Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

 

WEIGH ANCHOR AND SET

It would be a short trip from 'matey" to 'g'day, mate" when the production chiefs of 'Dead Men Tell No Tales" decided to sail 'Pirates of the Caribbean" to stranger tides. After scouting numerous international locations, the production settled upon basing themselves in the tourist valhalla of Gold Coast in the state of Queensland on the east coast of Australia. The fifth film in the now-legendary series, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," began filming there on February 16, 2015.

Over the course of the shoot, the production dropped anchor in several other locations around the Australian coast, notably Moreton Bay, Lennox Headland Reserve, Hastings Point, Tamborine Mountain and the famed Whitsunday Islands, before finally docking in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the final days of shooting.

Coming on a 'Pirates of the Caribbean" film for the first time is director of photography Paul Cameron. 'Paul Cameron is on his first foray into making a -Pirates of the Caribbean' movie," says Bruckheimer. 'So he gives it a fresh perspective. He's got an amazing eye and is somebody who understands how you use light and how you make things spooky and scary, and also very vibrant. He covers every base and gives the -Pirates' film not a new look but a different look."

Production designer Nigel Phelps, who had created the humongous and meticulously detailed sets and ships for Bruckheimer's production of 'Pearl Harbor," signed on and was tasked with designing and constructing a large number of environments, from an entire Caribbean village to a god's tomb at bottom of the ocean floor. He also designed thirteen ships, some of them 160 feet long, including a completely reconstructed Black Pearl and Queen Anne's Revenge, and Captain Salazar's 'floating castle," the imposing galleon Silent Mary in both pre-ghost and post-ghost versions, as well as British Ships of the Line, pirate vessels, and the delightfully pathetic and dilapidated Dying Gull, which Captain Jack commandeers for lack of anything else available to him at the moment. 'The main thing is that you want to respect what's gone on in the past films," notes Phelps, 'which looked fantastic, but you want to freshen it up and try to bring images to the screen that haven't been seen before."

The saga began on the first day of principal photography, with directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg first tackling huge scenes in the massive St. Martin town set, a fictitious village in the Caribbean conceived by Phelps and supervising art director Ian Gracie, and brought to fruition by a veritable army of craftsmen. Built on five acres of verdant terrain in the Hinterlands suburb of Maudsland, St. Martin is a highly imaginative version of a fanciful, teeming British colonial village in the Caribbean, circa 1750.

 

Considering that both Port Royal and Tortuga had been depicted in previous 'Pirates of the Caribbean" films, Phelps was determined to create an environment for 'Dead Men Tell No Tales" that would give audiences something fresh and different. 'I created a mix of styles between English, Italian and French, and applied Caribbean colors to a European-based architecture," explains Phelps. And as huge as the set already was, Phelps charged construction manager Sean Ahern with building several of the individual structures in a way that they could be lifted by crane and driven to another part of the town, which, according to Phelps, 'was a good thing, because that helps us to get a lot more real estate."

One of the highlights of the dazzlingly scaled St. Martin town set was Swift's Chart House, jam-packed by set decorator Beverley Dunn with maps, charts, books, globe, ship models and, as its centerpiece, a huge telescope jutting out of its observatory roof. 'I was trying to make Swift's feel as if it's this very academic and theatrical place," says Phelps. 'I wanted it make it feel partly like a library, partly like a museum, and partly like an observatory."

The initial sequences in St. Martin included nearly 500 extras magnificently attired by Penny Rose, horse-drawn carriages and carts, animals, and an entire wooden bank careening down the street, pulled by a team of horses manned by Captain Jack's band of pirates in a literal bank robbery. This important, complex sequence was shot intermittently over the course of many weeks.

On February 23, the first morning of the bank heist shoot, first assistant director Chris Castaldi surveyed the spectacle before him on the St. Martin set, and noted the shot about to take place: 'Twelve horses pulling an entire bank building are going to gallop down the road here and crash through a market. Three of the stalls have ratchets so they're going to go flying back into the walls. Then I've got forty stunt guys jumping out of the way. Paul Cameron has seven cameras working, two long lenses, two crash boxes, a handheld, a crane up on a roof, and a drone flying in the sky. So it's a fun little stunt to start our Monday morning off. What could possibly go wrong? It's going to be great!"

Stunt coordinator Tommy Harper certainly had his hands full with this extraordinarily difficult sequence. 'We started off with a bang, right out of the gate," he smiles. 'We had the great Australian wrangler, Grahame Ware, Jr., on the lead horse. And we had a great stuntman and motorcycle racer originally from the Gold Coast, Mark Tearle, driving the bank."

And just how does one go about driving a bank?
'We have a tractor-like vehicle, called a Manitou, and the art department actually built the whole bank around it," Harper explains. 'There's a Plexiglas false-front of the bank, and, although we can't see through it, Mark can from the inside. He would drive it and we would talk him through it as he's ripping through stuff and going around corners. It was a real team effort between the wranglers, the special effects department, and our stunt department."

 

For the second week of shooting, production moved to the expansive 'ship arena" in nearby Helensvale, containing nearly full-sized vessels mounted on sophisticated computerized gimbals and turntables developed by multiple Oscar®-winning special effects supervisor John Frazier, who was a consultant on the film.

