Director Rob Marshall marveled at the "extraordinary physicality" of Johnny Depp, and Depp reaffirmed his fascination for the absurd at a recent press conference for Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (opening today).
Director Rob Marshall marveled at the "extraordinary physicality" of Johnny Depp, and Depp reaffirmed his fascination for the absurd at a recent press conference for Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (opening today). Director and star will soon be reunited on a THIN MAN remake, but they're also leaving the door open for another PIRATES trilogy as well, with Jack Sparrow continuing his fight for the Black Pearl with Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa like a bickering married couple.
"This is a very different genre for me," Marshall admitted, "but, actually, when I began working on it, it felt very akin in a way to things I've done before because of the rhythm. I mean when you're doing an action set piece, it's very similar … to choreography in a way because it's shot that way, it's meticulous how it's rehearsed… This was an incredibly physical group; I was very lucky."
Meanwhile, Depp praised Marshall for elevating PIRATES. "What I got from Rob was that he heard it as music in a weird way, or rhythmic, a sort of new tempo, and a kind of way to finesse the sound or a way which became obviously vision as well, but it was an incredible experience. He's unbelievable -- his timing -- and that's not just to say choreographic timing or anything like that. But his sense of comedic timing is impeccable. He would have us just shave like an eighth, just an eight of a millisecond, just a tiny little sliver off of a beat, and it would change the whole dynamic of the scene, it was quite something."
Depp also joked about his affinity for Jack Sparrow. "There's most definitely a part of me in Captain Jack and now, fortunately, or unfortunately, there's a great part of Captain Jack in me as well. Basically, I can't shake it. He won't leave me alone. He just sort of keeps showing up at odd times. In fact, he arrived this morning when I was getting my kids ready for school. I had to shoo him away."
Depp then left everyone laughing with a funny notion for the next two PIRATES films. "There's the very clever idea that is being hatched in terms of PIRATES 5 and 6 where you're going to actually shoot them on the ride. Just going around in circles, nonstop, kind of like Andy Warhol's SLEEP. Just close shots on everyone."
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
