to the director and we have a wonderful director and he is very prepared. He knows what he wants to do and most of his big action sequences are pre planned. He’s got IOM working with him and they’re wonderful. So for this size, it is going quite well.

What parts have broken down on Pirates?

Every day something breaks down. I don’t think any major parts. We had a storm in the Caribbean. We built this tank and the depth was down to 25ft and the sand came in and we had to re dig it and put a retaining wall in. But things like that happen on a daily basis: a ship won’t be ready on time, an actor gets sick. We had an actor get sick and he couldn’t fly from England. Those things happen. But it is just part of it being a big movie. I don’t see that as a detriment,. When you have been doing it as long as I have, you just see it as daily events.

What can you tell us about the story? What’s the overview?

Well basically the overview is that the East India Trading Company, which you sort of met in the first movie, has come to Port Royal to take over the seas and make the seas free of pirates and the first thing they do is arrest everybody associated with letting Johnny go and so that’s the beginning. And this character, Beckett is the major villain in the piece. He is trying to get rid of all the pirates. It is kind of like Wal-Mart eating up all the independents you know, so he wants to get rid of all the privateers. And then Johnny made a deal in order to get the Black Pearl before the first movie started, with Davy Jones, the legendary character who lives under the sea. They agreed Johnny could have the Black Pearl for 10 years but then he owed his soul to Davy Jones. And now it’s 10 years and Davy Jones has come back to claim Johnny, and Johnny doesn’t want to go. So he has got to figure out a deal to get him away from Davy Jones. And Davy Jones, because he can’t find Johnny, sends this creature. He’s been living under the sea forever and all his tentacles move and he smokes a pipe. (Played by Bill Nighy).

And how often have you sat down with Keith Richards to discuss him appearing in Pirates 3?

I never have. Johnny has, not me.

Are you still hopeful that it`ll happen?

Well, we’ve got some schedule problems with his tour, so we’ll see.

Does the ending of two leave you having to see three, or is it kind of completed?

I think there is an emotional ending to it. But then there’s something else that happens. It will certainly make you want to come back.

Could you translate this to TV?

You could do anything but hopefully we’ll make more. Hopefully Disney will save these ships, unlike last time, and save the sets and we can continue another trilogy. Another three films. I would love to do that but it’s not my money.

And Johnny has already indicated as well that he would do more…

Yeah, he loves the character and he’d love to play it. He has a fan base at home; his two kids love it. So, that’s a good start.

And so once the third part is over there’s a consideration of doing a 4th and 5th?

Yeah I would love to. But I don’t write the cheques.

You’ve made a lot of films, what is it that you love so much about Pirates?

I love Pirates there are very few films you can take your children to and you can all enjoy the experience. it is rare. Normally we dumb down things for kids and you are sitting there thinking, “I can’t wait to get out of here.” You’re thinking about everything but the movie and something like this comes along and you just get such a broad audience and it is not just a movie here for Americans, it’s bigger elsewhere in the world. And it’s the reason I do this. I have made enough money, I don’t have to do this anymore. But I do it to entertain people and a movie like this really entertains people on a global basis and that is a real thrill to be able to do this – take people away from their lives for a couple of hours and make them feel good, make them feel something. Let them watch something that engages them, where they like the characters and they want to be with the characters and that is a lot of fun.

Are there plans to modify the actual rides in Disneyland?

I know they are doing some alterations to the ride that I think will be open around the time of the movie at least in California, and maybe in Florida, too. I don’t know about the rest of them, but I know they are making some alterations.

Are you on set much yourself?

I try to come by here once a day. But I have so many other responsibilities too. And when they’re out of town I try to go out for a week and then come back for a week. But I do love being with the actors, it’s just that we have so many other things.

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

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

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

The Climactic Maelstrom Scene

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 11:48 am {no comments}

Johnny DeppFor the climactic “Maelstrom” sequence of “At World’s End”-the massive, apocalyptic battle between the pirate and British East India Company armadas that takes place in a supernaturally-induced storm of monumental proportions-the filmmakers had to find a facility in which they could build full-sized replicas of both the Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman from the decks up, as well as various other set pieces.

The only such structure anywhere near Los Angeles (or perhaps anywhere else, for that matter) was Building #703 of the enigmatically named “Site 9.” This elephantine 600 foot long, 300 foot wide and 70 foot tall hangar in the desert community of Palmdale, California-58 miles north of The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank-was built by Rockwell International in 1983 for the assembly of 100 B-1 bombers, and had over the past few years been used as a shooting stage for a number of films, including Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal.

“This is one of the most elaborate and ambitious action sequences I’ve ever seen conceived for a film,” notes Rick Heinrichs, “and it requires coordination of several departments, including ours, visual effects and special physical effects. If it’s even 85% of what we hope for, it will be off the charts.” Adds executive producer Mike Stenson, “You walked inside of that hangar, and it was like Area 51.”

