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

THE BRETHREN COURT
of dialogue in which he says that pirates are either captain or crew, and nine captains charting a course is
eight captains too many. We also wanted to get more international in flavor, so the Pirate Lords are from
all over the world.”
In fact, although Elliott and Rossio cheerfully admit that they often play (“play” being the operative
word) fast and loose with history, there are truths to be found amidst the fun. In fact, most of the Pirate
Lords are based on historical buccaneers, and although they didn’t necessarily occupy the same
chronological era depicted in AT WORLD’S END, Captain Chevalle, Ammand the Corsair, Gentleman
Jocard, Mistress Ching, Captain Vallenueva and Sri Sumbhajee all made their mark on the chronicles of
high-seas skullduggery.
On Heinrichs’ evocative set, rickety
boardwalks connect one rotting old hull to
another, with the Brethren Court meeting
room gorgeously illuminated by some 3,500
candles. Figureheads from plundered ships
used as decoration are used for target
practice by the rowdy Pirate Lords, pierced
by an amusing array of swords, hatchets and
daggers. The long wooden table at which the
Pirate Lords meet was designed by
Heinrichs and Cheryl Carasik, and
constructed at a Walt Disney Studios
workshop. “We also made a chandelier out
of an anchor, which looks like iron but is actually fabricated from foam,” explains Carasik. “Then we took
several cases of wax candles and dripped them over the top of the chandelier. We must have used
thousands of candles to get this effect!”
The filming of the sequence, which took place over a momentous seven days in mid-September 2006,
was pretty raucous itself. The set was crammed with the film’s stars and the wildly colorful array of Pirate
Lords from the seven seas (portrayed by some very distinguished international actors, including Syria’s
Ghassan Massoud, who coincidentally portrayed Saladin opposite Orlando Bloom in “Kingdom of
Heaven”).
Then there was the matter of who would be chosen as Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code, the Pirata
Codex, to which even the most dastardly scalawag must religiously adhere, at the peril of his own body
and soul.
But the casting was pre-ordained. For nearly a year, rumors flew hither and yon that it would be none
other than Keith Richards, legendary guitarist of the Rolling Stones, and a close mate of Johnny
Depp…who very admittedly had modeled some of Captain Jack Sparrow’s style and characteristics on his
great and good friend. And the rumors, for a refreshing change, were true.
“The sort of connection I made when first thinking about Captain Jack,” says Depp, “was the idea that
pirates were the rock and roll stars of that era. Their myths or legends would arrive months before they
would ever make port, much like rock stars.”
“It’s about freedom, baby,” adds Richards. “Open the cage, let the tigers out. Somebody’s gotta do the
naughty work. It’s not so much about destroying the establishment. It’s to prevent them from destroying you.”
Richards was understandably somewhat wary at first of accepting the role of Captain Teague. “When
I first heard about it, I was thinking, oh my God, this is an Elvis Presley thing. You pop in and sing. But
when I saw how it fit into the whole scenario, then it felt quite natural to do it. And they’ve also made me
a lovely guitar.”
Strumming that guitar—especially designed and built for him by the legendary instrument maker
Danny Farrington at the request of propmaster Kristopher E. Peck—and wielding a mean flintlock pistol,
Richards took the company, and the days on which he filmed, by hurricane force. “It was kind of a long
shot to even think about getting Keith to do this,” says Depp. “The fact that he agreed was above and
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