On Stranger Tides: Beyond the Trilogy

Filed under On Stranger Tides Production Notes by on December 10, 2011 at 9:11 am {no comments}

On Stranger Tides: Beyond the Trilogy

“When three films together bring in $2.6 billion dollars worldwide, you understand pretty quickly that a message is being sent to you by audiences,” notes Producer Jerry Bruckheimer of the international response to the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, subtitled “The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003), “Dead Man’s Chest” (2005) and “At World’s End” (2007).

“The numbers are wonderful,” Bruckheimer continues, “but what’s even better is that they tell you something of what these films have meant to moviegoers. Audiences fell in love with the pirate genre all over again after an absence of some three decades, and they certainly fell head over heels for Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow! There are more adventures for Captain Jack to take on, and our screenwriters, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, had already created a whole world to explore.”

And exploring that world is just what the audience will do when they travel with Captain Jack on his action-packed journey to the legendary Fountain of Youth. When Jack crosses paths (and swords) with the enigmatic Angelica (Penélope Cruz), a ravishing pirate with whom he shares a dubious past, she forces him aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship belonging to the legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane).

Finding himself a prisoner on an unexpected journey to the fabled fountain, Jack must use all his wiles to deal with the barbarous Blackbeard and his crew of zombies, Angelica, who can—and will—match him wit for wit and sword for sword, and beautiful, enchanting mermaids whose masterful cunning can lure even the most seasoned sailor to his doom.

Johnny Depp, who had fallen unabashedly in love with the character of Captain Jack Sparrow over the course of the first three films, was certainly game for another new adventure. “The idea of a fourth one after finishing ‘Pirates 3’ was somewhere in the back of your head, thinking, ‘I sure hope so,’” notes Depp.

“When you’re done playing Captain Jack, there’s a real decompression getting out of that skin, because I like being in that skin,’ says Depp. “There’s a great comfort in playing Captain Jack, because you have license to be completely irreverent, completely subversive, absolutely abstract in all situations. I know him so well that it just comes naturally.” Depp adds, “I was very happy with the work that Ted and Terry did on the screenplay for ‘On Stranger Tides.’ It was like the gates were reopened and it was all fresh. It really felt closer in spirit to the first film, getting from Point A to Point D to Point Z without too many subplots and complications.”

Depp was also enthusiastic to work for a fourth time with Jerry Bruckheimer, who had guarded the actor’s wholly original vision of Captain Jack Sparrow when the first film began to shoot. “We wouldn’t have been able to get away with a third of what we got away with on ‘Pirates 1’ without Jerry Bruckheimer,” states the actor. “Without Jerry’s support, and his understanding of the material, saying, ‘Okay, I know that some people are scared but this sure seems funny to me, why don’t we go with it,’ the first film would have been much more generic, not much fun, and I would have been fired!

“Jerry knows these films well,” continues Depp. “I’ve been in umpteen script meetings with the guy, and never a false note comes up; he always comes up with something interesting. And if you’re in a pinch, he’s always the guy who says, ‘Don’t worry about it; we’ll get it taken care of.’ Jerry really produces; he’s untamed all the time and allows us to be in an atmosphere that’s conducive to making something interesting and different. There have never been pressures in that regard; it’s always sort of, you know, ‘Bruckheimer’s got it.’ You know he’s handling it. It’s cool.”

Bruckheimer notes, “At this point, Johnny is the most popular actor in the world, one of the best actors in the world, and certainly the most committed and hard-working. He’s somebody you love working with, because every day, he comes on the set with a smile, ready to go to work and have a great time, yet work very hard.”
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On Stranger Tides: The Queen Anne’s Revenge

Filed under On Stranger Tides Production Notes by on December 10, 2011 at 7:52 am {no comments}

On Stranger Tides: The Queen Anne's Revenge

“It’s always a thrill, and very exciting, to be on a pirate ship,” says Jerry Bruckheimer. “I think every kid wants to be a pirate, and working on these movies, we all have the chance to live our dreams.” Even if that pirate ship is a floating nightmare. Imposing, terrifyingly beautiful, a brutal beast of the sea, the Queen Anne’s Revenge is Blackbeard’s vessel, and an extension of his own dark vision of life…and death.

