3Home pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl production notes
Jump to:
Travel Special Foods from Maine to Florida Corfu - Vacation Days in Greece Cyprus Rome Points of Interest Pirates of the Caribbean Posters
|
 Chapter 6: Production Begins |
|
 Principal photography on “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” commenced on Wednesday, October 9, 2002. The first two weeks of production were spent on stages. The construction and art departments had erected the moody interior of the captain's cabin on the Black Pearl at KABC, a local news affiliate in Glendale, California. At Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, they built a sizable portion of the Governor's elaborate mansion-dining room, bedrooms, hallways, linen closet, a first and second floor foyer and staircase-which the crew promptly destroyed with cannon blasts.The three-acre bluff in Palos Verdes where Marineland, a popular southern California tourist attraction, once stood is now an empty, graded lot atop a spectacular hillside offering 180-degree, milliondollar views of the Pacific. Since the park's demise, and to the consternation of many area neighbors, every major studio has taken full advantage of the space and its breathtaking vistas. Massive suburban sprawl has made it next to impossible for productions to find undeveloped land with panoramic backdrops suitable for any historical reference. Because there are no electrical wires, no buildings standing tall against the horizon, no visible roadways, it was the perfect spot to build Port Royal's Fort Charles.
With grand parapets atop her imposing stone walls and a beautiful arched bell tower designed with a distinct Spanish flair to showcase each and every radiant sunset, what in actual fact was an 18th century military base felt more like a day camp. The immense faux fortress also included the Commodore's office, a dank prison cellblock and, in the center courtyard of the fort, a gallows to remind the townspeople just where they were.
This same location also accommodated several other set pieces including interiors and exteriors of the Governor's mansion, The Bay of Port Royal and room for background blue screen work.
The collective imagination, skill and technical expertise of production designer Brian Morris and his executive team of supervising art director Derek R. Hill, construction coordinator Bob Blackburn and set decorator Larry Dias, plus their dedicated crew of artisans, never ceased to amaze their colleagues on the shooting crew. Walking onto a set for the first time was tantamount to crossing the threshold of a time continuum and discovering a new world.
For the tropical scenes, filmmakers initially considered trying to save time and money by shooting on Catalina Island off the Long Beach coast. They soon realized, however, that they wanted a more realistic look and feel to their backdrop.
“We could have considered looking at Australia and Thailand,” says executive producer Bruce Hendricks. “But it would have looked like what it is- the South China Sea. We really wanted to maintain the look of the Caribbean, similar to the way we made `Pearl Harbor'-you have to go to Pearl Harbor. We're shooting `The Alamo' right now and it would be a cheat if we didn't go to Texas. We always want to be faithful and accurate to the subject matter because it shows on screen.”
“There's a quality to the water, sand and palm trees in the Caribbean-so we knew we wanted to go there,” says Verbinski.
“We ended up searching around the entire Caribbean for months,” he continues. “I'm sure we looked at a minimum of 20 different islands.
“It's amazing when you scout a film like this how quickly you realize that the world is insanely overpopulated,” laughs the director. “You go out looking for a lush, deepwater, cul-de-sac-shaped bay, one that doesn't have a hotel sitting right in the middle of your shot. There aren't any unpopulated islands out there anymore. They just don't exist.”
St. Vincent became an obvious choice for the base of operations for the production because of its geographical aspects. While it doesn't have white sand beaches, filmmakers were able to go to Petite Tabac and Grenadines to achieve that look for certain scenes. The outer islands of the Grenadines served particularly well for the abandoned island where Jack and Elizabeth are left by Captain Barbossa.
In August 2002 a small contingent of 30 left to set up offices and begin construction in the Caribbean. The main cast and crew did not follow this first wave until January 18, 2003 when everyone packed up, boarded a chartered 747, transferred to a wild ferry ride and headed south-way south. St. Vincent is not a major resort location; when the company booked every hotel room-numbering well over 325-as well as every available vacant apartment and house on the island, the production became the main attraction in town.
The people and the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were incredibly accommodating and supportive. It didn't take long for the crew from Hollywood (made up of Americans and Brits) to relax and adopt the pace of life in the islands. To do otherwise would prove a waste of time. Life in the West Indies simply does not revolve around agendas or deadlines. Even the local airlines run on their own timetable; cabbies charge whatever they like or whatever loose change you can dig up; most businesses close at four in the afternoon and many vendors do not open at all on either Saturday or Sunday.
The hospitality of the location, however, made the prospect of filming a movie that takes place primarily in, on, or around water no less daunting. The Caribbean sets were spread over essentially 36 miles of open sea, so boats were not only used for filming, diving and working, but for transportation. Up to 400 people a day made the hour and a half round trip trek to the Wallilabu and its surrounding inlets by boat.
For a particular two-week stretch, the company put out to sea, filming on the open waters of the Caribbean, eight to thirteen miles from the reassuring shores of Wallilabu where the art department had recreated Port Royal's harbor and a comfortable base camp for the crew. With waves swelling six to eight feet, most of the cast and crew swallowed pills to combat seasickness.
From sunrise to sunset, with no land in sight, even the most fundamental aspects of life became a major aggravation and impediment for production. “It's all true what they say about shooting in water!” exclaims Verbinski. “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong, that's just the way it works. As soon as you get a boat in position the wind changes. Even if you anchor things down, everything is moving, relationships are moving. The camera is here, and we frame a shot of the actor, everything is drifting away, so either the wind is right to fill the sails, but then, the sun is in the wrong direction and if you want a good backlight then the sails are negative…”
“You would be waiting to do a really substantial, meaty, dialogue-driven scene on the deck,” explains Geoffrey Rush, “and then the wind would change and the smoke would blow in the wrong direction. You would have to wait for seven boats to come around. It was painstaking… as it needs to be.”
“You start shooting in the morning,” explains Verbinski, “and you're four miles out by the afternoon. Suddenly you've got this armada behind you trying to catch up, chasing you with sandwiches.”
|
||
|
BEST LINKS TO CELEBRITIES
Pirates of the Caribbean website is created and designed by Zebra International, 2007. No copyright infringment is intended.
