by Gill Pringle and Chelsea Wick
Javier Bardem stars as the undead Capitán Armando Salazar who comes along to seek his revenge against Jack Sparrow and all of the pirates in the world.
How did you first get involved with Pirates of the Caribbean?
Back in 2010, I was visiting the set [Bardem’s wife Penelope Cruz featured in 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides] and I was very amazed by the whole thing. I never did a movie like that so I hadn’t been in a set like that before. I remember saying to Jerry [Bruckheimer, Producer] that I’d love to be a part of it. I wasn’t asking for a job, just saying how fun it looked. Then they called me five years later, offering me a part! I knew the quality of the production was going to be out of the question, not only because of the budget which is important in a movie like this but because of the detail in everything. It is so important for Jerry and Disney to bring together these talented people to do their job. For me, it was a matter of the writing and the role and when I read it, I felt like there was something there to do.
Did you get to go to Australia with the rest of the cast?
Yes, I was in Australia the whole time. The whole movie was shot in Australia. I loved it there. We were in the Gold Coast and I had the chance to go to up north, the Coral Reef and Whitehaven Beach. That’s the beach in the movie when I get close to shore on the run. The people in Australia were loving and nice and very warm. I loved it there, and also, I am a huge rugby fan so being in the land of the Wallabies was important for me.
How did you choose to use Spanish in the movie? What kind of accent does Salazar have?
They asked me to play this Spanish captain. I saw what was there at the time through some research and of course most of those captains were from the south of Spain. I thought it was nice to bring this kind of southern flavour to the accent which was not an easy task because the movie was obviously done in English. This is why, at times, in order to express myself, I needed to do so in Spanish and the directors were fine with that. It went well and I think it adds something fun.
Being born in the Canary Islands, did you grow up with pirate legends and playing pirate games on the beach?
No, because my parents moved to Madrid when I was one so I didn’t have much time in the Canary Islands. But of course I played like a pirate and I played spaceships from Star Wars. I was a Star Wars ship. Not Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker but I was playing the space ship! That is part of something that you have to remind yourself when you are doing a movie like this. It’s hard work, people are working hard for many hours like any other movie set but you have to remind yourself to have fun because it is uncommon to be in a movie like this so you can’t forget to enjoy it. Otherwise what’s the point? Of course, it’s a good pay cheque, it’s work, it’s a good role, it’s a good company but beyond that, if you don’t have fun doing something like this, people will notice.
Could you introduce us to your character?
I think you can see this character from two different angles. Firstly, you see his pride and strength. He is a Spanish captain at a time where pride and honour were very important even more than feeding himself. It was more important to be respected than anything else and what happens if that person is betrayed by what he hates the most sparks terrible rage. The idea of rage is what we all worked around using makeup and wardrobe to show the darkness and the pain while still keeping it a fun movie. This is not No Country For Old Men, after all.
What was your first reaction when you saw what your character would look like?
I knew what the makeup would look like because I had that makeup on but I didn’t know how the hair would look and what character would the hair play. The hair definitely plays a character, it softens a little more of my movement and I think it’s lightness creates a great contrast with my dark, pain-stricken character, between earth and water, between heaven and hell, it’s a nice thing.
In terms of the makeup process, how much of it is you and how much is computerised?
The whole face was makeup. It was a three-hour long process which is not much for such detailed, great work. It was all hand made. The hair was CG so I didn’t know how that would look. I saw some pictures and drawings but that was something that was going to be decided when they were editing. I think I have been taught how to be patient because of this movie that I did called The Sea Inside. For that movie, I had to stay for five to six hours of makeup every day so that was good experience in a way. Compared to that, nothing is too long. When I know I have to go through a process of makeup, I record all of my notes so I can listen to them, so I can hear the script, I can hear the notes but then you go through different stages. You curse and you stand up and you say ‘I don’t want this anymore’, then you leave and then you come back and then you try to sleep and then they put a hairdryer on your face and you go, ‘oh no!’ You laugh when you see how great it looks and then you ask if it’s done and they say there is one more hour to go and you go, ‘oh no’ again.
What does Salazar’s fixation on vengeance against Jack do to him? Is there a moral there?
I think so because remember, we are in a Disney movie, let’s not forget about that. When you go through three hours of makeup and they put on that detailed wardrobe that weighs so much and you are on set on a real sized boat with five cameras and five hundred extras, you know that every time you open your mouth, there are thousands of dollars at stake and you better know what you are doing. You need to know your reason is behind what you are doing because you don’t want to screw it up. So for me creating someone with the aim of revenge was important. I needed to show that the pain that comes with rage only creates more pain in the one that suffers it. Emotional and physical pain and that is the idea that I wanted to bring to the character. Even if he would succeed in his goal, he would never be liberated of the pain brought on by his rage no matter what.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is in cinemas from May 25, 2017
Read our review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