Director Rob Marshall notes, “The Queen Anne’s Revenge is an incredibly evil vessel: It’s made of the skulls and bones of Blackbeard’s victims. It’s been prophesied that Blackbeard will die soon, so there is also a sense of doom on the ship. It’s a majestic pirate ship, so it was absolutely thrilling to sail.”

“The scale of it was unbelievable, and the craftsmanship was amazing,” comments actor Stephen Graham, who filmed many of his scenes aboard the craft. “It’s all hand-painted, hand-crafted, and it’s like being at Disneyland every single day.”

“How fabulous to work on a pirate movie and get to design a ship,” enthuses John Myhre. “We were handed the Black Pearl which was redesigned and built by Rick Heinrichs, the production designer of the second and third ‘Pirates’ films. Rick and his crew, plus the boat builders, constructed the Black Pearl around the hull of a modern steel boat, and it was completely navigable. And since the Black Pearl doesn’t figure into the story of ‘On Stranger Tides,’ Disney wanted us to use the ship as the base for the Queen Anne’s Revenge. So we basically sliced the entire top of the boat off, and were able to come up with whatever we wanted.”

Myhre looked at a lot of old pirate films and noticed that it was not always easy to distinguish one ship from another in battles, but he wanted to make the Queen Anne’s Revenge stand out and look like the most powerful ship on the seas. “The real Blackbeard captured over 20 ships,” says Myhre, “so I pitched the idea that he kept the one that was the most elegant and grandest. So we took the base of a two-story ship and turned it into a three-and-a-half-story ship.”

Before its transformation into the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the Black Pearl sailed an astonishing 2400 nautical miles in two weeks from San Pedro, California to Barbers Point, Oahu, (since it was constructed for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” built around the hull of an offshore supply boat called the Sunset, the Pearl has put in more than 8,000 nautical miles), under the expert seamanship of its captain, Glenn Hall, aka “Captain Kiwi” and his crew of seven very hearty shipmates.

For four months at The Phoenician shipyard in Kapolei, Greg Callas’ construction crew, in concert with Bruce Ross’ marine department, gave the Black Pearl its ultimate makeover. “The ship had sat in dry dock for five years, so she was tired in spots,” notes Callas. “We had to do a lot of deck replacement, with lots of sculpting of elements in Los Angeles and then shipped to Oahu.”

After its retrofit and redesign by Myhre and U.S. Supervising Art Director Tomas Voth, the Pearl re-emerged as something utterly unlike its previous incarnation. “We decided to make the stern of the boat as high as it could possibly be and still be able to sail,” notes Voth. “On the third deck, we’re 55 feet up in the air from the water line. We had to put several tons of lead weight in the front of the ship so it didn’t pop a wheelie, and the ship is now 100 tons heavier than it was as the Black Pearl.”

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On Stranger Tides: Pirates in the Third Dimension

Filed under On Stranger Tides Production Notes by on December 10, 2011 at 7:34 am {no comments}

On Stranger Tides: Pirates in the Third Dimension

“The only way we would release ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ in 3D,” states Jerry Bruckheimer, “is if the film was actually filmed in 3D. This was very important to both Rob Marshall and me, because what we want to do is to give the audience a completely immersive experience in crystal-clear 3D that brings them right into the action, not hurt their eyeballs. And this is one of the first big adventure films to shoot in 3D on location rather than against green screen or entirely on soundstages.

With this one, we are actually in the jungles, on the beaches and on the streets of 18th-century London. “It’s a much different experience when you have to deal with the elements with two cameras rather than one, so it takes more time and adds to your budget,” Bruckheimer continues. “But shooting in digital 3D gives real dimension and size to the movie.”

