“I think Barbossa is actually quite smart,” Rush continues. “That’s probably why he’s survived, because he used preemptive logic to map out his plans and deceive people. He pretends to be a gentleman of the sea, but he is a dirty old cunning rogue.”
Rush speculates that Barbossa may have, at one time early in his life, had “very earnest desires to be a man of the sea. But he realized pretty quickly that you could actually get a lot more if you broke the rules, lied to people, killed a few people and took over. Maybe that’s the innate fantasy people have about being a pirate.”
Rush and Johnny Depp had similar styles in their approach to the material, and both actors took full advantage of the screenwriters’ availability on set. The two actors, unrecognizable to passersby in their pirate garb, spent most of their time between camera set-ups outside the stage door, hashing through scenes with Elliott and Rossio.
Although Depp and Rush had only a handful of scenes with one another during the six-month shoot, it is immediately clear from their interaction that there is a long and sordid history between Jack Sparrow and Barbossa—and a mutual admiration between the actors. “Geoffrey’s a very interesting actor, a renegade,” says Depp. “I love his work. He never sticks his neck out in quite the same way. He likes to throw ideas out there and try new things, and so do I. This was just as important as any other truly serious, heavy film for Geoffrey; he didn’t hold anything back. He’s deeply committed, which is one of the reasons I was excited to work with him.”
“Jack is probably the pirate that everyone wants to be; he is freewheeling, he is absolutely his own man, he’s hilarious—he’s like Johnny,” comments Rush. “It was extraordinary to watch Johnny create this character. It was such a cool performance, very masterfully done. He is a brilliant actor.”
Bruckheimer cast Orlando Bloom in the role of handsome blacksmith Will Turner after meeting him on his film “Black Hawk Down.” As “Pirates of the Caribbean” opens, 10-year-old Will is pulled from the Caribbean Sea drifting amidst the murdered crew and burning wreckage of a British ship attacked by pirates. That day, aboard the H.M.S. Dauntless, Elizabeth takes from the unconscious Will a souvenir—a medallion bearing the skull of a pirate’s Jolly Roger— hoping to save his life. This event sets the whole story in motion.
“When we first cast him in ‘Black Hawk Down,’ I knew his time would come,” says Bruckheimer. “I just didn’t know how lucky we’d be to grab him before all the frenzy started with the two ‘Lord of the Rings’ films. I actually talked to him about this role while we were on ‘Black Hawk’ and he thought it sounded like a wonderful character.”
Bloom recalls that at a wrap party for the forthcoming film “Ned Kelly,” in which he and Geoffrey Rush performed, he had a curious conversation with the Oscar®-winning actor about pirates in Australia. “Geoffrey said he was involved with this movie,” says Bloom, “and then I found out Johnny was doing it. I was like, where do I sign?”
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