The Pirate Makers

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 11:22 am {no comments}

The Pirate Makers

Make-Up department head and make-up effects creator Ve Neill, along with make-up effects supervisor Joel Harlow and their huge crew, had their hands full once again taking perfectly reasonable looking human beings into their trailer, and then unleashing an astounding assortment of international pirates, soldiers, creatures and more proletarian citizens of the Caribbean, Asia and Great Britain upon the world. “I think at our peek we had, not even counting the people in the make-up trailers, probably about 45 make-up artists working with background players on some,” says Neill.

Some of the biggest and most difficult days were actually on the Universal Studios backlot, where Neill, Harlow and company were weaving their magical transformations for the Singapore sequence. “We did lots of prosthetics for Singapore. When Sao Feng’s pirates are in the bathhouse, they actually have mushrooms growing out of them, so as to make them appear as though they have been sitting in there for months on end. We wanted to give the Asian pirates, like the other pirates, a really aged, roughed-out look. We make them tan, dirty, stipple to give them a more rugged appearance, and lots of dirt. Oh, and don’t forget the rotten teeth. On `The Curse of the Black Pearl,’ we were painting their teeth, which became a little bit of a drama. Gore would be getting ready to roll, somebody would go and eat an apple, and all of a sudden they didn’t have rotten teeth anymore. So what we did for `Dead Man’s Chest’ and `At World’s End’ was to have a traveling lab with us for dental prosthetics.”

As befits his continued deterioration and merging with the ship to which he’s enslaved, “Bootstrap Bill does progress quite a bit in the third film,” notes Neill. “And unlike Davy Jones and the other members of his crew, it’s all make-up on Bootstrap, and no CGI. He’s a progressive silicone make-up in `At World’s End’ until he’s pretty much covered up, with very little of his own face left by the time he reaches what we called `stage 6.’ “I’ve had great fun,” enthuses Stellan Skarsgård, the distinguished Swedish actor who portrays Bootstrap Bill. “I mean, I spent more time in the make-up chair than in front of the camera.”

“Stellan was really into it,” continues Neill. “What a great guy. He was so patient and willing to sit for hours. He said that it helped him feel the character. But it was really difficult for Stellan to go through all those stages.”

Another actor who got the full treatment from Neill was Chow Yun-Fat, whose handsome, world famous visage was completely altered into a shaven-head, scarred scoundrel of the seas. “Chow was a lot of fun,” Neill says. “We shaved him, and he grew his own mustache and beard, which we then augmented. He also has a fabulous tattoo, which was designed by Ken Diaz, who runs background make-up and is a master tattoo artist.

The stars of `At World’s End’ also undergo some changes, except Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack. “Gore and Johnny both agreed that he has to be exactly who he is, without any changes,” continues Ve Neill. It’s great to have Geoffrey Rush back, and he’s completely fabricated. Beard, mustache, sideburns, wig, scar… all appliances. And because Geoffrey isn’t very old, I also do a big aging stipple all the way around so he gets all crusty and wrinkly. Keira has gotten more rugged as Elizabeth. She’s not that beautiful, pale-skinned little princess who we started off with in `Dead Man’s Chest’ at the wedding altar. She gets very tan, and dirty like the boys, quite womanly and brazen. And as Will, Orlando has a darker, moodier look.”

Once again, Neill worked in close concert with chief hairstylist Martin Samuel, with whom she shared an Academy Award nomination for their work on “The Curse of the Black Pearl.” “I think we all work together really well,” notes Neill. “It starts with costume designer Penny Rose, and we follow suit from there.” Samuel and his team provide the hundreds, if not thousands, of hair designs, wigs, extensions for a kaleidoscopic array of characters, from the traditional “pigtails” of the Chinese pirates to Admiral James Norrington’s powdered wig.