The first vessel to be filmed in the Helensvale arena was the British warship Essex, and, with actors and background players dramatically lit by director of photography Paul Cameron on the deck, with smoke and fog wafting over the masts and sails, even those who were accustomed to shooting on the open sea on the previous films had to admit that the illusion was almost complete.
'Prior to filming, we decided that we were going to be a more or less land-based picture," explains executive producer Joe Caracciolo, Jr. 'We built two huge blue-screen arenas and laid concrete pads in Helensvale. We basically have two configurations of ships, 110-foot and 130-foot versions, and, keeping the same chassis and carriage underneath, production designer Nigel Phelps and his team created more than ten different ships to build on top of them."

'It was impossible for us to build thirteen actual ships for water shooting," notes Jerry Bruckheimer. 'The amount of time we would have spent ferrying cast, crew and extras from land to sea, and then dealing with weather and lighting factors, would have added weeks, if not months, to our schedule."

With the increasing sophistication of digital effects, it would be difficult to tell the difference between one and the other, and that job fells to visual effects supervisor Gary Brozenich, who had received an Academy Award® nomination for his stellar work on Bruckheimer's production of 'The Lone Ranger" and had previously done a considerable amount of VFX work on 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."

On the film, Brozenich and his visual effects teams were faced with a myriad of challenges in creating some 1,800 visual effects shots, from manifesting photo-realistic water where none existed to enhancing the makeup effects of Salazar and his exceedingly odd crew to creating one of the most terrifyingly original shark attacks in film history, grotesquely marvelous ghost seagulls, and even a ship figurehead that comes to life and battles the besieged Captain Jack.

SHIVER ME TIMBERS!

The third week of filming would see Javier Bardem beginning his initial days of work as the vengeful Captain Salazar. He and his ghostly crew were a frightful portrait of spectral deterioration of corporeal flesh, attired in ragged uniforms, while they manned their equally as creepy vessel, The Silent Mary.

Called a 'bruised bouncer" by its architect, production designer Nigel Phelps, the Silent Mary is nothing less than a floating Spanish castle, with turrets, swiveling cannons on deck, and statues of medieval knights in full armor adorning her decks and exterior. The 'cursed" version of the Silent Mary presented a fascinating contrast, a symphony of picturesque deterioration: large gaps in its rotting wood structure; seaweed crawling up the mainsail; kelp adorning the fraying ropes; turrets, cannons, statues, weaponry, all now covered in slimy green moss; sail shredded and torn into little more than rags; the stalwart mainsail now broken in two and drooping over the deck...the former pride of the Spanish Navy now a terrifying spectre, much like its captain.

'Both ships are a work of art," says Javier Bardem of the two versions of the Silent Mary, 'but especially the ship that is cursed and becomes the ghost ship. It was mesmerizing and what I felt being on it was the sadness; this eternal pain I always imagined my character and his crew were carrying for so many years because of the curse. The pre-cursed one was the opposite. It was shiny and powerful and completely indestructible. And that's what the character of Salazar is like when he's alive. He's very keen to be the king of the sea and the ship reflected that."

For his ghostly makeup, Bardem spent two to three hours a day in the chair under the artful care of Academy Award®-winning makeup and hair designer Peter King. 'It's pretty amazing what they've done with the makeup," notes the actor. 'Once it's on, it really helps you to get in the mood. But also, it doesn't kill your 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. I could do that, which is where you see the quality of those makeup artists. So yes, it was a long process of being in the chair every day, but also very rewarding because it helped me to see myself like that and to find the character."

Describing Salazar and the ghost crew, Bardem notes, 'I think they are people who have been abandoned and dead inside, but there is kind of a living rage, a flame of life that they are constantly seeking. They are not figures of death, but of life that could happen soon, and they are trying to reach it." Adds Peter King, 'Creating Salazar and his ghost crew took some three months of concept work, throwing ideas backwards and forwards between Espen and Joachim, Jerry and myself, and my team."

On the idea for the look, director Joachim Rønning says, 'Part of the idea for Salazar and his crew was that on the day that they die inside the Devil's Triangle, Jack had tricked them into sailing in there. They can still walk around but they may be missing part of their attire and limbs, and some are even missing half their heads. So it's quite scary, but it's also a little bit of fun in that they're walking around with just half a brain."

Espen Sandberg adds, 'They're caught between the living and the dead. They are dead but they're still here. We wanted to give them a ghost-like appearance, so, for example, their hair floats like it is underwater. And so does their wardrobe. And there are also pieces falling from them as they're moving around. They're falling apart and they're disintegrating before your very eyes."

For both directors, getting the right look for Salazar and his crew was a priority and they worked closely with Nigel Phelps, costume designer Penny Rose, and visual effects supervisor Gary Brozenich to create the foreboding world that they inhabit. 'It was very important for me to sell the idea of the ghosts coming from the depths of the sea, so I came up with the idea of the floating hair and uniforms," Rønning explains. 'It was amazing to see how VFX supervisor Gary Brozenich and the MPC team managed to make that concept come alive in hundreds and hundreds of Salazar shots."

King's inspiration for the look of Salazar and his ghastly, undead crew came from an unlikely inspiration. 'Cracked turf," he explains, 'so that we get this almost shattered effect on their faces, with parts blown away, which will be further enhanced with CGI. We wanted them to look like ghosts, not zombies, as if they've survived a huge blast. The process of making up the ghosts is about two hours for each. We have to paint all of the cracks, using methods of air brushing and hand painting and splattering. Then you start building up the layers with prosthetics."

King's hair department would create more than 1,000 wigs for the film, and on the biggest days make up seven hundred extras and thirty principals, with a main team of twenty-two people and another seventy in a vast tent for background, stunt players and wranglers humorously referred to as 'the sausage factory."

