Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End will be out on DVD December 4th and director Gore Verbinski had a few things to say about working on the series.

For At World's End, Verbinski found the most satisfaction with the scene involving Jack and a few crabs...and then there are those peanuts, no one really knows the true significance of those (or at least Gore won't admit to it), but I am leaning on symbolism centered around the word "nuts".

How much planning goes into “The Making of...” Extras and how deeply are you involved?

It is really an issue of documenting the madness. There must be a million hours of digital video that the 'making of folks' are combing through. (Someone was on set videotaping every day.) They show me the cut footage and most of the time I just have this sort of Vietnam flashback moment and then say, 'sure why not?' I do believe the process of this production is just about as mad and bold an adventure as the narrative itself. I was particularly entranced with the “across the desert by crab” sequence.

How did that come about?

I have always been fascinated by the work of Miyazaki. When we needed to get the Black Pearl back to the ocean, I thought, why are we limited to the rules of live action film making? Once those shackles are off, it is quite liberating. All sorts of ideas start to germinate. The crab is Tia Dalma's “motif". Why not do something surreal and connected to her? Giving his escape a subtextual intention.

How hard is it to keep the story in mind if your so busy with a lot of technology and computer generated images?

Visual effects are a tool in the filmmakers toolbox. Once you become acquainted with them they cease to be distracting. I always try to keep story foremost in my mind while shooting.

How was it working as a guitarist on the score?

That was a blast. But my contribution is a pimple on the ass of a tick crawling along the ankle of a behemoth endeavor. Hans Zimmer and his entire team did all the work.

What was it like when you finally got Keith Richards on set? Was he well behaved?

Well behaved? Let's just say everything you have heard is true.

These films are a different species completely. The process of making them has been such a wondrous and strange adventure, I think it serves as a form of entertainment itself. Nobody wants to show their dirty laundry, but ownership of these movies belongs as much to the audience as it does the filmmakers.

You said on the bonus material that all of the sets begin with drawings on a napkin. When you now watch the finished movie, how close did the sets come to what was envisioned during the napkin drawing?

The creative process is complex. I try to be specific and deliberate as I storyboard and pre-visualize the entire film. Yet, I am constantly aware that this process can make a film cold and clinical. I try to remain open to gifts that a little bit of randomness can provide along the way.

The contributions of others is essential in creating that particular form of 'controlled chaos'. The napkin drawing is a starting point from which I encourage evolution. Most of the time the concept remains intact but execution shifts dramatically.

Was the making of POTC 3 as hectic as was portrayed in the DVD of POTC 2?

At World's End' had to be in theatres 10 months after the release of Dead Man's Chest. Hectic? How about insane... Fortunately, the cast and crew found their stride enabling us to work intuitively throughout the madness.

Of all of the special features on the POTC: At World's End DVD, is there one featurette or segment that stands out to you as being your favorite or the most interesting?

Yes, the making of the Maelstrom gives you a small window into the complexity of creating and executing a sequence that has never been accomplished before. Months in planning and 8 weeks of shooting required a synergy between stunts, camera, practical effects and visual effects.

Day after day we were operating amid 100 mile-per-hour winds, cascading rain and debris, deafening cannon fire with 150 sword wielding stuntmen battling across two undulating vessels on the largest gimbals ever constructed for filming. Although artificially created, practically speaking, we were filming a battle within a massive storm. I think the viewer will get a good sense of what everyone went through to bring this to the big screen.

You visited a lot of exotic locations during your time working on the trilogy. Which was your favorite and did you ever get a moments peace to enjoy any of them?

St. Vincent and the Exumas were fantastic, but I really recommend Dominica for those who want to go back in time. We stayed and rented homes and bought fish from the locals and barbecued on the beach every night after wrap. There was very little time off but the community of the island melded with production in a way that I have never witnessed. That was a special place.

Do you have any visual dreams that are technically still impossible to do but can be done in the near future?

I think Hollywood invention has always been somewhat limitless. You may have relied on a bit of Claymation, filmed lizards for dinosaurs, or depicted Chuck Heston parting the seas, but what continues to change is execution: design aesthetic and photo realism continue to evolve. For me the limits have always resided with our imagination. The struggle is to conceive something unique. If you can achieve this, then the underlying concept or idea even badly executed, will always outshine the polished cliche.

Are you planning on doing a 4th POTC?