Inside of “Site 9,” Rick Heinrichs worked in synergistic conjunction with another Academy Award-winner, special effects supervisor John Frazier (Spider-Man 2), to construct the Pearl and the Dutchman, decks up, mounted on massive, highly sophisticated motion bases, surrounded by gigantic blue screen backings. “John Frazier is the best special physical effects supervisor there is,” says Stenson. “Nobody else could have pulled off the physical elements of the special effects that we do in this movie.”

Frazier and his team designed and built the motion bases for the two key prop ships, as well as another rig for both the scene in which the Hai Peng goes off the edge of the world, and the “Green Flash” sequence, in which the Black Pearl passes between worlds by turning completely upside down in the ocean. “What we decided to do on At World’s End that has never been done before on any motion picture,” notes Frazier, “was to put a tower at each end of the two ships which allowed us to heave them up 15 feet. And by doing that, we were able to get the actual realistic movement of a ship in the ocean. Normally, we pivot it in the center, but ships don’t do that. In this case, we pivoted the ships on each end to bring the bow up and down, and then we had two hydraulic rams on the either side of the ships that allowed them to roll.”

The construction of the full-sized Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman on Frazier’s motion bases was a huge collaboration between several departments. “We built the motion bases in three months, but in stages. Greg Callas’ construction department built the ships on top of our truss. Then we built the towers on each end of the ships which make them move up and down. We then designed a computerized system to operate them from sort of a mission control. We had 150 special effects welders on the project, and we were working 24/7. They never stopped. The day guys would cut the pieces and lay it out, and the equally talented night guys would weld it all together. All 150 people who worked on this project gave us 150 percent. It’s a long, long process to tune these motion bases with the computer, and requires a lot of patience. It’s like watching paint dry, but our computer team had the necessary patience, and were terrific at their work. They didn’t turn the system on until every bar was synched up, and every graph was there.

“The hydraulics team also stepped up to the plate,” continues Frazier. “There are over 2000 feet of hydraulic hose that runs to the motion bases. There are over one million pounds of steel, some of which didn’t exist, so we had to have a special run made. Nobody had ever done this before, and it was a big honor for us to be chosen for this project.

“In the amount of time that we had to design and create this monster, three ships built on three motion bases in three months is pretty much unheard of,” Frazier admits. “Previous to this, the biggest motion base we built was for the U.S.S. Oklahoma for Jerry Bruckheimer’s `Pearl Harbor,’ and we said that we would never build anything bigger than that. Then along comes `At World’s End,’ and it’s absolutely the biggest thing we’ve ever done, and I can’t imagine that it will happen again. This is the Super Bowl of motion pictures.”

When the ships and gigantic rigs-each weighing more than a million pounds each-had to be moved from one position to another inside of “Site 9,” simple looking but high tech air bearings were called into play, something like mini hovercraft capable of carrying 60 tons. “It’s the best way to move a million pounds of ship,” explains John Frazier. “If you could imagine an air hockey game that’s upside down, that’s what we’re doing… taking the table and putting it on top, and letting the hockey puck move it around. The biggest thing about moving the ships isn’t the moving, but stopping them. Once you take that million and build up that inertia, it’s hard to stop it. So we take these big 12,000 pound forklifts and we chain them right to the motion base so it can’t get away from us. We could literally just move the bases, and the ships, anywhere in the hangar that we wanted.”

For the special lighting required of any blue screen sequence, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski and his gaffer Raphael Sanchez designed a staggeringly complex grid of 1400 space lights, as well as some 40 lights around the 60-foot-tall blue screen that surrounds the ships and at least eight 10,000 amp truck generators, as well as 60 miles of cable and 3,000 frequencies for the dimmer boards. “We created 108,000 kilowatts of power,” noted executive producer Eric McLeod, “enough to literally light 500 homes.”

Frazier and his team of technical experts also designed a system of piping and rain heads installed into the ceiling of the hangar which poured down hammering showers onto the ships (and the actors, stuntmen and crew), driven by several gigantic fans capable of blowing winds up to 100 miles per hour. The rain had to be carefully calibrated and developed by John Frazier and his crew. “We started by testing rain heads for weeks, and finally got the look that Gore wanted,” notes the special effects supervisor. “Then we have to change the heads, because when Gore is shooting a close-up, you don’t want big raindrops falling on people. You need something finer. So we switch out the rain heads depending upon whether it’s a long shot or closeup.

“Because of the size of the Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman, we were probably pumping somewhere around 25,000 gallons of water a minute. This is more rain than has ever been created on a motion picture soundstage. We put tanks outside of the hangar, hooked up the pumps, filtered and heated the water, so basically what we have is this big revolving waterslide. We pump the water in, it goes up 80 feet, rains down on the set, hits the stage floor, goes into the utility corridors that were originally built into the floors, back into the tanks that we have outside, and, recycled, back in again.”

Next Page – Chapter 11: Inside of the Massive “Site 9″ Hangar