Exclusive Q&A Interview with Captain Barbossa – Geoffrey Rush

I attended a press junket as a guest of Disney who provided my expenses.

Last week I sat down with Geoffrey Rush to discuss his role in the newest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – Dead Men Tell No Tales. Geoffrey Rush plays the famous Captain Barbossa in all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie and I love how different his character can swing from film to film – like he’s learning more about himself as a pirate as time goes along. This last film is quite uncharacteristic for Barbossa and will tug on your heart strings in a way I didn’t know possible while watching a Pirates of the Caribbean film.

Geoffrey Rush FUN FACT: His daughter worked on film in the in the costume department.

Meeting Geoffrey Rush in person was a great honor and let me tell you – this man had some stories to tell! I could have listened to him for hours as he dived into all sorts of stories and thoughts about his time working on these films.

Q&A with Geoffrey Rush:

Q: You played a different part of you in this film – how did it feel like to play a different part of Barbossa?
A: “Well, in the first film Barbossa was described fearfully by the pirates. It was like he was spat out from the mouth of hell as a dark villain. He had to break the curse – it was a great twist to the story. In the second film I felt like I became a pirate politician. By the 5th film Barbossa is quite extravagant. The grandeur of his own persona was masking a very guilty secret.”

Q: What was it like working with Johnny Depp? 
A: “The scripts back and forth with Johnny Depp were pretty good. We’ve decided the black pearl is our mutual girlfriend and we both want her. I’d love to be a ghost though and annoy Jack Sparrow from the other side – that would be fun.”

Q: What was it like having a peg leg?
A: “I spoke to a prosthetist that works with people who have no leg. He said it takes people 12-18 months to really get their core muscles to realign and train the prosthesis to be a part of you. I mostly wore a blue screen and stocking. But I got good at acting with that leg with no life.”

Q: Can you tell me what it was like working with a monkey during the film?
A: “There have actually been 3 different monkeys over the life of the film. The monkey in the first film was named Tara. But her trainer wanted too much money to be in the other films. The other monkeys I worked with were Chiquita and Pablo. Pablo was the stunt monkey and Chiquita was so small she could fit under my hat. 

The monkeys are trained to have no relationship at all with me so that it did not become too loyal, friendly, or distracted from its job. They are very highly strung and are completely in the hands of the trainer. A little squirt gun was used on the monkey’s vest if they became distracted and several times I accidentally got shot in the face with it.

When the monkey was doing a good job he would get little peanuts to eat while he was sitting on my shoulder and every scene I did I could smell the peanut breath on him. 

I hadn’t seen Pablo in 5 years and he recognized me right away when he saw me again. He even gave me a precious painting with a little paw print signed by Pablo.”

Here is our press group with Geoffrey Rush! I loved his stories and watching as he reminisced over the last 14+ years he’s worked on these productions. And just in case you haven’t seen the new trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales which comes out on May 26th check it out below!

Check out our other related Disney posts below:

Red Carpet Premiere for Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Film Review
Photo Tour of Walt Disney’s Office
Exclusive Interviews with Original Voices of Bambi & Thumper
Exclusive Interview with Javier Bardem – “Captain Salazar”

 

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