Pirates of the caribbean: at world's end - Disney

TRULY SALTY SAILORS
appear on the arms of virtually the
entire company. This was what many
civilians think moviemaking is really
like: sort of like watching a film,
only live.
An apt phrase, to be sure,
especially when describing how the
Black Pearl was shipped, lock, stock
and barrels—literally—in a gigantic
float-on/float-off yacht carrier called
the Super Servant 3, from Southern
Florida, through the Panama Canal,
and to Ensenada, Mexico. The Pearl
then sailed on her own steam to Los
Angeles after shooting finally wrapped on Grand Bahama Island on March 1, 2006, for more AT
WORLD’S END filming back in the Los Angeles area when shooting resumed in August, following the
tough post-production schedule on “Dead Man’s Chest,” the film’s massive Disneyland premiere, and its
smashingly successful domestic and international openings. The Flying Dutchman, having completed her
duties on the second and third films, was sailed from Freeport to Disney’s very own Castaway Cay in the
Bahamas, where it now provides amazing encounters for Disney Cruise Line passengers. By the time the
company went on hiatus, approximately 35 percent of AT WORLD’S END had been completed, difficult
and challenging, but by no means was the company over the hump in terms of what was still required.
Truly Salty Sailors In Utah, And Back To California
And the travel wasn’t entirely over for the company, either. The resumption of AT WORLD’S END
shooting on August 3, 2006, would see the company jetting to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah for a
couple of ruthlessly hot days, with temperatures in the dry heat hovering at 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Keeping to the code—Gore Verbinski’s, that is—the tough location was nonetheless perfect for scenes in
which Captain Jack Sparrow is slowly losing his mind in Davy Jones’ Locker. Of course, “Pirates” being
“Pirates,” the bad-weather curse followed the company even up to Utah. “Two days before we started
shooting we discovered that it was raining in the flats,” recalls first assistant director Dave Venghaus. “And
when it rains, it doesn’t get deep but becomes a gigantic reflecting pool of water. We panicked, because
we wanted the dry element of the desert and not the wet-salt look. When we got there, we drove through
a couple of inches of water on top of the salt on the way out to our location some 10 miles into the flats,
but thank goodness the water dried out pretty quickly and we were able to get the work done. It didn’t
surprise me, because no matter where we went, somehow or another, water would affect us.” Confirms
executive producer Eric McLeod, “We shot in August, pretty much the warmest month of the year in that
part of Utah, and we got an inch of water two days before we arrived, which luckily mostly evaporated.
But if you want a weather-pattern change, have the ‘Pirates’ movie show up and you’re going to get one!”
The troupe traded the tropical heat and humidity of the Caribbean for the desert conditions of the
otherworldly, barren expanses of the Salt Flats, which stretches over 30,000 acres and is famed as the site
of rocket-powered land vehicles setting all kinds of speed records. Except for a brief sojourn to the
beaches of Santa Maria, on the central California coast, the company blessedly stayed closer to home for
the duration of the AT WORLD’S END shoot, filming more sequences on Rick Heinrichs’ gloriously
gloomy Flying Dutchman and lavish Endeavour captain’s cabins on Walt Disney Studios soundstages, and
aboard the Black Pearl in the waters off of San Pedro and Redondo Beach.
This presented its own headaches in more ways than one, as the load-in at the Redondo Beach Pier is
a public facility and obviously the production drew an enormous amount of attention from the public and
media alike. Hundreds of fans descended upon the basecamp day after day in a way that the production
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