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Directing the unpredictable Keith Richards and settling for his third choice actor Geoffrey Rush, for the character of Captain Barbossa, were just some of the challenges Gore Verbinski faced when directing Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which is now in cinemas.
Oh, and there’s also that little issue of matching the international box office returns of the first two Pirates films, which when combined, came to a whopping US$1.75 billion ($2.68 billion).
Rolling Stones guitarist Richards, 64, who was the original inspiration for Johnny Depp’s now iconic Captain Jack Sparrow, makes a much hyped cameo in At World’s End as — what else — a pirate and Verbinski compared the experience to nature photography.
In earlier reports, Bill Nighy, who plays Davy Jones, had said Richards was drunk on set.
Verbinski, a baby-faced 43-year-old, said at the press junket for At World’s End in Los Angeles: “You don’t direct Keith Richards. It’s like nature photography, you just try to capture him. It’s clear that he’s the real pirate and the rest of us are pretending.
“You don’t get too many takes with him. He doesn’t stay where you put him.
Johnny Depp has the sea legs, the meandering walk that he can turn on and off, but Keith can’t.”
As for Geoffrey Rush, whose Captain Barbossa has a much expanded role in the third film, Verbinski joked that the 56-year-old Oscar-winning Australian thespian was actually his third choice for the role.
His first two choices were the late Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers.
“Villains can be two-dimensional but Geoffrey sees this as an opportunity. He’s theatrical and yet absolutely committed as an actor. “If you have something silly, you give it to your most serious actor. I always try to go against the grain.”
But going against the grain is certainly hard when you’re at the helm of a top grossing Hollywood franchise with the studio at your back, especially when your most memorable effort prior to the Pirates films was the horror movie The Ring (2002), a remake of the cult Japanese hit. Verbinski’s other films, The Mexican (2001) and The Weather Man (2005) didn’t do well at the box office.
Verbinski half-joked that he “doesn’t advise it”. The pressure was especially strong during the beginning of making the second Pirates movie, Dead Man’s Chest.
“The first film made US$300 million, so you think, this one has to make US$300 million or it’s a disaster. That combined with audience expectations … they already have pride of ownership of characters … those two things are very dangerous for a director because you end up second guessing a lot of things.”
Fortunately, the box office takings of At World’s End have been impressive so far.
It made US$156 million during the Memorial Day weekend in the US. But over here in Singapore, perhaps what audiences are really excited about is that the Singapore connection in the first two Pirates films comes full circle in the third.
Our little island is an actual backdrop for a key scene in At World’s End.
“When we decided to make two movies, we looked at the first movie and thought, what are the assets? What are the myths we haven’t dealt with?” he explained.
“And Singapore was mentioned in the first movie, just in passing.
Stylistically, an Asian influence seemed like a wonderful opportunity.
“Once we were going to do that and have the pirate lord (of Singapore) Sao Feng, we decided on Chow Yun Fat to play him.
“He’s an icon, there’s nobody else. He’s a legend.” - TODAY/fa
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