You Don’t Know Jack
PIRATES OF THE CA RIBBEAN: SALAZAR’S REVENGE Fresh blood has been called in to power the latest high-seas swashbuckler…
Before bloated sequels caused the SS Caribbean to run aground,
Pirates Of The Caribbean was an unexpected treat, one of 2003’s most entertaining blockbusters. So, for Norwegian directing duo Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, unearthing creative treasures buried since Curse Of The Black Pearl was a priority. “My favourite is the first,” Rønning tells Teasers. “It [ was key] to really analyse why it became a success.”
Rønning hit upon three key reasons: “A combination of comedy, spectacle and heart.” And not the tiresome gurning, weightless CGI and hollow sentiment that the Pirates sequels traded in, but the riotous physical humour, inventive set-pieces and loveable cast of miscreants that saw
Black Pearl sail into fourth place on the highest-grossing films of 2003 list, and Johnny Depp Oscar-nominated for his flamboyant turn as Captain Jack Sparrow. Jeff Nathanson was hired to pen the screenplay, replacing series staples Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, while Rønning and Sandberg were brought on following their Oscarnominated aquatic drama Kon-Tiki. But what did Disney bigwigs see in the pair whose previous films couldn’t cover the cost of catering a Pirates production?
“First of all, I’m really good at shooting on water,” laughs Rønning. “If you look at Kon-Tiki it’s a characterdriven piece, but it has scope. That combo was something they liked.” Despite their indie origins, Rønning and Sandberg took to mega-budget movie
making like a pair of salty sea dogs to the ocean. The toughest thing: learning to let go. “In Scandinavian filmmaking you’re a part of everything,” Rønning explains. “At times, you push the dolly or you put up the light. I made the poster for Kon-Tiki. But in this case, you’re working with the best in the industry. And they have the money to bring your vision to life.”
Taking a page out of Black Pearl’s playbook, the fifth film finds a washed-up Captain Jack on the run from a ghost pirate with a vendetta – Javier Bardem’s Spanish naval captain Salazar. To stop the spectral terminator, Jack jumps behind the wheel of his decrepit vessel, the Dying Gull, and goes in search of the legendary Trident of Poseidon. On the way, he joins forces with Pirates newbies Carina Smyth ( Skins’ Kaya Scodelario) and Henry (Brenton Thwaites). Rønning “grew up with the franchise”, and fondly recalls seeing Depp in character as Jack Sparrow for the first time. “It’s magic. It’s such an iconic character. The set transforms when he walks on. That’s when you’re making a Pirates movie, when Jack Sparrow arrives.”
But with Jack’s shtick wearing thin over the years, Salazar’s Revenge is looking to add new shades by delving into his past, with Depp playing a digitally de-aged Jack in flashbacks, and starting the film in a dark place. “He’s lost his mojo. He can’t even be on the water,” Rønning says. “We dig deeper – as deep as we can with a character like Jack Sparrow.” The film will also see Jack take a back seat to Carina and Henry. “It was important to go back to the same dynamic that the first movie had where Jack is not really the main character,” Rønning continues. “I wanted a story about real people, real characters – and then Jack Sparrow comes in and crashes the party every now and then.”
In the case of Henry, a Royal Navy sailor on a mission to save the father he barely knows, and Carina, a headstrong mathematician and astronomer, the idea was to bring a contemporary flavour to a swashbuckling period romp. “It was important for us to modernise it with Henry and Carina,” says Rønning. “Kaya, especially, brought that with her. She’s a modern woman.” Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is back, having commandeered Blackbeard’s vessel. And after skipping
On Stranger Tides, Orlando Bloom returns as Will Turner, the father of Thwaites’ Henry. “It was such a privilege to be able to put the band back together,” says Rønning.
Bardem, meanwhile, is no stranger to memorable bad guys, and is set to bring new flavours to the series with the unsettlingly polite and unhinged Captain Salazar. “He’s played some of the most iconic villains in movie history, so he set the bar very high,” Rønning notes. “I was a little nervous people were going to root for Salazar, because you understand why he wants revenge. It was amazing to watch.”
With a reported budget of $320 million, Salazar’s Revenge is currently the second most expensive film
ever made (only Pirates predecessor On Stranger Tides cost more), with production designer Nigel Phelps constructing an entire Caribbean village for the film, as well as 13 life-size ships, including a reconstructed Black Pearl. But for all the no-expense-spared spectacle, Rønning made sure not to skimp on good old-fashioned creativity. “The first couple of Pirates movies have very original action choreography. Johnny Depp’s inspiration for Jack Sparrow was Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. We have some really fun action set-pieces. That’s when I really felt like I had all the resources in the world, because you come up with this crazy idea, and then three months later they’ve built it.”
One of those crazy ideas? Ghost sharks. “They were a late addition because we wanted an action sequence that was a little more fantasy. In
Kon-Tiki, I had real sharks. But ghost sharks are so much cooler!”
‘it was important to go back to the dynamic of the first movie’