CHAOS
Making mischief playing ghostly skipper
curse that he created in him. For Bardem, playing the ghostly villain was “a new challenge”. He added: There is a point in the story where I can relate to him – I can understand his mentality.
“I like to escape as much as I can from a black and white characterisation.
“Of course, he’s a villain, but also we can find empathy for him. We can find a way of being in character that people can relate to in one way or the other. And that’s the challenge.”
Bardem was impressed with the make-up that turned him from a handsome Spanish captain to a spinetingling ghost version of himself.
He said: “It’s pretty amazing what they have done.
“It’s outstanding. It took two to three hours in the make-up chair every day. Once it’s on, it really helps you to get in the mood.
“But also, it doesn’t expression.
“My greatest fear was that I would not be able to show emotion or feeling with the prosthetics on my face. But that was not the case.”
And he promises audiences that they are in for a treat when they watch the film.
He said: “I think they know what they’re looking for and it’s going to be given to them – which is joy and fun and entertainment of the highest quality.
“It’s alive and it has its own beat, and I think people are going to really enjoy it.”
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales drops anchor on Friday. kill your AFTER 1984’s Amadeus, no film-maker has been brave enough to attempt another Mozart biopic.
So John Stephenson has taken inspiration from another Oscar winner for his take on the composer.
Like Shakespeare In Love, his film inserts a fictitious story into real events in Mozart’s life. The superstar maestro (Aneurin Barnard) is in Prague to write a daring new opera called Don Giovanni.
He is there under the invitation and patronage of the Baron Salok (James Purefoy) who we can tell is a wrong ’un by the way the score plunges an octave when his dastardly mug first appears.
“Never be alone with him,” one soprano warns another. So perhaps the married Mozart should have known better than to start an affair with his fiancée Zuzanna (Morfydd Clark).
The costumes are gorgeous, it’s nicely shot and the musical scenes are ravishingly staged.
The only bum note is the romance – I found Mozart, who has a wife and baby in Vienna, a little too hard to root for.
I’m not sure Salok is the only villain of the piece. Order 1 for £7.99 or buy 5 for only £19.97, Half Price.