Next Page – Chapter 14: Special Effects: Maelstroms, Squid-Faced Captains

Props: Weapons, Maps, Rings or Whatever

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 10:28 am {no comments}

Props: Weapons, Maps, Rings or Whatever

Whether it’s the weaponry of all nations, drooping telescopes, Jack Sparrow’s rings, pieces of eight which actually resemble pieces of junk, a Pirate Code book or practically anything else one can imagine being handled in the pirate world, property master Kris Peck and his merry band could be relied upon to, by hook or by crook, come up with the goods. With the aide of armourer Harry Lu and historical adviser Peter Twist, Peck either found or fabricated a multitude of weaponry for pirates of all nations, the crusty Flying Dutchman crewmen and East India Trading Company troops.

As Gore Verbinski himself is the first to point out, filmmaking is a collaborative art. And for the past dozen years, one of the director’s closest collaborators has been James Ward Byrkit, a true jack-of-all-trades who, though unseen and (for the time being, anyway) fairly unknown by the millions of “Pirates” trilogy fans, has made indelible contributions to the films on several levels. Byrkit’s end roll title is the rather enigmatic “conceptual consultant.”

He explains, “We had to come up with our own credit, because what I was doing sort of became a lot more expansive than just storyboards. Gore and I started working together when he was directing commercials, and I would storyboard for him. Then, when he started making movies, he would bring me in from time to time and my work expanded. For “Pirates,” we would talk about the script, story, themes, character beats, things that go beyond traditional storyboarding. The best part about films like Pirates of the Caribbean is that there’s lots of room for creative enhancement.”

In addition to the more than 3,000 storyboards for “Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End” that Byrkit created (he also did three weeks of consultancy work on “The Curse of the Black Pearl,” doing the very first drawing of the Black Pearl and other ships), he also bounced back and forth between departments, such as production design, props and the pre-visualization team, helping with simplified animatics of the overwhelmingly complex action sequences that were a blueprint for Verbinski on set, and later, for Industrial Light + Magic’s visual effects.

One project that truly demonstrates synergy between behind-the-scenes artists is the magical map to uncharted realms that our anti-heroes acquire from Singapore pirate lord, Captain Sao Feng, in “At World’s End” that will take them to… well… not only World’s End, but places beyond, around, and upside-down. “We had this big meeting back in July 2005 for which Gore called everybody in,” recalls Byrkit. “He knew that he needed this great map, but wasn’t sure what form it would take. He just knew that he wanted it to be very special, and something we hadn’t seen before. He also wanted there to be secrets to the map: perhaps it changed form and revealed things. We came up with things as varied as something like a pop-up book in which you grab the center of the map and pull it out like a Chinese lantern, or the idea that if you shone a light underneath the map it would project this whole universe, like a planetarium, on the ceiling or the walls. I actually bought a bunch of Chinese lanterns and tried to paint a globe on them, and spent about a week of research and development trying to see if it would work. And after a week, I just knew that it wasn’t going to work.

“So I went back to an earlier idea that I had about a circular map with rings that represented metaphorical places to which you could travel, which I thought tied into the whole “Pirates” theme. Gore and I had been talking about the notion that “Pirates of the Caribbean” takes place during a time in history in which the maps weren’t yet filled in, which means that anything is possible in the world. There are all these places in the world that are Terra Incognita-lands that are unknown-so they could have monsters, they could have magic, they could have new civilizations. I loved the idea that this map was very old, made before the Enlightenment, before people got so scientific about mapmaking, when they still blurred the geographical realities with metaphorical inner journeys which are as important as physical journeys.

“When I showed the mockup of the circular map to Gore,” Byrkit continues, “he said `That’s it! Now, not only do the rings move, but you need shapes to start appearing, and land masses that become shapes.’ I went back and, based upon several conversations and input from Gore, painted a final map which took several months, because it kept evolving. The rings can line up in infinitely different ways, like a combination lock, and each way reveals some new secret, some unknown territory, some unexplored place, some metaphysical place, some parallel universe.

