Exclusive with Geoffrey Rush aka Captain Barbossa From Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales #PiratesLifeEvent

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Disclosure- I was invited by Disney to attend this all expense paid press trip but all opinions are 100% my own.

geoffrey rush barbossa

We sat down with the talented Geoffrey Rush aka Captain Barbossa for a Q&A. Geoffrey was so interesting to listen to. He is quite the story teller and the time just flew. Here are a few things he shared with us:

Photo credit- Louise Bishop at MomStart.com
Photo credit- Louise Bishop at MomStart.com

On his character, Barbossa:

I think in the first one before I actually entered into the story, he (Barbossa) was described rather fearfully by the two pirates that are now my assistants. ‘He’s spat out from the mouth of hell.’ Which is to me that was the key line. I thought, well, whenever I enter into this story, if you don’t see that then he’s a liar. So, he was pretty much the dark villain of the piece. He is a sort of poignant but rather ridiculous comic madman.

The director said I’ve been toying with the idea of the British rock stars of the ‘60s because the pirates always had sort of clear-cut identities. The real black beard used to have fuse wire burning in his beard that when people saw him they thought he was the devil. That (story) would go from ship to ship from port to port. So I said with Barbossa I wanna make him very arrogant and very pompous and very superior and maybe a bit slightly self-diluted about how bright he actually. Penny Rose, the Costume Designer, gave me this great kind of flamboyant outfit and I was a bit more like a glam rock star.

Then when I worked for the king in Pirates 4 I really insisted that I have a very elaborate wig and lovely makeup and a beauty spot. The teeth were always the same. And then, unfortunately, when he put on the courtly makeup with his crusty skin, he didn’t look any prettier. Barbossa isn’t somebody with any sense of personal style whatsoever. He wouldn’t care if he mixed checks with stripes.

Photo credit- Louise Bishop at MomStart.com

Photo credit- Louise Bishop at MomStart.com

On coming back from the dead:

Gore phoned me up and said,”we’re gonna go to Asia.” And I said, “well, that’s great. You’ll all have a marvelous time. It was really fun being in the first film.” He said, “oh, no, no, no. We’ll go to Asia. We’re gonna have a new sort of Asian villain that Chow Yun-fat played. You’re gonna come back as a very secret surprise right in the end of the second film.” I said, “oh, right. How? I’m dead!” He said, “Well,  it’s gonna be voodoo.” I said, “What do you mean Movie magic?” He said,” No, Tia Dalma needs you to get all the global pirates together to break the curse. It’ll become a big part of the story.” So, I sort of became like a politician. I was the guy getting the global pirate “G20” meeting together. And that was fun to play, because he’s a control freak and he loves thinking he’s the most powerful person on the planet.

On Johnny Depp (“Captain Jack Sparrow”):
It was just fantastic to think someone like Johnny was the king of the independent films, (with) great characters like Edward Scissor Hands and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and all of the things that he did. For him to create such a unique, unpredictable pirate — there’s nothing like it in literature or cinema before. And he got nominated for a Best Actor, which is just fantastic. These actual adventure films just don’t really get a look in on that territory. But I remember him telling me when we shot the first film, we can’t be stereotypes. We’ve gotta create really imaginative kind of people that an audience will get very engaged with.

On Captain Jack Sparrow:
We’ve sort of decided now that The Black Pearl is our mutual girlfriend and we both want her.

"PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES"..The villainous Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) pursues Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he searches for the trident used by Poseidon...Pictured: Geoffrey Rush (Barbossa)..Ph: Film Frame..© Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
© Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

On Barbossa’s peg leg:

