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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. Originally it looked like your schedule wasn’t going
to allow you to make this movie. Can you tell us a bit about that?
A. Initially, I was signed up to do the Calcium Kid, a small
British film, which was being directed by a friend, so I’d
made a commitment to him and I didn’t want to let him down;
so when I got the script for Pirates of the Caribbean, I sort
of didn’t want to tempt myself with the idea of getting behind
something that I didn’t think I was going to be able to do.
But I was in Australia at the time, working on Ned Kelly, and
Geoffrey Rush was really excited about coming on to do Pirates,
and was talking about it, and felt there was a great role in this
and told me to just read it, if nothing else. Gerry had mentioned
this to me while we were in Japan on a press junket one time,
even as far back as Black Hawk Down, but because of the other
obligation, I just didn’t want to let him down.
But I’m very grateful and thankful to say that it did work
out, because it couldn’t have been a more fun experience.
Q. The fight scenes between you and Johnny, and the other
fight scenes, look fun, but how were they to film? Did either
of you end up hurting yourselves?
A. There’s always a few scrapes when you’re playing
with swords, but nothing too serious. It’s a lot of fun,
once you’ve rehearsed. One of the hardest things is to actually
learn the routines and stuff, and that was a really intimidating
routine, when the stunt guy shows that routine, it was like ‘are
you crazy? You expect us to do this?’ It was actually scheduled
for the beginning of the shoot, and I was coming off the Calcium
Kid, and there was no way… so we actually moved it in the
schedule, so that we could get it done. So it was great fun, but
it’s very difficult as well, I mean how many shots were in
that? Hundreds…
It was great fun, though. Johnny was coming up with things like
butt slaps; he had the sword and was like slapping my bum and
stuff; but unfortunately in didn’t make it, because it wasn’t
where we could go with the characters at that stage. I’m
not sure when it would appear, in any case [laughs]. And then
the unach line - ‘you’re not a unach are you?’
- I was, like, here I was thinking I was… it was so brilliant.
He came up with all these crazy things for that sequence.
But it was hard work. There was this dust on the floor, that’s
the one thing I remember, it was in the studio and the dust on
the floor was really fine and it kept kicking up and everyone
would come out and blow their noses.
Gore Verbinski: Yeah, it was really reasurring for an actor
when they walk on set and they have to act and everyone else had
a mask on.
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Q. There are a lot of people who haven’t been able to
take the career path you have followed, so quickly and so successfully….
A. It’s opportunity as well, isn’t it. It’s
timing and stuff, and having trained at school, I know that I
was in a class of incredibly talented actors and actresses, and
I think that everyone has an area of excellence, and it’s
just whether or not, or when they get to show it, and when they
get the opportunity to show it, and the timing of it all. Certainly,
the opportunities for both of us [Keira Knightley as well] came
early on and getting it such early doors means you can move from
there.
Q. What was it like working alongside the likes of Geoffrey
Rush and Johnny Depp? What do you take from them?
A. Johnny’s been a bit of a guideline for me really,
as a young actor, and probably every one in my generation really.
He’s sort of… that character didn’t really read
like that on the page, not to me anyway; not that sort of drunken
sea-legged, Keith Richards number that he pulled out from the
black corners of his mind. He’s so courageous as an actor.
I mean if you learn anything, and this goes for Geoffrey Rush,
who is an award-winning actor, I mean he it just seemed like he
had freedom tattooed across his forehead with that hat. I just
think that as a young actor, I felt really privileged to see how
he goes about creating a character, and was really taken with
the way he just puts himself out there, because it could quite
easily not have worked… but it never sort of doesn’t;
it always works with Johnny in that sense. I admired that the
most.
Q. Bob Anderson is a legend in the sword world, having worked
with everyone from Errol Flynn, how important was his involvement?
A. The one thing that Bob was really adamant about was that
we maintained, particularly in the sword fights, the sense of
character. It could have been all about the blade work, but he
pointed out that it’s just an extension of the character,
and of your arm, which is part of the character. He’s brilliant.
You’d never know how old he is, because he’s constantly
getting up there and dancing around, it’s amazing.
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