Pirates of the Caribbean's fourth high seas adventure is a return to the fun of the beginning and a happy reunion for shipmates Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz reports Michele Manelis.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth instalment in one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history, grossing US$2.6 billion ($3.3 billion), is set to sail.
At the helm, of course, is Johnny Depp as the beloved pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow. The movie is closest to the original, 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which involved a simpler storyline. The follow-up movies, 2006's Dead Man's Chest, and 2007's At World's End, were largely considered convoluted, and too lengthy. The budget on Pirates 4, is leaner than the previous two films, and comes in at US$200 million (the first three were made for $140, $225, and $300 million, respectively). Despite the commercial success of the trilogy, director Gore Verbinski, chose not to return.
Says director, Rob Marshall (Chicago, Nine), of coming onboard, "The new storyline was fresh and I also liked the new characters. For this reason I thought I had a new way in. I was given a new story to tell.
"I probably should have been more intimidated to take on this task, but actually, I was only excited. It was a thrill to be asked by Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp to take this one on, and as a film-maker, I had secretly always wanted to do an action adventure for my family."
With Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom's services no longer required, the new characters include Penelope Cruz, as Angelica, the first female pirate of the franchise. At the time of filming, she was pregnant to now-husband Javier Bardem, which posed some practical challenges. Cruz says, "With the costumes, they had to make a few adjustments over the months. Wearing the costumes really helped because for a character who is so far away from our own reality, to imagine what a pirate might have been in those times, it really, really helped to get in those boots and clothes and to be in those locations."
This marks the second time Cruz and Depp have worked together. The first was over 10 years ago in drug saga Blow. "He was already a very big star when I worked with him for the first time. Since then, he kept growing and growing in every way and evolving. He's an amazing human being. We all know how talented he is but when you spend a lot of time with him and see how he is with his friends, his family and with everybody he works with, he's really a lesson and an example in so many ways. He's really humble and really smart," says Cruz.
Depp was equally complimentary."It felt like when we saw each other again that we'd wrapped the film Blow the week before.
"It just clicked instantly. In terms of chemistry, it was just instantly firing on all cylinders. It felt completely right. It was Rob's brilliant idea to bring her in."
Marshall, who worked with Cruz in Nine, adds, "We were nervous about the pregnancy, but she was game.
"And she was also the only one we considered for this role. This character needed to go toe-to-toe with the iconic Jack Sparrow. Her character is a tomboy. I think it worked that she was carrying a little boy, a little Bardem inside her."
Geoffrey Rush resumes his role as Captain Barbossa, who remains Captain Jack's rival and comic foil.
"We're a bit like a bickering, old married couple," explains Rush of the dynamic.
"It's become an imaginative metaphor for Johnny and me as actors. After all these years, it feels like we've been married and there are certain things in the marriage we can never resolve, so we have that constant spat."
How does the Oscar/Tony/Emmy-winning actor view the immense popularity of this Titantic-sized franchise?
"The surprise of the popularity of Jack Sparrow came out of left field. On the first movie, it wasn't anticipated to be the kind of big hit of that summer of 2003. The fact that he's a complete anti-hero is what's important, I think." He laughs. "He can't walk properly on land, or on a boat. He's confused and he likes a drink. But, if you watch Johnny very closely in some close-up shots, for a character that seems very loopy, there's a great strategic, honourable mind at work with a kind of principled way of behaving, of having a sense of personal freedom. I think that's very good within this pirate genre. It's a very interesting contemporary hero. [These days] I don't think you'd have a classical Greek noble hero. It wouldn't make sense to people because irony is such a major part of contemporary thinking."
Shot in Hawaii, the Caribbean, London, Los Angeles, and Puerto Rico, Marshall says, "Maybe foolishly, I wanted to bring all this equipment into real locations. I didn't want to do green screen. I wanted to go to actual caves and jungles and buildings and ships. It wasn't easy," he says.
Throwing another challenge into the mix, the movie was also shot in 3D. Says Marshall, "Let me say this: I'm from the school where I don't believe every movie should be in 3D. I feel it has to be appropriate to the film. It has to lend itself organically. It doesn't always apply, but this was a world to inhabit, so it made sense," he says. "I didn't want to shoot in 2D and convert it later. I can always tell, and for me, it had to be very real. I didn't want it to be 'cheesy 3D'. I hope it was 'elegant 3D'."
Another newcomer, British actor Ian McShane (Deadwood), was perfectly cast as the fearsome Blackbeard, a worthy opponent for Captain Sparrow. While most actors will tell you, ad nauseam, about the craft of acting and its many cerebral challenges, McShane, a well respected, theatre-trained actor who has starred in more than 30 films, speaks plainly about why he got involved.
"Cashing the cheque, of course. Plus I got to keep the outfit afterwards, and my grandkids got to me see in a movie, which is really nice," he deadpans, and adds, "And then, like all men, I gave all the money to my wife." He smiles. "But being the biggest bad-ass pirate of all time, that's pretty great."
Prior to the Pirates franchise, Depp's cachet in Hollywood didn't exactly set the world on fire. The handsome 47-year old Kentucky-born actor says of his journey to mainstream stardom, "It's interesting to experience this ride after what was essentially 20 years of enjoying a career based on failure. And then suddenly something clicks. The weird thing is, I never changed a thing. The fact that people decided to go and see a movie I was in was probably the most shocking thing I've ever been through."
Eight years and four films later, how much longer can he continue playing the beloved pirate?
"Oh, I'll keep going until they'll have to wheel me in," he laughs. "I'll let my dreads get tangled in the wheels of my chair."
LOWDOWN
What: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
When and where: Opens at cinemas on Thursday
- TimeOut