“It took seven or eight months of putting all the elements together, testing them, and making them right. I had several hundred phrases and names of places which I needed to be translated into Chinese calligraphy, so propmaster Kris Peck brought in an expert named J.C. Brown who’s worked on films like “The Last Samurai” and “Memoirs of a Geisha,” to make sure the brushstrokes were right. The original painting was done on washi-handmade Japanese rice paper-that I treated with layer upon layer of transparent washes of watercolors, some acrylic and artist inks. It has a really amazing, transluscent quality to it, and you can tell that there’s a history to it. Over the centuries, pirates have added their own secrets, scribbled notes to each other, just unlimited mysteries that it holds within.”

The final map, burnished with the patina of time, was converted by Peck into an actual prop and created the mechanics that make the rings turn in an entirely “practical” manner, with no CGI enhancements. “The inner workings of the map underneath are really beautiful,” enthuses Byrkit, “like a grandfather clock.”

In addition to such poetic places on the map, depicted in Chinese characters, as “Ghosts of Lost Souls at Sea to be Shepherded Through the Watery Passageway,” “Forgotten Sailors Sleep with Eyes Open Dreaming of a Salt Water Death” and “The Rich Man Finds No More Hope of Continued Life-Death Will Always Be A Stairway Behind,” there are also paintings of several creatures both real and mythological on the map, including a dragon, a tiger and another small creature who looks curiously like an early version of a certain undeniably cute little animal who was to become the world’s most legendary mouse. But when asked about it, Byrkit just mischievously smiles, and says “There are some secrets on the map that are beyond even my understanding!”

As costume designer Penny Rose is the first to point out, Captain Jack Sparrow’s indelible, pirate-bohemian look never, ever changes from “The Curse of the Black Pearl” to “At World’s End.” Well, almost never. Because if one looks at Captain Jack’s expressive, ever in motion hands, one will notice that in between the first and second films, the rings on his fingers (if not on his toes) grew from one to four.

In conversations between Johnny Depp and Penny Rose, the two decided that Captain Jack has had a few ladies in his day, sometimes very rich, sometimes widowed, sometimes with husbands far away. So every now and then, Witty Jack (as Tia Dalma aptly dubs him) gets into their jewelry boxes and helps himself to, shall we say, a souvenir of their romantic encounter. Then it was up to Kris Peck to supply the actual items, which were carefully chosen by Depp according to what he most felt Captain Jack would care to show off as part of his overall couture.

“The original ring that I wore in “The Curse of the Black Pearl” with the little skulls was one that I found about 17 years ago in a thrift store or something,” recalls Depp of the piece of jewelry which Captain Jack wears on his right index finger. On the wedding finger of his left hand, the good Captain sports a black and gold ring with three diamonds and a floral design, decidedly feminine and undoubtedly one of the pieces of memorabilia of a one night, or two hour stand with an elegant lady of high or low quality (Johnny Depp decided that she was, in fact, a Spanish widow). What Peck calls the “dragon ring,” a large item with a graceful gold dragon, wings outstretched, embedded in jade, is worn on Jack’s left index finger. However, in “Dead Man’s Chest,” while perusing Tia Dalma’s treasures in her swampland shack, Captain Jack considers exchanging the dragon ring for one with a large purple stone in a solid gold base…then decides to stealthily nick it instead, slipping it onto his left index finger, and moving the dragon ring to his left thumb, thus gracing four of his ten digits with elegant adornments.

Next Page – Chapter 16: The Wrap of Captain Jack: At Production’s End

This purple ring was artfully re-created by Kris Peck from a 2,400 year old original that was actually owned by Johnny Depp until the Fates had their way, and it tragically went missing during the filming of Dead Man’s Chest. Seems as if it wasn’t only Captain Jack who had a light-fingered touch!

The Wrap of Captain Jack: At Production’s End

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 10:18 am {no comments}

The Wrap of Captain Jack: At Production's End

On the last day of the combined “Dead Man’s Chest and “At World’s End” shoot, for all of that day, and the one preceding, the usual raucous and explosively noisy atmosphere of filming inside of the “Site 9” hangar gave way to a hushed, almost cathedral-like mood. Only Johnny Depp was working on those days-the hundreds of extras and stunt players that usually populated the set were taking a day of rest, and it was remarkably peaceful and quiet.