Four to five hours per sitting were needed for King to transform the beautiful Golshifteh Farahani into the bald, tattooed, sinister but alluring Shansa, the sea witch. 'Jerry Bruckheimer said, -Let's push it a bit more on this one,' so those were our marching orders," notes King.

The remarkably talented, internationally honored actress was delighted to find herself on a 'Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. 'I'm usually working in independent European cinema, and for me being in this big Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer production was quite a surprise. In the film, they transform me into something so different than anything I've done. I have to be really patient during the hours of makeup, but I enjoy it at the same time because it's a beautiful opportunity."

Describing Shansa's artfully bizarre lair, Nigel Phelps says, 'I'm really intrigued with the crossover of religion, mysticism and magic in the 18th century, and I wanted Shansa's cabin to feel very organic and kind of spiritual. There are no right angles or flat walls; it's all very natural. I also wanted it to contrast with the military hospital where Henry first meets Carina, formal architecture with big vaulted ceilings, a passive place which you feel is the calm before the storm." Set decorator Beverley Dunn festooned Shansa's lair with skeletons, animal carcasses, dried herbs, 'anything you can make a spell from," as Phelps puts it.

Phelps and supervising art director Ian Gracie's brilliant and all-encompassing visual designs of the film extended to Beverley Dunn's set decoration and property master Richie Dehne's departments, keeping everything consistent with directors Rønning and Sandberg's visions. One of the most important props was also one of the most compact: Galileo Galilei's diary, left to Carina Smyth by the father she never knew, with a ruby embedded in its leather cover and many mysteries embedded within.

 

'A lot of time was spent on just what would go into the actual book itself," explains the prop department's Gabby Smith, 'so each page had a lot of design work going into it, with calligraphy, mathematical equations, algorithms and diagrams." To age the diary, Smith laughingly admits to an amazingly low-tech method much in use in Australia: 'The diary is dyed with the use of one of our favorite beverages…hot tea!," she confesses. 'Sometimes we also use some instant black coffee, and we'll either soak the paper in it or squirt it on to get uneven patches. Then it's under the sun for a quick aging of paper."

In March, much filming was done in the Helensvale ship arena on the Essex, Monarch, Queen Anne's Revenge, Silent Mary and, finally, in April, the new version of the Black Pearl"an exact re-creation, from bow to aft, of the two previous versions of the Pearl as seen in the first, second and third films"with the sophisticated, computerized gimbal on which it was mounted giving all on board the exact impression of being back on the open sea, buffeted by waves, wind and current. Remarkably, the new Black Pearl's weathered capstan is the very same one from the version of the ship seen in 'The Curse of the Black Pearl," having also been used for the Black Pearl seen in 'Dead Man's Chest" and 'At World's End."

Next up for production designer Nigel Phelps was creating a majestic ocean floor and the Tomb of Poseidon, a wondrous landscape of rock, coral and black sand (the latter created from pellet-like pieces of ebony rubber). With water sloshing in ten trays suspended fifty feet above the studio floor and lit with twenty-two LEDs by key lighting designer Raffi Sanchez"a veteran of all five 'Pirates of the Caribbean" films"it looked as if the entire building was under water.

Quipped Kaya Scodelario, 'It's like filming in a fish bowl! It's very beautiful, and very grand, and very, very wet. It's the backside of water, intimidating and dangerous. Seeing the craftsmanship and the detail, it was very easy to lose yourself and feel like you were in a completely different world. As an actor, it's incredible to have a set of that scale."

'My initial thought was to make the Tomb of Poseidon more Atlantean," says Phelps, 'but Joachim and Espen wanted something more otherworldly, something we haven't seen before, something that looks like it was built by the gods. It was a good challenge because it meant that I had to come up with something that looks like nature had built it, but something still architectural. I came up with an idea of it being a kind of gigantic shell that's been there for centuries but eroded and rotted away."

It wasn't only stunt coordinator Tommy Harper's team of daredevils risking life and limb for the film. During filming on the ocean floor set, both Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush found themselves suspended some thirty-five feet aloft, soaked by rain towers, to the wild applause of the company far below on the studio floor.

Another spectacular action sequence orchestrated by Tommy Harper, Australian stunt coordinator Kyle Gardiner, fight coordinator Thomas DuPont (a longtime 'Pirates of the Caribbean" veteran) and fight choreographer Andrew Stehlin was a duel between Captain Jack and Salazar, which takes place along the side of the Black Pearl and Silent Mary, with Jack leaping from cannon to cannon on each ship like stepping stones as he tries to escape with his life. Notes Tommy Harper, 'The swordplay in the film is very important, so I brought in Tom DuPont, who worked on the other -Pirates of the Caribbean' movies as a stunt double and fight coordinator. Tom is an amazing sword master, and he's choreographed every bit of the sword work you will see in this film."

'Tom, the actors and their stunt doubles rehearsed it for three months," says Harper. 'The ships are in heavy seas, so they're moving 20 feet, one going up while another coming down. Javier trained with us for his sword fighting. He's a really quick study, seemed to enjoy himself doing the stunts, and it was a lot of fun working with him." For the scene, Harper had Johnny Depp suspended 30 feet off the ground standing on a cannon, but thankfully attached to safety lines.

In June, as the production made its way into the Australian Fall, filming began to stretch beyond the protected confines of St. Martin, ship arena and Village Roadshow interiors, and get closer to where the public was eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of the biggest film to ever hit their shores. Their patience was well rewarded when Johnny Depp, in full costume as the beloved Captain Jack Sparrow, did a meet-and-greet with thousands of enthusiastic local fans, and television and news reporters during filming in several different locations.

