pirates of the caribbean - Cannes International Film Festival

and baldricks. Most of the pirate sashes are made with thin, Madras-style Indian
cottons. We have a dye shop and try to use vegetable and fruit dying so that it looks
authentic for the period. Then a lot of pieces go into the cement mixer with a few stones
to break them down and age them properly. Then we take cheese graters and other
methods to them to break them down even more. We wreck costumes for a living here.
“But the costumes are constructed absolutely authentically,” insists Rose. “There are no
modern gimmicks within them. You’ll find no zippers or Velcro on these costumes!”
Since, as Johnny Depp put it, “…old Captain
Jack found himself long ago,” there was
little need to tamper too much with the
character’s now-iconic look. Yes, his
dreadlocks have gotten longer, some have
grayed, others lightened by the relentless
sun of the Caribbean. And yes, somewhere
along the line he’s acquired a mysterious
“x” scar on his left cheek and a gold tooth
embedded with a black pearl (replacing one
which is now dangling from his bandana). But the fundamental look established in “The
Curse of the Black Pearl” is essentially intact.
“There is something special about creating a costume that is now worn by kids
everywhere on Halloween,” says Penny Rose, “but I really can’t take credit, can I? I
mean, it’s Mr. Depp’s rendering of Captain Jack that’s caught the imagination of
everybody. We do have a new blue vest for Captain Jack though,” she adds. “We
thought the vest was a bit boring, and maybe Jack had stolen something along the line,
so he’s got a very nice silk vest now. And we have 80 of Captain Jack’s head scarves,
because we never want to run out.
“For Penélope Cruz as Angelica,” continues
Rose, “I had it in mind that I wanted her to be
kind of a romantic pirate highwayman. So I
created a man’s jacket cut for a woman, as
befits a female pirate, with pants and thighhigh
boots, which are very sexy. And I
wanted to accentuate Penélope’s figure, so
she’s wearing a leather corset curtsied in
strips, which accentuates the upper part of her body. We also gave her a wonderful
plumed hat which has great flair perfect for her character.”
As for Ian McShane’s Blackbeard, although there was much historical documentation of
the actual pirate, the creative artists on the film were prepared to give him their own
fanciful touch. “We knew all about Blackbeard,” says Rose. “He wasn’t very glamorous;
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