On both days, members of the crew had almost confused looks on their faces, as the realization dawned that incredibly, the impending departure of Depp proferred some kind of proof that filming was, incredibly, drawing to an inexorable finale. “It’s not a gig, it’s a lifestyle,” was a refrain often heard amidst the company…you wake up, you get dressed, you go pirating for 12 to 14 hours a day, and you just keep doing it week after week, month after month, and, for that matter, year after year.

Although Depp completed his last scene at about noon, he was put into a holding pattern until Gore Verbinski learned whether or not some footage shot the day before has made it cleanly from the camera to processing in the lab. Six hours later, the word came in that all looked fine…which meant that Johnny Depp was free to leave.

Except that four years, one month and 8 days after “The Curse of the Black Pearl” first commenced filming, Depp wasn’t quite sure that he wanted to.

“The possibility of saying goodbye to Captain Jack perhaps forever is not one I look forward to,” he said about a month earlier while filming in the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes near Santa Maria, California. “But if that is the case, we had a good run. I know Captain Jack will always make me smile.

`Pirates’ has done a lot for me, and in every way you can imagine. But most importantly, what I’ve felt is this intense, pure joy. Playing this character, and being this character and delivering this character will always bring a smile to my face… always make me happy and proud.”

In the hangar, a large pastry which looked for all the world like the birthday cake for a little boy who’s crazy about pirates, replete with toy figures and little ships, was positioned next to the shooting set, reading:

DEAREST CAPTAIN JACK, MAY YOUR COMPASS ALWAYS LEAD YOU BACK TO US THANK YOU.

The group exploded into cheers and applause at Depp’s appearance in the hangar. “I’ll be incredibly brief,” he told his friends and comrades, “because I may weep. You guys have made this the most amazing experience of my life, except for having my kids. I’d go to war with any of you.

“I’m going to call this a break, or a hiatus, or something…it’s happened to us before, hasn’t it? But I don’t feel like I can say goodbye… certainly not to any of you… and not to Captain Jack either. “Thank you for the ride.”

Next Page – Chapter 17: Aloha Oe: Hawaii Farewell

Aloha Oe: Hawaii Farewell

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 10:11 am {no comments}

Aloha Oe: Hawaii Farewell“Aloha Oe” was the beautiful song of farewell written by Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s still-beloved last monarch. So perhaps it was fitting that the last three days of principal photography would take place on two of the most beautiful islands in the her still gorgeous kingdom.

Following yet another Christmas / New Year break, a reduced crew, along with Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, flew off once again in the second week of January 2007 for one final location: the magnificent islands of Maui and Molokai in the exquisite Hawaiian chain. Requiring a dramatic tropical locale, Bruckheimer, Verbinski and production designer Rick Heinrichs decided that it was far easier to find what they were looking for with a relatively quick 5-1/2 flight to Hawaii than spending 10 hours flying back to the West Indies.

Very remote locations were discovered by location scouts Laura Sode-Matteson and Val Kim (who, although now L.A.-based, are Hawaiians themselves) both on Maui, and then the nearby Molokai, which is a mere 15-minute flight away from the more heavily populated and touristed island. As usual, unpredictable weather followed the company right to the end, with the skies over Maui darkening dramatically throughout the shooting day, occasionally showering the company with water rather than sunshine. Nonetheless, the rugged coastline selected by Verbinski and the moody clouds formed a perfect backdrop to the scene.

Crew members lucky enough to be seated on the left side of the small prop airplane traveling from Maui to Molokai were amazed at the sight of the world’s highest sea cliffs, and the oceanfront settlement of Kalaupapa, the colony of those stricken with Hansen’s disease (leprosy), still in existence some one hundred years after they were ministered to by the legendary Father Damien, who himself died from the terrible ailment after contracting it from those he so lovingly tended to. Peaceful, traditional Molokai is also a refuge for traditional Hawaiian culture, proudly upheld by its hospitable inhabitants.