Shooting aboard the Dying Gull at sea in beautiful Moreton Bay reminded -Pirates of the Caribbean' production veterans of the previous films, when a good deal of time was spent rocking and rolling on open water, with base camp set up on two local ferries lashed together.

The company then headed south to the lush green cliffs of the Lennox Headland Reserve, a small coastal town in New South Wales between Byron Bay and Ballina, standing in for Caribbean cliffs for a scene with Orlando Bloom, Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites. This was followed by three epic days of shooting the exciting and often hilarious Execution Square sequence on the St. Martin set, with Captain Jack and Carina forcibly marched in, respectively, for beheading by guillotine and hanging (incidentally, the heads in the basket beneath the guillotine were amusingly crafted in the likenesses of directors Rønning and Sandberg, courtesy of the special effects makeup department).

One of the elaborate 'gags" devised for the film by screenwriter Jeff Nathanson and then executed by stunt coordinator Tommy Harper and the special physical effects team was a spinning guillotine, with Captain Jack spinning with it. 'I highly recommend installing one of these in your backyard," said Depp to the assembled extras"and he should know, having survived the rigors of the revolving mill wheel on 'Dead Man's Chest"!

Five films in, Kevin McNally finally got the opportunity to 'swash my buckle" in the Execution Square sequence. 'In the previous films, when the action got quite hot, Gibbs would either go down below and get drunk, or he would be sent off on some mission for Captain Jack. Not so in this one. Gibbs is involved in all of the action sequences, which is really exciting for me. I'm firing cannons, firing flintlocks and having sword fights."

 

While watching his Execution Square scene being filmed, Jeff Nathanson marveled at the deftness of Depp's comedic talents. 'There really is no -Pirates' without Captain Jack, and Johnny Depp is the key to holding the entire franchise together. Johnny inhabits every inch of the character with effortless wit and charm, and it's obvious when you watch him on set that he loves Jack as much as we do. Writing for Jack Sparrow is about as much fun as a screenwriter can have."

In developing the intricate action beats of 'Dead Men Tell No Tales," the directors not only looked back to the previous -Pirates' films, but way back to the days of silent movies. 'In talking to Johnny about this," notes Joachim Rønning, 'we went back to the kind of physical, practical humor you see in Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movies."

Continues Espen Sandberg, 'The way we see this is that it's a serious pirate movie, and then Captain Jack crashes the party. That's really where the comedy comes in. The other actors also have fun dialogue, but they're not playing as comedians in any way. We feel that's the right balance to keep, and the spirit of the franchise that we genuinely believe in."

Another stunning exterior location was Hastings Point, just across the Queensland border in New South Wales, where the day began with beautiful and powerful welcome dances performed for the cast and crew by members of the Goobjingburra Clan of the Bundjalung people, caretakers of that land for thousands of years. On the beach, Nigel Phelps created a fantastic fabricated sperm whale skeleton doubling as a beautifully bizarre wedding chapel for the hilarious Hangman's Bay sequence. What was the production designer's inspiration for the set? 'Desperation," he laughs. 'Hangman's Bay went through a lot of different versions. It started off as a town, then I was trying to make it feel like a jungle camp, but was having some trouble finding the exact right location. From there, it went to an exterior/interior of a big rotted ship, then a kind of crazy circus with fire breathers and alligator wrestlers.

'But it finally occurred to me," continues Phelps, 'that since the scene, as ultimately written, required a chapel, I remembered that on the Isle of Wight there was a shop that had a whale skeleton inside of it. Jerry Bruckheimer, Espen and Joachim loved the idea, so we built the skeleton on the beach at Hastings Point. The plasterers and painters and the whole construction of it is really impressive, and we've tempered it with lots of little details, like an anchor that's turned into a crucifix."

The uproarious shotgun wedding sequence became a true family affair for Stephen Graham, whose wife, Hannah Walters"a noted talent in her own right with such accomplishments as portraying DC Megan Riley in TV's 'Whitechapel" to her credit"was asked by the filmmakers to portray Captain Jack's would-be not-so-blushing bride Beatrice Kelly, and Graham and Walters' two spirited and adorable children, Alfie and Grace, as Beatrice's two pre-existing kids, who come with the deal. And it was up to the talented hair and makeup department to make the otherwise very attractive Graham/Walters clan look as physically unappealing as possible.

 

June also saw the company up their necks and over their heads in water. In addition to extending the already huge ships and much of the ocean they sail upon, creating spectral effects for Salazar and his crew and a considerable amount of Black Rock Island and the Tomb of Poseidon, Brozenich was also called upon to help create the terrifying and decidedly most unusual shark attack in memory…from ghost sharks. And as always, the sequence was a cooperative effort between different departments, and shot in multiple locations, from Village Roadshow Studios' 133-foot-long, 100-foot-wide outdoor water tank to the endless watery expanses off of Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands toward the end of the Australia shoot.

'The sharks were designed by Nigel Phelps," explains Brozenich. 'They're quite mangled, withered, eaten away, with whole sections missing where you can see through to the skeleton. There are practical versions of these dead sharks, but when they're dropped into the ocean, the camera follows them down, they come to life, and that's where our work begins."

And deep in the heart of Gold Coast, Phelps designed a wonderfully atmospheric, ramshackle Caribbean boatyard (which production designer Nigel Phelps says 'is supposed to look like an 18th century trailer park") in which the Dying Gull waits in dry dock to be launched, which it was, to the delight of hundreds of spectators just across the bay and in a variety of floating crafts.

