You were just 17 when you made the first Pirates film. It was kind of off the radar before it was released... Totally. Nobody thought it would work. It was based on a theme park ride, it's ridiculous, and a pirate film hasn't worked for 50 years. So, we really didn't have any expectations. But, slowly, as we were going along and Johnny was doing his thing and it looked great, we began to think there was a possibility it could be quite good. It was an amazing thing and totally unexpected.
And more enjoyable for that? Absolutely. It's great when something gels like that and it's down to Johnny Depp and the director, Gore Verbinski -- they make a really great team. To revive that genre, the pirate movie, is an extraordinary thing to do. I think what they've done is made it very tongue-in-cheek, so it doesn't take itself seriously and captures a spirit of something, this sort of fairytale imaginary world we all want to live in.
Is it true that on that first audition for the first film, you were late because you were stuck in traffic? No, I was going on the London tube and I think there had been a delay. So I was about half an hour late and it was really hot and I was sweating profusely and actually really angry because I was at college and was meant to be revising for an exam. It obviously did wonders because I got the job. But I remember phoning my agent after the audition going 'That was awful, the worst audition I have ever done,' and her phoning back a couple of hours later saying 'They've just seen it in LA and they love it and will you fly out tomorrow'. And I went, 'oh, okay.'
What happened with the exam? I missed it! And I never went back to college, but you know, that was fine (laughs).
When you all got together for Dead Man's Chest, was it like you'd hardly been away? It was a bit. It was like we had never finished and we'd been doing Pirates of the Caribbean for two years. A lot of the time, on sets, it can take a while to gel and get comfortable, whereas we were automatically back to where we were, which is a great advantage. It was really weird. The costumes at the beginning of the second film are quite similar to the ones in the first, so it was really like we'd been filming Pirates of the Caribbean the whole time. It was the same crew, more or less, and a lot of the same cast members, so it was very easy to slip back into it.
Were there certain things you wanted to happen with the character of Elizabeth this time? You were out there with the boys with a sword this time, which, I presume, you enjoyed? I love that kind of thing. I'd love to say I had some big character insight but I really didn't. I just wanted the sword fight. And they kindly gave me a couple of great sword fights, so I was very happy. For me, it's really boring if you're doing an action movie and you're not actually involved with it. She is a little darker this time, as a character, and she gets a bit dubious morally. So she's turning into a bit of a pirate.
Have you had your fill of the Caribbean? I don't feel a huge need to go back anytime soon (laughs). It was amazing there and it's very beautiful, but the bugs were big! It was 35 degrees when we were doing fight scenes, which isn't the most comfortable. But it is absolutely beautiful and lying on a beach on your day off is rather nice. I got through a lot of reading. Unfortunately, my iPod broke and I had just two CDs, so that was a shame.
Do you have to go back and do more on Pirates 3? Yes, we've got three months left to do at the end of the year. We've done about half of it.
What are you doing in the meantime? I have just finished a film called Silk, which was amazing and I'm just starting one called Atonement. It's really exciting because it involves (director) Joe Wright, whom I worked with before on Pride and Prejudice and he's a great friend. I'm loving it.
Any chance of a holiday in between the end of Atonement and going on Pirates again?
I think, at the moment, I've got a week off and then straight back to Pirates. I think it's time I took a break and said 'What's going on? Who I am? Do I have any friends? Oh right, there they are!' I think I'll have to take a breather after Pirates has finished.
You seem to be dealing with the fame and attendant fuss remarkably well.
Am I? I don't read anything that's written about me, only because it would be completely unhelpful. Anything nice is probably too nice and anything nasty is probably too nasty. Either way, I figure that ignorance is bliss.
We're left wanting more at the end of Pirates 2. Can you give us any hints about what happens to Elizabeth in Pirates 3? There are quite a lot of changes. Pirates 3 goes off in a completely different direction. All the characters change quite a lot and I'm not giving anything away.
It's a mostly male cast. What's that like? It's great. The boys are very beautiful, so it's good eye candy. And it's definitely a very macho sort of male dominated set because most of the crew are guys as well, so I'm ready to do a very girlie piece now.
Is it hard to keep a straight face when Johnny Depp is doing Jack Sparrow? You'd ignore him at all costs. He was actually quite nice, because he wouldn't do the full Jack Sparrow if the camera was on you, but as soon as the camera was turned around, you couldn't give him the off camera lines because you were laughing too much.
Did it help that there are a lot of fellow Brits on the film? It's lovely. I had worked with Tom Hollander on Pride and Prejudice, and Stellan Skarsgaard (who isn't a Brit) on King Arthur. There was Bill Nighy whom I'd worked with in Love Actually, and my great friend Jack Davenport. We had a great time.
(did she forget orlando??)At night would you all gather for dinner? Sometimes. We had drinks and a laugh and played lots of poker, which I'm not very good at. So, I lost a lot, but it was fun.
Film legend has it that filming on water is particularly difficult. What's your take on that? We were particularly unlucky because we were hit by the tail end of hurricanes and things like that. The boats were amazing, but built in such a way that they really can't go out to sea if it's too rough.
So, there is a lot of sitting around waiting for the sea to be right, which can be annoying. You are called in because you are waiting for the wind to change direction and then you have to be ready to go. That's why it takes such a long time.
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