I think back in the days when Robert Newton played Long John Silver. I think he did with the leg strapped up which would’ve been painful. So, I went down that path and talked to a prosthetist who specializes in amputees. The engineering they do now is molded beautifully in titanium or whatever. It’s amazing engineering. (You have) to train it to be a good part of you. And when I had it strapped up, I couldn’t stand up. I mean it was just impossible. And I said, “You know what? I’ll act the leg.” I wore a blue screen stocking  that I made sure that we made the heel of it like the point that it would be. And I just got good at having that leg had no life in it. And there were shocking bits. Do you remember in the fourth film Jack and I are both tied up in trees and you think this is one of the situations where Jack Sparrow, he will not or cannot get out of this scenario. They’re surrounded by Spanish guards and I suggested, “Can I unscrew the leg and take it off?” And I had rum inside and was using it, which was kind of nice. At first I said I’ll take it off and it’ll sort of spring a weapon or something like that, but rum seemed good. But they made up the end of my knee to look like kind of pulpy like a wound that had never really (healed). It should be pretty ugly, because they would’ve bite this bullet. They would’ve sawed it off. He actually took his own leg off to escape from Black Beard’s ship. So, I quite like that there was that ruthlessness that he would damage himself to stay alive.

"PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES"..The villainous Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) pursues Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he searches for the trident used by Poseidon..Ph: Film Frame..©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

On Jack the Monkey:
Yes, the monkey’s great. The monkey’s trained to really have no relationship with me because if it did it would just be looking for things to eat in my wig. Also they’re very loyal to their owner if trained correctly. So, if I pulled a sword or somebody yelled fire or whatever, the monkey would just go. They’re very high strung. They would leap away and do all that sort of stuff. So the monkey is completely in the hands of the trainer. And the trainers are brilliant. They’re able to throw in all the instructions in around the dialogue.

The monkey in the first movie was Tara. In subsequent movies the part was played by Pablo and Chiquita. Chiquita was slightly smaller and she was better for fitting under the hat. Pablo was slightly bigger. He was supposed to do all the stunt work. There was one scene where the monkey had to swim from one boat to the other and Pablo got on the edge of the boat and just froze and thought, you know, there’s no way I’m doing this. So, you know, Chiquita got on. “I’ll do it!” And, she jumped in and swam. They were a good team.They would always be eating, getting peanut rewards or little bits of dried banana and stuff like that. And I used to love it. It was very comforting because I’d feel them on my shoulder going, eee eee eee eee eee eee ehuh-eee eee. You know, making all those little noises. And you just get very warm soft, aromatic, peanut breath. So, every time I had the monkey in the scene there was a real kind of  connection.

When we shot on the Gulf Coast on the last one, I was in having a costume fitting. And they said Pablo’s having his costume fitting, because they wear the little pants and everything and this little frilly shirt. And he came in and then- this has been five years or something. And he looked across the room at me and went [KISSING NOISE]. And it was so sweet. And it was so sweet. I said to Martin, “It looked like he (the monkey) was going, Geoff, it’s been five years. We’re baaaack.” I said to Martin, “Would he remember me over five years?” He said, “Yeah, he’d remember the smell of your ear wax.”

It was so sweet. He (Pablo) gave me as a wrap gift. He gave me a painting that he did. It’s really amazing. And it’s framed.It’s got these mad, green spreads, like abstract – I call it abstract simian expressionism. And then there’s some yellow over on this side. It’s really quite artistic. I don’t know what that is. That could’ve been the contents of the diaper that he wears. It’s signed (with his paw print). It’s an original by Pablo.

"PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES" The villainous Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) pursues Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he searches for the trident used by Poseidon Ph: Film Frame ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

On Kaya Scodelario (“Carina Smyth”):

Kaya is such a gorgeous actress, and she’s got a very feisty, natural funky quality. My daughter worked on the film in the costume department, and they’re the same age. And I don’t know if Skin’s shown here in the states. It was very popular teenage series in the UK, and Kaya played one of the main characters in that. And I love the fact that she’s extolled as being this really brilliant, female astronomer. And the fact that for all of her rationale, empirical, scientific aspiration, she still has to deal with the fact that somebody like Salazar existed as well, who’s supernatural.

Photo credit- Louise Bishop at MomStart.com

Photo credit- Louise Bishop at MomStart.com

Check out my Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales review and Los Angeles Premiere experience. Go see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales starting May 26th.


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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES opens in theaters everywhere May 26th!

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