Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley Interview - The stars talk Pirates 2 and 3.

Even buccaneers in the furthest oceans of the world will know by now that Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has made a kraken- sized splash at the box-office. But before the movie's crew headed off to toast their success with a warm flagon of grog, we caught up with them to talk about the making of the franchise's second chapter and what awaits on the horizon. British stars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley sat down together to talk "bastard" sword fights, invisible monsters and being left out of the theme-park ride...

How far do the two of you go back?
Keira: We did a couple of auditions together before Pirates, didn’t we?

Orlando: Yeah, we did.

Keira: Yeah, don’t think we ever got any of them.

Orlando: Well, you did.

Keira: I know, yeah I did, didn’t I? I did, you didn’t!

Orlando: I turned it down; I didn’t want to do it. (Laughs)

What was it like revisiting these characters?
Keira: It was great. It was quite scary actually. I’ve never done a sequel before, and I’ve always said that I think any of the characters I’ve played, if I played them now, I’d play them completely differently to what I did. So it was weird trying to find continuity with the character that I played when I was 17. We actually had big problems because she was quite black-and-white in the first film — she was very straight laced and we couldn’t really see how to carry her on. So we went off into a grungier look for her, which was really exciting actually. I don’t know if there is actually any continuity from the first film but it was fun anyway.

Orlando: If was good for me too, yeah. The introduction of Bootstrap Bill Turner, who plays my father, was a really great new dynamic for me. I’ve got to get the girl, but I’ve also got to save my dad from a fate worse than death, being sort of condemned to Davy Jones’ crew at the bottom of the ocean. So it was something cool to play with.

Keira: When we did the first film, nobody thought it was going to work. We were doing a film based on a theme park ride, and a pirate film hadn’t worked in 50 years, and everyone was just going, “This is going to be awful.” So to come back and do a sequel to something that was such a surprise success was lovely.

Both of you have more action scenes this time…
Keira: I think for both of us, it is important to do as much of the action ourselves as possible. It’s really boring if you’re doing an action movie when you’re not really involved with the action. So we did a couple of weeks’ training before we started and then throughout we were with the stunt department.

Keira: You pop in a couple of hours of sword training, fight with team work and basically learn the set-pieces as the movie goes along.

Keira, you don’t have to wear a corset this time. Was that a contract stipulation?
Keira: (Laughs) I love the idea that I could say that: ‘Yes, I’m only coming back if you don’t make me wear a corset.’ I did got a pair of pirate boots this time, which is definitely an advantage to the shoe and stocking routine, in the first movie, which I hated. Apparently little girls really responded to the more action-y side of Elizabeth from the first film, and so they decided to take her on that road. But no, I had nothing to do with it. I had nothing to do with the kiss either, although I was very happy when I read that there was one.

Orlando: Which one was that? (Both laugh)

Which of you is the better with a sword? Rumour has it Keira’s pretty good…
Orlando: Yeah, and she knows how to kiss. (Pretends to be in a sulk) Me and Johnny are just fluff.

Keira: I swear I shot more sword fighting than what was in the movie, so I couldn’t have been as good as I thought I was!

Orlando: I’ll tell you what — the three-way sword fight was an absolute bastard to shoot. It took about two and half weeks. I suppose it was a nice set-piece in the movie but it was ridiculous doing that. We actually had a giant wheel and were in it and then on top of it. They had a giant bluescreen arm attached to the back of a truck and then dragged it down the hill. It was mad. A lot of work went into all of the sequences, but that one particularly. It’s quite spectacular.

How do you keep a straight face when Johnny Depp’s in full flow as Jack Sparrow?
Orlando: Just don’t look at Johnny!

Keira: Yeah, don’t look at Johnny! Ignore him, at all costs! He was actually quite nice, because he wouldn’t do the whole Jack Sparrow routine if the camera was on you. As soon as the camera was turned around, it was different. You couldn’t give him off-camera lines because you were laughing too much. I think there will be a lot of outtakes of everybody pissing themselves.

Orlando: The gag-reel will be good.

Keira: Yeah, the gag-reel will be very good. I just remember the crew standing around with tears running down their faces, because they were desperately trying to keep it in as we were filming. It was brilliant.

The bone-cage stunts look like they were pretty dangerous to do…
Orlando: We were actually inside the vine cage, which was hanging, and there was a wire hanging from a crane. We were told what was going to happen, and they just dropped the cage. We were terrified. Everyone’s stomachs leapt, I think a couple of people threw up, and it just started to swing. It was hilarious, terrifying and very much like we were on a theme park ride.

On the subject of theme park rides, have you been on the original Pirates Of The Caribbean one?
Keira: I haven’t been on the new one… it’s been redone, hasn’t it?

Orlando: I have. It was really good, they’ve got Johnny coming up three times! It’s quite interesting.

Keira: We’re not in it are we?

Orlando: No, I think we should speak to somebody about that.

Keira: We’ve been left out!

Orlando: I went on the ride for the first time last year, for the premiere of the first movie, and you kind of go, ‘Wow, this really isn’t that exciting.’ It’s a bit of a wet ride really.

Bill Nighy’s a natty dresser usually. How did he cope with wearing an unflattering motion-capture suit?
Keira: (Laughs) Yeah, he was wearing this really nasty grey tracksuit the whole time, with dots everywhere. He did say he wanted to do a pirate movie to get the big pirate hat, and there he is in a skin-tight grey tracksuit. I felt really sorry for him.

What was the hardest scene for each of you to do in part two?
Orlando: Mine was actually a sequence with Davy Jones where I’m peeking through the tentacles, because there weren’t any tentacles there. So it was kind of an odd thing to be doing.

Keira: Any of the scenes with the Kraken, when the Kraken was attacking the ship, because there was absolutely nothing there. It was mostly the director Gore, running around going, “I’m a tentacle, I’m a tentacle!” So that was a bit difficult. And he was trying to explain it to us, he’s like, “Yeah, you know, it’s just like a big squid.” It’s like, ‘Right, good, okay.’ So I think that was quite problematic.

How has fame changed your lives?
Keira: I’ve got a bigger trailer now, which is a real bonus. It does! It makes a difference, doesn’t it? I’ve got my own toilet and everything. It’s wonderful.

Orlando: You can have friends to stay.

Keira: Yeah!

Orlando: Going through airports is more interesting now than it used to be.

Keira: I had a great one actually. I went to the Toronto Film Festival because Pride & Prejudice was on there, but I had to get back, literally the next morning to be on the set for Pirates, so I couldn’t stay for the film, I had, no time. I did the red carpet in this very tight dress, and had to go to the airport straight away, in my red carpet dress. Looking a bit like Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, tottering through the airport. It’s the one and only time I haven’t been stopped by security. So that was quite good.

What do you think of Keith Richards joining the cast for Pirates 3?
Orlando: Well, if he doesn’t kill himself falling out of a coconut tree…

Keira: It’ll be great!

Keira: (Pause) We could have given something away there..

Are you Rolling Stones fans?
Keira: Yeah!

Orlando: Absolutely, who’s not? Can’t wait to see him. (To Keira) Are you in any of that stuff?

Keira: Yeah I am. You’re not though.

Orlando: No, I’m not. I’m going to be on set anyway though!

Orlando: Oops!

Hmm… Can you give us any other idea of what to expect story-wise in part three?
Both: No!

source: Empire Online