I think the trilogy is now complete. All of the stories set in motion by the first film have been resolved. If there ever were another Pirates of the Caribbean film, I would start fresh and focus on the further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow.

The first film was originally designed as a one off. We were so under the radar because, honestly I don't think anyone thought we could resurrect the genre. After the success of Curse of the Black Pearl we set about reverse engineering a trilogy. Some loose ends from the first film became assets in the process: Bootstrap Bill for instance, the 'P' brand on Jack's arm, the mention of the East India Trading Company, etc. Other ideas like the Kraken and Davy Jones were discussed during the development of POTC 1, but abandoned as that film took shape, and resurrected for the subsequent films once we knew we were making them.

Yet, whenever you set out to make a film, I think you have the obligation to create characters that feel as if they come from other stories -- even Pintel and Ragetti have their own origins and destinations. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are well versed in mythology and I enjoyed collaborating with them all the way up until each scene was photographed.

What's the coolest souvenir that you've kept from the series?

Jack's peanut.

How much freedom did you have to take in improv ideas on the day considering the complexity of the production and the integration with the FX?

I try to plan everything to the utmost detail. Yet, I am not talented enough to ignore those random gifts that occur throughout the process. I strive to create an environment that encourages the accumulation of unique and original ideas up until the last possible moment.

Keith Richards in pirate garb - cool. Who's idea was it to bring him on board? Mick Jagger has to be jealous.

That was all Johnny. He and Keith are great friends and I was lucky enough to get the chance to meet and work with the legend. Keith is a unique species in every possible way. But as far as making him into a pirate, we didn't need to do much. Keith makes the rest of us look like we are pretending.

Davy Jones' fate, considering his history with Tia, is sad, was it hard to flesh out his back story, and still make him an obvious bad guy?

Davy was the villain in Dead Man's Chest and more the victim in At World's End. It was always our intention to create a parallel between Jones/Tia Dalma relationship and the Will/Elizabeth love story. However, Will and Elizabeth choose to suffer the pain of love, while Jones cut out his own heart to avoid it.

As a villain, Jones was born out of tragedy. For him it is all personal, he wants you to suffer as he has. Beckett on the other hand is far more clinical. To me he is much scarier because it isn't personal at all. He represents the future, the faceless corporation at the expense of the individual. The fate of Jones is as much the result of his misguided anger towards Tia Dalma as it is the consequence of progress.

What is it about pirates that make them so appealing to you?

Rebellion, same as Sid Vicious.

I am not trying to reinvent the wheel. When we set out to do something with visual effects it is often the combination of the old and the new. When a technique or physical effect is working I will always prefer to shoot it live. This process allows for the greatest sense of realism and keeps the viewer guessing what is "in camera" and what is CGI.

What sort of difficulties did you have in sustaining the level of energy for so long in the final battle scene in the whirlpool?

By this time in production of P2 and P3 we had been shooting for close to 200 days. I think everyone was exhausted, but when the wind and the rain come on you wake up quickly.

You mentioned earlier how it surprised people that you were able to revive the genre. Could you talk about what conventions you kept and what you added that might have been responsible for the revival?

I think splicing the pirate genre and the ghost story together was the key. But most certainly Johnny Depp's performance of Captain Jack Sparrow was the exponential factor.

On one of the bonus features, you say that this is the biggest film anybody on your crew will ever work on, that it's the end of an era. Could you talk about the "big films" that may have had such an impact on you whose effects may have made it into your own "Pirates" trilogy?

What I meant to imply is that the process of filming is changing. More and more we are relying on the computer to create the worlds we see on the screen. The crew of all three films is the best I have ever worked with and we are all tipping our hat to a process that is fading away.

I'm a fan of the small film really, of the process of traveling to locations, getting dirt under your fingernails and working with people within the elements. Pirates 3 was big, but it was also an incredible amalgamation of low tech and high tech. The physical part of this process is sadly diminishing. Ironically this is the exact thematic that At World's End deals with: It is the end of an era.

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Claire Verbinski   |2008-01-01 22:02:23 Go Bro! I was glad to read this interview of my brother because he is such a hard worker that he doesn't often like to talk about work with family. Glad to hear that a Pirates 4 is not "out of the picture." I just hope if it happens it won't be so exhausting a schedule. Reply 0   0

jason griggs   |2007-11-27 10:15:12 his peanut... Reply 0   0

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."