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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES Press Junket
Hey kids, it’s your BFFY Melissa here (Best Friend Forever, YO!), with a fancy new tale just for you! Tonight’s bedtime story has to do with pirates! PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES that is! This girl, along with Melissa Thompson(Melissa’s are so rad that we had two present!) got to sit in on the press conference for the new POTC film, and let me tell you… it was fantastic!
Johnny Depp (Capt. Jack Sparrow), Penelope Cruz (Angelica), Geoffrey Rush (Barbossa), Ian McShane (Blackbeard), Astrid Berges-Frisbey (Syrena), Sam Claflin (Phillip), Rob Marshall (Director) and Jerry Bruckheimer (Producer) were all present at the May 5th press conference, with WAMG right in the front row. Pete Hammond from Deadline.com was present to moderate. 
Not only am I a fan of the film series, but I am also a fan of Johnny Depp’s work. He is absolutely fascinating to me.
To listen to Johnny Depp speak, and how quick-witted his answers are, is a real treat. To be quite honest, its enamoring to watch/listen to him because he is a rather well read man, something that is a rarity today. I have always appreciated fellow enthusiasts of the written word, and it tends to show during oration, which was proven during the conference. Of course, the majority of questions were directed at Mr. Depp, so he did the majority of speaking. Still, everyone on the panel was given a proper chance to address the audience.
For all of you crazy cats out there that love the franchise, or that just want to hear their favorite POTC stars speak, I put together this little video with audio from the entire conference.
Below you will find a couple of excerpts from the conference: 
Male Speaker: And do you see yourself hanging on, doing this for decades, or?
Johnny Depp: Yeah, I think they could wheel me in, yeah. Might have my dreads get tangled in the wheels of my chair. I don’t know, I mean, sure. Interestingly enough, for me, character like Captain Jack, you feel like you could just like continue. The possibilities are endless, limitless, you could – there’s any possibility of madness and absurdity that could commence. So you feel with this character you feel you’re never really done.
Male Speaker: Yeah, for Johnny. Here, hello, how are you doing? Yeah, I would like to ask you about like how was working with Rob and Penelope? I mean Rob, just the first time he’s like directing one of these movies and opposed to the previous director you have kind of a swap because of all the time you worked together, I mean this guy’s just a different director with a different style for filming the takes and then directing the actors so that was quite difference? And then Penelope, it’s been a few years, so I don’t know, there’s probably some changes you see in each other? And well, you didn’t answer if she managed to teach you some Spanish finally? Thank you.
Johnny Depp: I’ll start with the last one first. She taught me the raunchiest Spanish. I mean, it’s so foul that I couldn’t bring myself to repeat it here and now. No, no, I think it’s a bad idea. I’d carry that on my back for the rest of my days. I mean, going to work with Penelope again, having done to the film Blow together ten, eleven years ago, something like that, was – well the weird thing, it felt like when we saw each other, it felt like we’d wrapped the film Blow like a week before or a few days before.
Johnny Depp (Cont.): It just sort of clicked instantly so that this whatever exists in terms of chemistry, was just instantly firing on all cylinders. It felt completely right, and it was Rob’s brilliant idea to bring her in and I think when he brought up the idea to me, he maybe got out the consonant and I went, great idea. So I was very, very excited to have Penelope come into the this film. I knew that she would be not only a worthy opponent but someone who could just kill the scenes and she did. She was incredible. So, yeah, no, that’s all in very good shape. And then Rob Marshall, what a gift to have someone of his caliber, someone of his talent to come in and drive this beast, andshape this strange animal into something.
It was incredible to experience because it’s sort of like a – some film makers go into a film, and they’ve got it all, it’s already shot in their head, it’s cut. It’s shot and cut in their head. I didn’t get that feeling from Rob. What I got from Rob was that he heard it as music in a weird way or rhythmic, and sort of new tempo, and a kind of way to finesse the sound or a way which became obviously vision as well, but it was an incredible experience. He’s unbelievably – his timing, and that’s not just to say choreographic timing or anything like that.
But his sense of comedic timing is impeccable. He would have us just shave like an eighth, just an eight of a millisecond, just a tiny little sliver off of a beat, and it would change the whole dynamic of the scene, it was quite something. The only problem is he’s really mean. He’s really mean. Look at him. Look at how mean he is. He’s the kindest man alive.
This one was my favorite in terms of response. I just found it clever.
Female Speaker: Hi. My question is the Captain Jack. You are saying you enjoy playing Captain Jack because you have [inaudible] and absolutely abstract. How do you see the similarity between the actual you and Captain Jack, and another question, if you have a chance in the future to be director, would you consider to play a lead role in that movie?
Johnny Depp: Do I consider to play a lead role? Oh, yeah. No, no, I tried that once. Yeah, first one’s free. No, no, if I ever thought of directing again, I mean – I don’t know, even the idea of directing a film is a strange one for me, because I sort of – I feel kind of anti mathematics in a way in the that sense. Anti – I don’t like when things make sense, I prefer if they don’t so if I made a film it wouldn’t make any sense and no one would see it. So maybe I’ll just make little films at home with my phone never to be released.
The conference was just over a half an hour in length. I had my hand up and tried to get a question in, but the room was packed, and there was just no way to get to all of us. Still, I got the chance to take my picture with Mr. Depp and speak to him, ever so briefly, after the conference.
I really want one of these skulls for my fireplace!
This is me, being my nerdy self at the press conference.
Be sure to check back with us for our review of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES, but more importantly, go check it out in theaters on MAY 20th.
For more WAMG coverage of the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES Press Conference check out Melissa T’s article HERE She has a fun image of the Skull Vodka Bottle that was in the goody bags!
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is rated PG-13 and opens in theatres on May 20, 2011. For more information on the film, please visit www.disney.com/pirates, follow on Twitter@DisneyPirates and “like” it on Facebook: www.facebook.com/piratesofthecaribbean
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