The two days in Molokai alternated clouds with brilliant sunlight. However, the beach location, dotted with sharp, black volcanic rocks, was nearly a mile from the nearest road, so access was difficult. So much, in fact, that ace pilot David Paris, who usually flew a helicopter for sweeping aerial shots, now utilized it for cargo duty, hauling the heavier equipment from basecamp to the beach with a net on multiple runs, both at the beginning and end of the filming days. “Gore is always looking for a visual treat,” notes Jerry Bruckheimer, “and he never takes it the easy way. He always wants something that’s really spectacular, something you haven’t seen before. So when we went to Molokai, Gore wanted to find a place in which to shoot that was almost impossible to get cameras and equipment into.”

“It was a good operation, very safe and well done,” adds first assistant director Dave Venghaus. “Everyone pitched in lugging equipment around the beach. It was fun, we got it done, and that’s the way you should do it. It was logistically very difficult, and watching our cast and crw climb up on volcanic rock was both interesting and unnerving.”

But as always, there were no obstacles to Verbinski completing the final, 272nd day of combined principal photography of “Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End” (that’s 284 days if one counts pre-principal shooting) on January 10th, 2007, just a month-and-a-half shy of two years to the day that the cameras first rolled on February 23rd, 2005. And the finale was celebrated in suitably special fashion when the warm, aloha-drenched locals of Molokai feted the entire company with a real, down-home luau, replete with beautiful flower leis, a whole pig roasted in an imu (underground lava rock oven), such traditional foods as poi and haupia, and a rip-roaring performance by the young and enthusiastic members of a local halau (hula school).

It was a well deserved final gift of the heart to a company which had endured the extremes of filming conditions, weather, discomfort, geography, time away from family and home, and almost never wavered over the course of nearly 300 days of shooting. “I guess this is what Darwin was writing about,” joked Gore Verbinski as he surveyed the survivors-those faces which remained from the first day of production in February 2005-in the lunch tent on the final day of production in January 2007.

For Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer, the end of shooting just marked the beginning of an unbelievably intensive four-and-a-half month post-production schedule which would see them working 24/7 with film editors Craig Wood and Stephen Rivkin, visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Charlie Gibson, the Academy Award-winning team of supervising sound editor/designer Christopher Boyes, supervising sound editor George Watters II and sound mixers Paul Massey and Boyes (all of whom were nominated in two different categories for “Dead Man’s Chest”), and an army of other technical artists.

And once again, as he has for the first two “Pirates” movies and several other Bruckheimer and Verbinski films, Hans Zimmer would again compose the music. “Hans is one of those artists who always comes up with something fresh, unique and different,” says Bruckheimer. “He’s a brilliant composer who has these wonderful melodies in his head. You hear the `Pirates’ theme everywhere now, and for `At World’s End’ he’s created several new motifs and melodies, as well as a new love theme. It’s wonderful to watch Hans in the recording sessions, when he has 80 musicians and talks to each individual violinist to tell them exactly the pitch, tone and feeling that he wants in every note.”

Next Page – Nothing But Praise for Gore Verbinski

Nothing But Praise for Gore Verbinski

Filed under At World's End Production Notes by on April 26, 2011 at 10:06 am {no comments}

Nothing But Praise for Gore Verbinski

As for the director’s punishing schedule, “Gore has been on these two movies for so long without a break that I’m not sure if he remembers the names of his kids at this point,” says Bruckheimer, half-jokingly. “He’s a consummate professional and perfectionist, so every little frame receives his complete attention. That’s the kind of director you want to work with.”

Two years is a long time in anyone’s life, and for the cast and crew that made it through all 284 combined marathon shooting days of “Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End,” approaching wrap brought a bagful of seriously mixed emotions. “I’m proud of the journey we’ve all made over the past two years on these two movies,” states executive producer Eric McLeod. “It’s been a huge part of our lives, and I think in the end the crew will look back on the sacrifices they made and feel that it’s worth it, because a film like this is not a job. You make it through with a great group of people, and we’ll all be asked about them for years to come. We’ll all be telling stories about what it was like to work on the second and third `Pirates of the Caribbean’ films. To survive these two years, it was about getting along with others and being able to deal with constant change. A lot of people have come and gone on these films…we’ve had over 4,000 people work on both movies, but there was a core group that stayed on the whole time. These were films that could wear you out if you didn’t just focus and keep moving forward.”