“We felt very much like pioneers, I have to say,” adds Marshall, “because rarely has a film taken 3D cameras into these remote locations. We took these delicate cameras into locations like jungles, beaches, caves and ships. It was a challenge. We discovered a lot on our feet as we were going.”

Shooting in 3D presented numerous challenges to Director of Photography Dariusz Wolski (who had served in that capacity on all three previous “Pirates of the Caribbean” films on 2D 35mm film and whose collaborations with Jerry Bruckheimer go all the way back to “Crimson Tide”). “Jerry really threw a curveball at me when he said that we should shoot ‘On Stranger Tides’ in 3D,” Wolski admits. “It was a fairly new technology, and other big adventure films, like ‘Avatar,’ had been done primarily in the computer. No one had really done a movie from beginning to end, physically on location, in 3D. And especially a movie like ‘On Stranger Tides,’ which required exotic locations, big seats, boats, jungles, beaches and all the natural environments.

“It was very ambitious, and very scary,” Wolski continues, “because although everyone wants to make 3D movies, it wasn’t really figured out. We shot with two RED cameras rigged together, one shooting into a mirror. Everything has to be electronically coordinated, so there are a lot of cables, scientists and computers all over the set, and we also had a 3D monitor that we used to analyze the imagery while we were filming.”

The highly evolved RED cameras also allowed Wolski to film 3D with great attention to historic detail and lighting. “We’re trying to be very true to the period in retaining candle and natural light, as you see in 18th-century paintings. The RED is remarkable when it comes to low light level, which people relate to, as they do to a beautiful sunset,” adds Wolski.

As for the artful usage of 3D in “On Stranger Tides,” Dave Drzewiecki, the on-set stereographer, notes, “You can poke people in the eyes with spears and shoot water at the lens, but that’s not really what this movie’s about. It’s actually a very immersive and, in many ways, subtle use of the 3D experience, and it’s much grander in its depth.”

On Stranger Tides: Calling Action!

Filed under On Stranger Tides Production Notes by on December 10, 2011 at 7:26 am {no comments}

On Stranger Tides: Calling Action!

“There’s no one better at creating action than George Marshall Ruge,” says Jerry Bruckheimer of the stunt coordinator/ department head and second unit director who had previously devoted his skills to the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies as well as the two “National Treasure” hits (not to mention Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy).

“This particular ‘Pirates’ movie has more of the vibe of the first film, very much character-driven, especially by Johnny as Captain Jack,” says Ruge. “I’m very comfortable designing action for that character. I feel like I know him like a family member. And then we have the new characters, and it was important for me to get a handle on them and to make sure that we blended those characterizations together in a way that animates the story.”

Ruge and his key collaborators in the stunt department, including Assistant Stunt Coordinator Daniel Barringer, Sword Master (and Stunt Double) Thomas Dupont, UK Stunt Coordinator Greg Powell and Head Stunt Rigger Kurt Lott, created a range of elaborate set pieces which often defied the laws of gravity, including Captain Jack’s 25-foot leap off a jungle cliff in Kauai and another dive off an exploding lighthouse in the Whitecap Bay scene, an intricately choreographed sword fight inside the Captain Daughter pub’s vast two-level storeroom, the thrilling carriage chase through the streets of London, the rigging of the Queen Anne’s Revenge coming to life and hoisting mutinous pirates up to the yardarms, the unprecedented mermaid attack sequence and a monumental climax at the Fountain of Youth (which Ruge began rehearsing with his stunt team in March but didn’t begin filming until October). For filming in England, Ruge and Powell enlisted no fewer than 100 stunt players.

The leading players certainly enjoyed the physicality of their roles. “All my great heroes were basically silent-film guys, where they didn’t have the luxury of words,” notes Depp, whose dexterous performances throughout his career have amply displayed his balletic physicality.