The company then ascended the heights of Tamborine Mountain for a day of shooting in a jungle that would not have looked out of place in the Jurassic Age, with huge trees, twisted vines and a chorus of birdcalls. There, hardhats were donned to protect heads from remarkably heavy black beans falling from the ancient arbors, which the Australian crew members jokingly warned were 'drop bears," the mythical monster marsupials resembling large, carnivorous koalas, which drop onto unsuspecting victims' heads from tall treetops.

OFF TO THE ISLANDS, MATES!

Then it was time to fly, as the production packed up and journeyed 764 miles northward to Hamilton Island, their base in the fabled Whitsunday Islands of Far North Queensland, for three final days of filming"first on the legendary Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, then two days on Haslewood Island.

The logistical operation, however, was no vacation for the company. 'We had 60 trucks come up from the studios in Gold Coast," explains location manager Gareth Price," which is around 1400 kilometers. Then we had a 40-minute drive and barge trip from the mainland to Hamilton Island, and then another 40-minute to hour-and-a-half barge trip to the other islands where we're filming in the Whitsundays."

Once again, as in Hastings Point, proper respects were paid to, and blessings extended from, the ancestral caretakers of the land on Whitehaven Beach. 'We are the Ngaro people of the Whitsundays," explained Queensland Park and Wildlife Ranger Leo Peterson. 'We have inhabited these islands for over 40,000 years. Our ancestors have hunted and gathered on these islands for generations, living off the sea. Whitehaven Beach was a main teaching ground for our people. The women used to train the young ones to hunt, fish, gather, and, when they were old enough, go out with the men to hunt the seas. It is very important that these sacred sites and traditional hunting grounds are protected and preserved for generations to come.

'It is great to see that -Pirates of the Caribbean' has come to the Whitsundays," continues Peterson. 'We are very appreciative that they are filming here, it gives a lot of recognition for this town and, more so, for our people of the Whitsunday Islands, the Ngaro people."

The representatives of the Ngaro people did a traditional smoking ceremony before filming, 'so that whoever comes onto our sacred lands and our beaches step onto the beach with good spirits and that only bad spirits get washed away to the ocean, making sure that everything goes well."

'Coming to places like Hastings Point and the Whitsundays, it's really important to get permission and the seal of approval from the traditional owners because these lands are culturally sensitive," says Gareth Price. 'We spend a lot of time talking with the elders and make sure that we are doing right by their people."

Director Espen Sandberg adds, 'We have to say thank you to Australia for letting us shoot on the Whitsundays. They allowed us to go to protected areas, and we had to be very careful when shooting there, but they are such unique locales. We're so happy that we were able to shoot our film there."

What no one could have predicted at Whitehaven Beach, however, was that unusual weather and tide conditions forced the entire company, actors and crew alike, to disembark from landing craft as if staging a military invasion, wading up to their waists, chests or necks, depending upon their height, in street clothes. No one expected to be swimming to work that day!

'Look, we try and mitigate risk as best as possible," says Gareth Price, 'but there are lots of things that can go wrong in the day. Logistically, anything to do with boats is always very, very difficult."

Which brings us right back to the beginning, with an epic ninety-three days of principal photography being completed in typically dramatic -Pirates'-style: on a spectacular beach situated on a small island, with storm clouds gathering. The company completed their work just before the skies opened up, which then made it extraordinarily difficult for them to get off Hamilton Island and back home!
With the unseasonable storm settling over the Whitsundays for the remainder of wrap week, and all flights in and out of the islands cancelled, some two hundred cast and crew had to be ferried over the rough waters of the Whitsunday Passage to the Australian mainland, then driven more than two hours to the city of Mackay, and thence flown from that airport to either their home cities in Australia or beyond to the rest of the world from whence they came.

LAND HO!

However, for some, the story didn't end there as Bruckheimer, Rønning and Sandberg"along with most of the stars, a considerable number of behind-the-scenes artists and a coterie of newcomers to the production"gathered in a massive, 50,000 square-foot corrugated metal building in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for three weeks of additional photography for the film. The building, now a soundstage, in the Seaspan shipyard had originally been a shipbuilding facility and was"to some extent"returned to that original purpose for 'Dead Men Tell No Tales."

Within its massive frame, a team of local film crews added their talents to the collective efforts to create a truly memorable 'Pirates of the Caribbean" epic. Joining them were not only key creative personnel from the Australian shoot but also other behind-the-scenes artists, who didn't make the trip Down Under but had contributed their artistry to previous 'Pirates" films, such as supervising art director John Dexter.

Dexter, who had served in the same capacity on both the second and third 'Pirates of the Caribbean" films, oversaw the reconstruction of nearly the entire main deck of the 'Black Pearl," and large pieces of both the pre-ghost and ghostly versions of the 'Silent Mary" and half of the deck of the 'Flying Dutchman." Two hundred carpenters and painters built not only those vessels for the additional photography phase, but some 20 other sets as well, which took up nearly every inch of the hangar-like structure. Just outside the soundstage, production erected a 60-foot tank for splinter unit filming of water-bound sequences.

Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario, Brenton Thwaites, Orlando Bloom, Kevin McNally and other cast members all found themselves enjoying the magnificent environs of Vancouver in between their collective shooting days, but there was one notable newcomer who joined the company in the Great White North. Portraying Uncle Jack, an aged buccaneer philosophically awaiting his fate in the St. Martin prison, and relation of Captain Jack"and for whom the scalawag pirate was actually named"was a musician and songwriter of some note by the name of Sir Paul McCartney.

