Playful Pirates: Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp Set Sail Once Again in Dead Man’s Chest

By Chris Pryor

“How do you know when you're a pirate? You just arrrrgghhh!” jokes Orlando Bloom, who is set to return to big screens all over the planet in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest , along with co-stars Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Bill Nighy.

The much-anticipated follow-up to 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is once again set on the high seas of the Tropical Atlantic. And although principal shooting took place on soundstages in Los Angeles, according to Bloom, the cast and crew journeyed to the remote reaches of the Bahamas in order to successfully capture the 18th Century feel onscreen that the story invokes on paper.

“It was [filmed on] a gorgeous island that they found to shoot on, [and] there was nothing [on it] – absolutely nothing,” Bloom recollects and then expounds, “It was a paradise in one form or another. Some people would [probably] go on holiday there, spend two weeks to scuba dive and at the end of the two weeks they're like, ‘yeah, I'm ready to go home'... we were there for eight months and you can't go home. I'm not complaining, you just make it what it is.”

While the role of the quiet-yet-plucky Will Turner would have seemed like a no-brainer to hand to Bloom, anyone who's been watching Depp over the years – especially studio heads – can tell you that the former star of “21 Jump Street” might not have initially come to mind for the role of the swash-and-buckled part of Pirates' Jack Sparrow.

“I like everything about playing him. I feel like it's just good fun ... Ted Elliot and Terry Russo (screenwriters) certainly set a course, in terms of the story and all that,” says Depp. “You take the very solid bones of that structure and you get to run with it, play around with it a little bit – add stuff and try things, just to see what you can get away with ... He's just a fun character. I certainly wasn't ready to say goodbye to him after part one. There was a lot more that could be done, more fun to be had.”

According to Bloom, though, there were also some not-so-fun moments to be had on set, as well. In fact, the actor recalls moments on Pirates where he knew he would be figuratively singing for his supper.

“I'm soaking wet [at] six in the morning with a flaming sword in my hand – that's worth every penny. [The studio's] getting their money's worth,” he says with a grin. “Believe me, it was hard work, being wet and cold. It doesn't matter if you're in the Caribbean … Those rain machines pump out cold water, big drops, and if it's nighttime it's freezing! All the wet suits in the world can't stop that feeling but when you see it on the big screen, you go, ‘it was worth every moment.'”

Even though both actors have spent a considerable time in the Bahamas shooting Pirates – and, notes Bloom, they will be returning in three months to finish up the franchise's third installment, which is due out next year – Depp and Bloom usually reside in Europe (France and London, England, respectively). When asked if they'd ever live in L.A. permanently, both actors gave answers involving the word “No.”

“But, you know, never say never,” adds Bloom. “When I'm here and I'm working, I'm here and I'm working. So, normally I stay in a hotel and I go to work. You can get everything you want in L.A.: there's the weather [and] the fact that you can be in the ocean and then be in the canyons – it's just great.”

Depp, who recently walked the red carpet at the L.A. Pirates premiere, concludes by talking about the overwhelming presence of his film all over town. “It's totally surreal, teetering on absurd,” he says, concluding, “A kind of great absurd.”

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest releases in theaters July 7.