“I did two months of training in Los Angeles before filming began with George and his amazing team of people,” adds Penélope Cruz. “They taught me to lose the fear and how to be 100-percent alert.”

“You know, ‘Pirates’ has taken up seven years of my life, so I feel protective of it,” concludes George Ruge. “When you put that kind of time into anything, you want it to be memorable.”

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.”

Pirates Sails to New Overseas Record

Filed under Pirates Box Office Results, Pirates Facts by on May 23, 2011 at 12:21 am {no comments}

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Key territories included the United Kingdom ($19.5 million), Germany ($19.4 million), Japan ($18.2 million), France ($14.8 million), South Korea ($12 million), Italy ($11.5 million), Australia ($10.3 million), Spain ($10 million), Mexico ($9.8 million) and Brazil ($6.1 million).

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides off-set its domestic franchise dip with an unprecedented estimated $256.3 million foreign debut. That topped Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as the highest-grossing start ever overseas, and it was also up 20 percent from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’s $216 million.

Further illustrating their rapid growth and increased importance to the foreign marketplace, Russia and China were Pirates’s top territories with $28.6 million and $20 million, respectively. On Stranger Tides is already the top Pirates movie ever in China, and it’s just a day or two away from reaching that mark in Russia as well.

The movie also had strong launches throughout the rest of Europe and Asia, and set industry records in Latin America, the Middle East, Norway, Turkey and Ukraine. Key territories included the United Kingdom ($19.5 million), Germany ($19.4 million), Japan ($18.2 million), France ($14.8 million), South Korea ($12 million), Italy ($11.5 million), Australia ($10.3 million), Spain ($10 million), Mexico ($9.8 million) and Brazil ($6.1 million).

Including its $90.1 million domestic take, On Stranger Tides registered a $346.4 million worldwide start. That ranked slightly ahead of At World’s End but behind Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($381.6 million) among worldwide launches.

The big question now is whether On Stranger Tides can surpass At World’s End’s $654 million overseas total. It’s obviously off to a strong start, though it will likely fade fast over the coming weeks against stiff competition from The Hangover Part II, Kung Fu Panda 2 and X-Men: First Class.

Box-Office: Pirates Rides Smaller ‘Tides’

Filed under Pirates Box Office Results, Pirates Facts by on May 23, 2011 at 12:01 am {no comments}

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger TidesPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides swooped in with the top-grossing weekend of the year so far. The supernatural swashbuckler claimed an estimated $90.1 million at 4,155 locations, edging out Fast Five’s $86.2 million launch. That was also the 12th highest-grossing May opening ever, but, since close to half of On Stranger Tides’ gross was from 3D presentations at a record 2,747 locations (and due to today’s general ticket prices), its estimated attendance level would rank 27th.

Relative to its predecessors, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sank: At World’s End drew $114.7 million on its first weekend in May 2007 (not including $13.2 million in Thursday night previews), while Dead Man’s Chest raked in a then-record $135.6 million opening weekend back in July 2006. Adjusted for ticket price inflation, those grosses would be the equivalent of $131 million and $163 million, respectively. Since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was the franchise establisher, its early grosses were in a lower league, though still bustling ($70.6 million in its five-day launch, or $92 million adjusted). On Stranger Tides’s start was also less than that of the last Johnny Depp spectacle Alice in Wonderland, which began with $116.1 million.

On the plus side, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ opening held better relative to its predecessor than Shrek Forever After’s did on the same weekend last year. On Stranger Tides was always destined to debut lower than At World’s End and Dead Man’s Chest, given the mixed reaction to those movies and how the audience lost interest with At World’s End. Sealing the deal was On Stranger Tides’ lower key approach: it came off as just another Pirates movie in its marketing and lacked stand-out visual and character moments. Distributor Walt Disney Pictures’ exit polling indicated that 54 percent of On Stranger Tides’ audience was male and 54 percent was over 25 years old (the age 26-34 group was most represented at 24 percent, followed by 18-25 with 22 percent).

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

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

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