The legendary Beatle, still one of the most vibrant, creative and iconic figures in contemporary music, had become friends with fellow musician Johnny Depp through his daughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney. Depp appeared in the music video for McCartney's 'My Valentine" and has been an occasional houseguest of McCartney's as well.

Although Depp invented the idea of the great musician making a special appearance in 'Dead Men Tell No Tales," due to his demanding schedule during the main shoot of the film in Australia, McCartney wasn't free to make it happen until the Vancouver shoot. 'I've known Johnny a while, and I always admired him as Jack Sparrow," McCartney said during a break in filming, unrecognizable in his piratical costume designed by Penny Rose and extensive makeup and hair. 'Johnny said -I'd love you to be in the next one,' and I said, -What, me? A pirate?' He said, -Yeah, you can do it, we'd have a lot of fun.'"

Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson created an appropriate scene for Depp and McCartney, to which the duo then added their own very particular and personal spin.

'For some reason," says McCartney, 'I started telling Johnny about my Liverpool relatives, especially my Uncle Jack, who had this great, gravelly voice and was the family joke-teller, who used to give us kids a half-crown, so we loved him. Johnny said, -Well, you could do that!' So last night, before we filmed, Johnny and I had a little meeting, a bit to eat and a little wine, and kicked it around. Johnny came up with a load of ideas, I spun off it, and here we are."

'Having some of the greatest rock and roll artists of all time is becoming a -Pirates of the Caribbean' tradition," says Jerry Bruckheimer, 'which makes perfect sense because, in a way, pirates were the rebellious rock stars of their time. We were lucky enough to have Keith Richards as Captain Teague in the third and fourth films, so what could have been better than to have the key member of The Beatles in the fifth? We were incredibly thrilled that Paul decided to join Johnny for a day, and he had such a great time vanishing into his costume and makeup as Uncle Jack."

The shooting day saw Depp and McCartney enjoying themselves immensely both in front of and off camera. The entire crew seemed to melt as McCartney, his rich voice virtually unchanged more than 50 years after the birth of The Beatles, began the scene singing a few bars of the old Liverpool seaman's song 'Maggie Mae" (which The Beatles actually recorded on their 'Let It Be" album). The scene featuring Depp and McCartney, both humorous and curiously poignant, delighted all observers with the extraordinary chemistry between the two friends.

For Depp, hearing McCartney's voice boom on the soundstage was a surreal experience. 'I've been very lucky to have known, met, worked with and spent time with some of the most interesting people in the world, and found that they were wonderful people," says Depp. 'That's a great gift. For Paul to have come and done that for me was enormous. He's never been in a film unless he was Paul McCartney. He's never played another character.

'But for Paul to come and do that for me, and the way that Keith came and did that as well, are moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life. With The Beatles, Paul changed the world. He changed culture. And he's still having a ball singing. He's a real inspiration. He's a great man and I'm forever beholden to him," concludes the actor.

 

PIRATE GARB FOR ONE AND ALL

 

For the fifth time on a 'Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, costume designer Penny Rose stepped up to create thousands of costumes, which showcase her unwavering attention to period-correct detail to every person on screen, no matter how big or small the role may be.

In addition to her core team headed by associate costume designer John Norster and co-costume designer Melody Koerber, who had worked with her over the course of many films, including the previous 'Pirates" ventures, Rose brought 30 Australian costumers into her department, mostly from the theatre and opera worlds, backed by a veritable army of costumers, textile artists, arts finishers, cutters, dyers, seamstresses and runners/assistants.

Rose and her huge team took over an entire 15-20,000 square foot soundstage at Village Roadshow Studios, which also served as a warehouse for the 2,000-plus costumes, hats, shoes and accessories meticulously arranged by character names, types, genders and ages.

Filming the St. Martin scene launched the costume designer into the world of 'Dead Men Tell No Tales" with a considerable bang. Her infinite attention to every detail, not only on the principal actors but also on 500 extras who populated the scene, clearly reminded one and all why she has been selected by Jerry Bruckheimer not only to costume every 'Pirates of the Caribbean" film, but to costume his additional productions beyond the huge franchise as well.

On 'Dead Men Tell No Tales," as on the other films, Rose was tasked to create costumes for the principals that not only complemented the actors wearing them but instantly identified facets of their character. But one thing was certain: Captain Jack Sparrow required very little embellishment from the previous films. 'Captain Jack does not change his clothes," insists Rose. 'But for each movie, Johnny and I come up with a few new things, so this time he has a very big skull buckle, snakeskin belt which is added to his two other belts. We couldn't find Captain Jack's coat fabric anymore, so we had to have it woven, which was quite time consuming."

After four previous 'Pirates of the Caribbean" films as well as 'The Lone Ranger," by now Penny Rose and Johnny Depp have a certain shorthand when it comes to communicating. 'He knows immediately what works and what doesn't," notes Rose, 'and now I know what he likes, so we don't waste time. He's got a very particular sense of style. As himself, Johnny is kind of chic-hobo, and he understands what the character needs."

Captain Jack's voluminous rings and trinkets that adorn his fingers, clothing, dreadlocks and bandanna are a collaboration between Penny Rose and the props department. 'Sometimes Johnny will come in and hand me a new ring he likes, and we then have to replicate it in plastic," explains Rose. 'I don't think we can get anything else on him," she laughs. 'I'm sure Johnny will try, but he's pretty accessorized at this point." However, in 'Dead Men Tell No Tales" we do see a ruby embedded in one of the good Captain's teeth, adding to his dental bling.