Adds unit production manager Doug Merrifield, “Our crew are the top guns of the movie industry, the best of the best. There’s a certain type of crew that you need to be able to pull off these big pictures, and we certainly had that across all departments.” That, of course, included the cast. “It was a very physically challenging picture, and it’s a long time over the course of two years to stay in character,” notes Merrifield.

“It’s been such a chunk of my life,” notes Mackenzie Crook. “It’s not just been a job, like other films I’ve done. This is the `Pirates Period’ of my life, like my childhood, or youth. “It’s going to be like breaking up with your girlfriend,” said Martin Klebba incisively just before he wrapped his role. “There are no egos on set, everybody gets on together, and it’s a really nice working atmosphere,” adds Naomie Harris. “With all of the special effects and stunts, sometimes the shooting was really tough, but the nice thing is that everybody works together as a team and pulls together at those moments. It’s also nice to do a movie that my brother and sister, who are 11 and 7 years old, can to go see and enjoy with the rest of the family. That means more to me than breaking box office records.”

“Because I am a fan of the first and second `Pirate’ movies,” confesses Chow Yun-Fat, “working with Johnny, Geoffrey, Keira and Orlando was just like a little child walking in dreams. Working with them gave me great pleasure, and I was very, very happy.”

Adds Jack Davenport, “It’s been an odyssey, an experience that’s unrepeatable, the end of an era in terms of filmmaking. It has a kind of `Apocalypse Wow’ factor. I think my greatest treasure on this job has been watching the crew conquer the logistical and artistic demands. It’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen in any group of filmmakers in my life.”

Once again, the actors had nothing but praise for their fearless leader, director Gore Verbinski.

“I honestly don’t know how Gore is able to be upright after all that he’s done,” says Johnny Depp of his director. “Everything that he retains in his brain…it’s weird. The truth of the matter is that, as an actor, you could almost not read the script at all and just rely on Gore. He’d never steer you wrong. He knows exactly every point that needs to be made. He’s just a wizard. It’s shocking and mind-boggling what Gore is capable of.”

“Gore is one of the greatest directors I’ve ever worked with,” profers Bill Nighy, who should know after his long international career on both stage and screen. “Every actor on the film will tell you the same thing. Nothing gets past him in terms of the authenticity of performance, and Gore knows that no matter how many special effects, wonderful landscapes or ships, what it comes down to are two people communicating. Not only can he spot what’s wrong, but he can really help you. I just can’t say enough about him.”

“Gore never ceases to amaze me with the energy and focus that he has,” says Mackenzie Crook. “On this, which must be one of the most complicated film projects ever undertaken, to make two incredibly plot and character-driven movies simultaneously, so that some days we’d be doing a scene from `Dead Man’s Chest’ in the morning and a scene from `At World’s End’ in the afternoon, or vice versa, he at all times knows what comes immediately before and after the scene you’re shooting, and where you should be in the scene emotionally, even if you’ve forgotten…which I often did.”

“I would argue that the crew we had on these two movies, many of whom were on the first film as well, is the finest ever assembled in Hollywood,” says screenwriter Terry Rossio. “Everybody is A-list all the way.” Adds writing partner Ted Elliott, “And Gore is a superstar. He’s the heart and soul of the whole production. He has abilities that just seem almost impossible to see. I’ve never seen the right person be in the right place so profoundly as Gore on these films. His ability to multitask, to have expertise in the worlds of acting, screenwriting, cinematography, studio politics, is beyond the capabilities of normal men. The guy is an alien creature.”

