“One of the most exciting aspects of ‘On Stranger Tides,’” says Jerry Bruckheimer, “is that, for the first time, we have a London setting for part of the story, rather than the jungles, oceans and colonial outposts of the Caribbean. It really gives the film an entirely different look and feeling.”
Although the venerable Pinewood Studios outside of London would provide John Myhre, U.K. Supervising Art Director Gary Freeman and their mammoth art department with a gigantic playground in which to build their sets, some of the region’s most heralded historical buildings and other sites would also host the “On Stranger Tides” production. So ambitious was the effort to create the physical world of the film, the U.K. art department for the film numbered six art directors, five draftsmen and concept, graphic and storyboard artists. Construction Manager Andy Evans’ department included 62 carpenters, 29 painters, 71 plasterers, 36 riggers and 14 sculptors…not surprising when one considers that the production built huge sets on five different Pinewood soundstages, including the 007 Stage, the largest such facility in Europe, and a large exterior backlot set as well.
The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England, is an extraordinary collection of historic buildings dating from the late 17th to the mid 18th centuries—with its own piratical connections—which essentially became a backlot for more than three weeks of filming. The building standing in for the Old Bailey courthouse in the film is actually Sir Christopher Wren’s magnificent Painted Hall, which was partially financed with funds confiscated by the Crown from Captain Kidd’s booty after he was hung at Execution Dock across the Thames from the complex in Blackwall.
During actual filming, a huge blue screen was situated, with the image of Wren’s St. Paul’s Cathedral and sailing ship masts “painted” in by artists from Visual Effects Supervisor Charles Gibson’s department. “We needed a really wonderful opening establishing shot of deep in the heart of London,” notes John Myhre, “so we used the lower level of the buildings of the Old Royal Naval College for our extras, carriages and horses, but everything above the first level painted in through visual effects.” This included replacing the Painted Hall’s weathervane with a digital re-creation of Lady Justice, who strides atop the Old Bailey, holding a sword in one hand, the scales of justice in the other. A scene was actually filmed inside of Wren’s Painted Hall of Captain Jack being unceremoniously dragged through the entrance hall of St. James Palace by Royal Guards.
A huge swath of the Old Royal Naval College, including the exteriors of the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, Grand Square, Queen Mary Court and buildings which currently house the University of Greenwich and Trinity College of Music, were also utilized for the film’s thrilling carriage-chase sequence. Completely obscuring the modern pavement were copious amounts of realistic mud, with more than 500 costumed extras, 25 period carriages (85 percent of which were originals rather than replicas), 50 horses and untold crew members, from Jerry Bruckheimer and Rob Marshall onward, getting realistically filthy in the process, up to their ankles in muck. Trinity College also provided the company with often marvelously incongruous background music to the exciting goings-on, including jazz and modernistic twelve-tone.
A delightful sidebar to the filming in Greenwich was an unexpected event that became international news overnight. During the shoot at the Old Royal Naval College, 9-year-old Beatrice Delap, a bright little student at Meridian Primary School—spitting distance from the filming locale—sent Johnny Depp a hand-written letter with the following missive:
“Captain Jack Sparrow, at Meridian primary school we are a bunch of budding young pirates. Normally we’re a right handful but we’re having trouble mutinying against the teachers. We’d love it if you could come and help. From Beatrice Delap, aged nine, a budding pirate”.
About a week later, Beatrice and her classmates were called into the auditorium, the students fearing a tongue-lashing or worse for some nefarious playground incidents. Instead, unannounced to anyone but the school’s principal, in strode Johnny Depp, fully attired as Captain Jack, on a lunch break from filming at the ORNC along with a few other crew members—including the film’s Oscar®-winning makeup designer, Joel Harlow—suitably attired as fellow buccaneers. For 15 minutes, the children and teachers were mesmerized by the presence of the iconic character and his creator, who spoke, sang and danced for the assemblage.
Recreating both the exterior and interior of St. James Palace in “On Stranger Tides” required the seamless melding of shooting at Hampton Court Palace for Captain Jack’s surprise arrest by Royal Guards, then the interior of the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich as the pirate is literally dragged by soldiers to King George II’s lavish dining room, followed by a built set piece of the St. James Palace exterior built at the ORNC. The king’s dining room, however, was in fact a splendid set on R Stage at Pinewood Studios.
“That becomes an amazing action sequence, and for that, you need to control the environment completely,” notes John Myhre. “When you have Captain Jack swinging on chandeliers and throwing chairs through 18th-century windows, you need to build it.”
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