Adds Depp on his look this time around, 'Jack has a couple of new tattoos, and one says J, A, K, C, so obviously the tattoo artist made a mistake and misspelled his name, or maybe Jack told him and doesn't know how to spell his own name. Then another one says J, A, C, K. He got it right that time."

For Javier Bardem's military costume as Captain Salazar, which is seen both in a resplendently pristine version before the curse and the shattered, distressed ghostly version, Rose first met the actor in a Madrid hotel room, a creative discussion that she describes as 'an organic process." 'Javier is the most wonderful actor and, like Johnny, knows what works and what doesn't. It's definitely a pleasure to work with such a great actor." The pre-ghost costume is 'long and majestic looking, with a lot of braid." For the cursed version and those of his ghost crew, Rose worked very closely with Gary Brozenich and his visual effects department, which would enhance them with a flowing, supernatural appearance. 'We did a lot of tests," she says, 'and then manufactured 200 uniforms in Poland, 100 of which were clean, and another 100 ghostly."

On the costuming for the film, Bardem says, 'Penny Rose is a legend. She is so good. And, again, the quality and the quantity of detail on the clothes are fantastic. You get on a pirate ship and you see all these people dressed as pirates. You can get close to them and find the details that may not even be seen on screen. It triggers your imagination. It's really amazing the work that so many people do here in order to bring reality into it."

He adds, 'The first time I saw my costume, I was amazed by Captain Salazar's look. I like the way he dresses because that's the way he should dress. It's like he's always kind of proclaiming himself a king, so that's the way he should look."

One character who has indeed transitioned to another level, as evidenced by his more illustrious and decidedly over-the-top attire, is Captain Hector Barbossa. 'He's had a really good haul with his fleet of ships and pirates," explains Rose, 'and gotten rich. He's now like the nouveau riche of pirates. I did an illustration and sent it to Geoffrey, which he approved and described as Vivienne Westwood meets Galliano. That in turn generated doing a new and more elaborate peg leg, so it's a whole new Barbossa. Geoffrey is a terrific actor who really gets to the essence of what you're doing, and for this role, he was of the school of more is more. So even though I'd made an incredibly elaborate and embroidered coat, I kept adding braid and buttons and trim. I worked closely with Peter King, our hair and makeup designer, and Barbossa's wigs are enormous. Geoffrey carries it off beautifully."

Commenting on Barbossa's new outfit, Rush says, 'I like to think he looks like a European tycoon, open shirt, bling, but like in Vegas, got the money, but not really got the style. Barbossa's character in this current film has become very wealthy and very opulent."
The two younger protagonists are more simply attired by Rose, as dictated by their characters' circumstances. 'Carina Smyth is constantly on the run and getting into all sorts of fixes, so the general view was that she should always look a bit shabby," says Rose. 'Kaya is a very self-possessed, mature young actress, very pretty with a lovely figure, and she immediately was delighted with all the ideas we had and, bless her, she stood still for hours on end while we fit her."

For her part, Scodelario likes the simplicity of her costumes and her look. 'Penny Rose had this really clear idea that Carina is a kind of woman who isn't defined by her dress and who's happy to wear something that isn't maybe the latest fashion," says the actress. 'That's not something she's really that concerned about. At the same time, she's still feminine and she does still wear color, which I really love. I think the colors that Penny picked for her look are really important.

'My costumes are simple, good to wear and good to do stunts and action and stuff in, which I'm very grateful to Penny for because I was worried about the swimming and things like that. But they've all kind of been purpose-built," concludes Scodelario.
Penny Rose adds ruefully, 'Unfortunately, the script dictates that everything she wears be filthy, which is very depressing for us, because we make beautiful dresses, and then they're wrecked!"

As for Brenton Thwaites' Henry Turner, Rose notes that 'this is a young man who's grown up without a father and they're not particularly well off. He's dressed kind of like a middle-class street guy. Quite a contrast is the costume worn by Golshifteh Farahani as Shansa, which Rose humorously describes as 'looking like it's made out of rat skin, sort of a strange, 18th-century homeless person's outfit."

And finally, there was the matter of costuming Sir Paul McCartney as Captain Jack's Uncle Jack for the scene filmed in Vancouver. 'I had gotten word that Paul did like dressing up," says Rose, 'and with that incentive in mind, I just dug in and made him a costume. I thought that we had to make him not a rock and roll pirate, but instead, a pirate who is your favorite uncle, and a bit of a dandy."
Rose designed an appropriately tattered, period-correct, dark-hued costume and hat for McCartney, along with piratical bandanna, making it quite clear that Uncle Jack and Captain Jack are indeed related, confirmed by dangles and baubles, and a long moustache and braided beard courtesy of the hair and makeup departments. 'I'm quite proud that we constructed Paul's costume in the workroom in Australia to his measurements, and when they finally shot his scene six months later in Vancouver, it fit like a glove!"

MUSIC TO SPIN THE YARN BY

This segment of production would also see Hans Zimmer handing the baton of composing the film's music to the talented Geoff Zanelli. Zanelli was no stranger to the 'Pirates of the Caribbean" series, having worked with Zimmer as part of his collaborative team on all four previous films, and was more than ready to face the challenge of incorporating Zimmer's now- iconic themes while at the same time blazing his own original musical paths.