“Gore wakes up every day as if it’s day one of shooting,” says executive producer Chad Oman. “So even if you’re 100, 200 days into the schedule, he’s just excited as if it’s the first. He’s running around the set like a kid, cheerleading everyone, trying to get the best out of the cast and crew. Gore’s as smart, if not the smartest, of all the people I’ve worked with in any field. And at the same time, he has a great artistic sensibility. Ted and Terry laid the foundations of the tone, and then it goes through Gore’s filter, with its very interesting intellectual and absurd sensibility.” Adds Mike Stenson, “Gore is absolutely a perfectionist. Any director who gets to that level of success has to have a kind of mini nuclear power plant inside of them that just keeps them going.

Adds first assistant director Dave Venghaus, “Gore brings an energy to the set that’s addictive. He wants the best, not only for the film, but from everybody. I’ve never seen Gore sit down. He’s involved in all aspects of filmmaking. He never runs and hides in his trailer, but is on set from the beginning to end of every day. He’s there in the mix, gets as wet as everyone else, gets as dirty as everyone else. He dives in, and expects you to keep up with him, to anticipate, and to give 200 percent.”

Everyone was also glad to have spent another large chunk of their lives in the world of a Jerry Bruckheimer film.

“Jerry is sort of the Great Protector,” explains Johnny Depp. “He wards off all and any evil spirits. And if anyone had anything really grave at stake in the beginning, it was Jerry. Talk about rolling the dice. I mean, for an actor, you come in, do your bit, and if works it works, and if it doesn’t it doesn’t, and it’s on to the next one. But Jerry really took a risk.”

Adds Orlando Bloom, “It’s funny, because Jerry Bruckheimer is huge, a gigantic force in the industry, but he’s also a mate, a really good guy with a wealth of work behind him, but just a man loving his work and loving life.” Says Lee Arenberg, “Jerry is the last true Hollywood producer/storyteller in that he allows his filmmakers to go for it. He’s like the best poker player in the world, who holds all the cards, but knows when to use them.”

“What’s great about Jerry is his calm,” says Eric McLeod. “I mean, a film like this is its own maelstrom, and Jerry is the calmest person on the set. He’s approachable, you can always go to him with problems. He’s been doing large films like this probably longer than anyone else in the history of film, and he has a world of experience in knowing how things work out in the end.”

Notes executive producer Mike Stenson, “Jerry is like a great NBA coach. He puts an all-star team together, pushes for the best from everybody, and calls the plays. Jerry tends to be more hands-on than most producers, which is why, when you look at his body of work over a 25 year period, there is a certain sensibility to it all.”

“It’s been quite a ride,” mused George Marshall Ruge. “It was an odd feeling to come to the end, because everybody became family, and we’ve poured a lot of emotion and soul into this project. On the one hand, there was relief, because at the pace and with the length of the shoot, we were eventually going to drop. But there’s also great sadness that we’re leaving our `Pirates home.’ Hopefully, we’ll be able to reunite many times over the years, and out paths will cross many times. So it was a time for reflection, proud of what we did, sad, happy, relieved and looking forward to reunions.”

“Jerry Bruckheimer came up to me at one point and said `It’s pretty big, isn’t it?’ And I said, `Yeah, it’s all downhill from here. And he said me, with a grin on his face, `That’s what they told me when I did `Beverly Hills Cop.’”

In the end, as Bruckheimer explains, it all comes down to the fundamentals of what brings people into a movie theatre, which has changed little despite the enormous leaps in technology from the time audiences stared wide-eyed at the Melies Brothers’ special effects spectacles at the turn of the 20th century, howled uproariously at the comic exploits of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, or sat at the edge of their seats at fantastic feats of derring-do by Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn.

“Our biggest challenge for `At World’s End’ is to entertain the audience,” says the producer, “and just make sure that they have a great time. The film is even more intricate than `The Curse of the Black Pearl’ and `Dead Man’s Chest.’ It has enormous battles, character turns, romance and humor. It’s what we all make movies for, and all of the elements of why people have gone to the movies for the past hundred years or so. We want to suck the audience into our magical world on that screen, take them to places they’ve never been before with characters they fall in love with…and in the end feel a little better than when they walked into the theatre.”

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