'Hans created some of the most iconic movie music in the last several decades for the -Pirates of the Caribbean' movies,'" says Jerry Bruckheimer, 'and there was literally no one more suited to write the music than him. Geoff weaves some of Hans' great themes into his own original music, and the results are fresh and fantastic."

For Zanelli, working with Hans Zimmer was 'crucial preparation" for working on 'Dead Men Tell No Tales." He comments, 'Hans and I worked hand-in-hand on all of the first films, and they really were the breakout moment for me in my career. -Pirates of the Caribbean' was just something I understood immediately, and that's why I was always able to play a big role even when it was in support of Hans."
He adds, 'Having a lot of experience working with Jerry Bruckheimer was crucial, too. We've all built up a trust in each other that made me taking over the franchise a very natural thing. Hans' shoes are big ones to fill, of course, but in the world of -Pirates,' I felt totally ready to fill them."

Describing how he approached the project, Zanelli says, 'I've always been comfortable living in the world of pirate music. It just came naturally to me, maybe because I was raised on fantasy and adventure films, and I came with a desire to experiment with new sounds, or to be a little unconventional and irreverent when it comes to the music I write. My earlier successes with -Pirates of the Caribbean' music meant that, before I even started, I had the confidence to write my own score.

'The audience will recognize my voice and the imprint I've already had on the earlier films because my voice has always come through, even when I was working as part of Hans Zimmer's crew," Zanelli continues. 'Plus, I had the support of the filmmakers here. We all wanted to expand on the already massive body of -Pirates' music, and Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg and Jerry Bruckheimer were all open to hearing my new ideas."

Zanelli admits that getting Salazar's music to make the statement he wanted it to was the biggest challenge he faced. 'On one hand, you've got the baddest bad guy in all of the -Pirates' films, so it's just got to be muscular and threatening, but on the other hand, because it's Javier Bardem and his performance is so brilliant, there's a depth to him that wouldn't be there otherwise," says Zanelli. 'So the music has to go deeper, and be more than just -the Bad Guy Theme.'" Elaborating, he adds, 'We get to see Salazar's backstory, which is tied to Jack Sparrow's origin story, and there are all sorts of collisions going on that the music has to be a part of. So I had to write something that plays what Salazar was, how he became what he is now, why he is filled with rage, and how Jack became Jack Sparrow all at the same time. That's a tall order for a single piece of music! I had to break it down into smaller and smaller elements, build it back up into a big piece of music, and make sure none of the elements holding it up ever gave way because the whole thing would collapse on its own weight if it didn't start with good, strong ideas at its foundation."

Zanelli notes that the most important element in the music that reflects pirate life is the attitude and grit in the musical performances. 'I'm unafraid to treat the orchestra like they're a rock band, to get bold and fearless with what I write for them," Zanelli explains. 'The musicians love to play like that, too. Everyone in the room has had years of experience refining their musicianship, but when you say -throw that out the window, get raucous, get mean!' great things start to happen. They commit, fully, to being rebellious, which practically defines pirate life!"

As for instrumentation in his score, Zanelli relates that there is 'a little nod to what you think of as pirate music, banjos or accordions, but I wasn't going to write a period piece." He concludes, 'The idea is that the story resonates with the audience now, in 2017, so it speaks that language. Once you put the cello through a guitar amp, you start getting somewhere!"

A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR US!

When 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" opens on May 26, audiences will once again be transported to the colorful, antic-filled and heartwarming world of the most outrageous pirates ever to sail the seven seas. Through the vision of the talented filmmakers and extraordinary cast, the film promises to deliver a cinematic adventure like no other.

Johnny Depp hints, 'We've come up with new angles and surprises; things are a bit more bizarre, a bit darker even. And there's some really funny stuff in there as well. So I think it will have that element of surprise that the first film had."

Expressing his thoughts on what the film will deliver to audiences, Javier Bardem adds, 'Fans know what they're looking for, and it's going to be given to them, which is joy, entertainment, the highest quality of visuals and special effects, and seeing Captain Jack Sparrow again doing his thing. But there are also very interesting new characters, a different dimension to what's been one of the great franchises of all time. -Dead Men Tell No Tales' is alive and has its own beat."

Geoffrey Rush offers his thoughts on the enduring popularity of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, saying, 'The fan base for the film is strong. It's a different genre being set in a slightly fantastical 18th-century world of piracy. There's something about how pirates never go out of fashion. I think that people like to say to themselves, -Imagine if I just let loose and be like Jack Sparrow, just adventure my way through life and take it as it comes and get out of scrapes and have ups and downs, but kind of run my own show, know my own self.'"

Director Joachim Rønning says, 'We wanted to make the best -Pirates' movie ever. We wanted to create fun, spectacular action, an epic movie with a very strong emotional core and great characters. We've been working hard now for years to get in the spirit of the first film, and at the same time make -Dead Men Tell No Tales' feel fresh and new. Now it's up to the audience to see if we accomplished that."

 

'We could only have dreamed when we did the first film that we were creating something that would have taken us this far," comments Jerry Bruckheimer. 'It's been such a privilege, and we owe it not only to the great artists and craftsmen on both sides of the camera who have worked on the -Pirates of the Caribbean' films, but to audiences around the world with whom these movies have struck such a chord.
'All we've ever really wanted to do is to entertain them, bring them into a different world for a few hours, and little did we know that we would have brought them into that world for nearly fifteen years."

Bruckheimer adds with a laugh, 'I guess it's been a pirate's life for all of us!"