Orlando Bloom Spills Pirates of the Caribbean Secrets

Bloom Spills Pirates of the Caribbean Secrets

From elves to pirates, American soldiers to Australian criminals, Orlando Bloom has played all sorts in a career that really began only two years ago. With Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Bloom trades his bow and arrow for a sword and joins Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley on the old fashioned swashbuckler tale.

Bloom plays a blacksmith whose love interest (Knightley) is kidnapped by the evil pirates. So, he enlists the help of eccentric pirate Jack Sparrow (Depp) to rescue her. Depp almost steals the whole show with his staggering, wide-eyed bum of a pirate, but Bloom holds his own in a swordfight with Depp, and playing the buddy banter as they pursue the pirates.

But Pirates is a solid show to tide the fans over, especially when Bloom impersonates Johnny Depp’s character and his crazy mannerisms.

What did Johnny Depp think of your impression of him?

I don’t know if he’s seen it, but we talked about it because we are flying over Saint Vincent together. And I was like, “I really with I was doing what you’re doing. And I would love to do an impression.” And he was like, “You should do that, it would be great.” Jerry [Bruckheimer] was on the flight as well, and he was like, “Yeah, we’ll work that in. Okay!” And it was cool.. It was fun to do it.

How did you develop it?

It was pretty straight. Johnny does this [demonstrates], he’s got this thing, and he had this whole movement, so I did a lot of stuff with him and just watched him and tried to do it.

Did you hang onto the sail yourself, or were you in a special rig?

There was a rig. They swung me out there. I was there hanging, but I had something attached like a harness.

What was the most dangerous situation you were in?

That was pretty uncomfortable. I’m not sure how dangerous it was because I was rigged, but it was really uncomfortable. You know when I am standing up and I say, “I am Will Turner” and stuff, that was kind of [dangerous] because I could have fallen back into the sea, and I wasn’t rigged there, and it was wet and slippery.

Are these three epics, Rings, Pirates and Troy, are there a lot of similarities or more differences?

They are big movies. There is something about being on a big movie set, but no, every film is an individual, every film is completely different, you can’t really compare.

Was it a goal to do these swords of swordplay movies?

No, I’ve chosen the work. It kind of happened for me, and I feel really grateful for it. I haven’t made a conscious effort to get involved with that. I have just responded to the material. I mean, Lord of the Rings was a no brainer. It was the first project I got out of school, and it was like okay, great, what an opportunity, are you crazy. But Black Hawk Down was to work under Ridley. Ned Kelley is a smaller kind of film really and Calcium Kid is a small British film.

Have you ever been on the Disneyland ride?

No, I hope I can get back for the premiere. I have to leave unfortunately.

How did sword fighting compare to archery?

It was a lot harder. There are a lot more moves. There’s a lot more to learn. That was a huge sequence, particularly that opening sequence. I was quite intimidated by the whole idea of having to do that. I wasn’t too intimidated because I had had the experience on Rings, so I knew that you break all fights down into sections and that’s how it works.

Are you open for a Pirates sequel?

Yeah, I had to sign off for a sequel. That was part of the deal.

Have you done reshoots for Return of the King?

Yes, I have. Pete wanted to do something with Leggy that he had kind of done in the first two. I had these little moments when I am running over the back of the cave troll, or in the second one, sliding down the stairs. He had an idea that he wanted to combine all of that and create a really great moment for Leggy. So we shot that.

What do you think is your greatest strength?

I try to keep it very truthful. I try to play the human element of the character. I am 26. I am figuring that out. It could go completely different.

Are you ever overwhelmed by your success?

I still can’t believe it. It is weird time for me right now. I am kind of trying to figure it out. I feel really lucky for the opportunity to work. That is all I really ever wanted to do. That’s the hard thing when you start to live the dream, it’s not quite what you thought it was because there is a lot of overwhelming stuff that comes on top of it and you have to figure it all out. I wish I could just be in the movies and still enjoy everything else. And everything else starts to become slightly overwhelming in some ways. So it is just an adjustment.

Do you embrace your heartthrob status?

The heartthrob status thing is only really recently becoming more apparent to me. I hope it won’t stop me from making more interesting choices and that’s what I intend to try and do. I feel like there’s a certain rite of passage, you have to create yourself. You have to create a bit of like Johnny did with 21 Jump Street. He kind of created that without necessarily intending to, he just wanted to work, he created a heartthrob status which led him to do whatever he liked. I hope I get the same opportunity.

Are you dating Kate Bosworth?

It’s something that I wouldn’t talk about it because that side of my life, there are certain areas that you go, “Okay, I can talk about this because it’s work and stuff, but you know, the rest of it is stuff that isn’t really stuff I want to go into.”

I was only going to ask you does it ever hit you that you are with a girl that most guys have a crush on?

I felt really lucky. I love women, I grew up with my mom and my sisters. I just don’t talk about it because it’s something that you go, “You know what? At a certain point there is a line where you just don’t cross over.” I mean, I get to work with Keira [Knightley] in this movie. To answer your question, do I feel grateful to be around beautiful women? Of course I do, I am a guy. All guys love beautiful women. And I get to work with Diane Kruger in Troy, Liv Tyler in Rings, with Cate Blanchett. For sure, beautiful women are amazing.

What do you do in your time off?

I don’t have much time off, and when I do get time off, I try to just enjoy hanging out with my friends, hanging out with my family. Catch up on movies, read some books, listen to some new music. When you go away to work, for me I have been going to locations which sometimes have been in the back end of beyond and you don’t get access to the stuff that you do when you’re at home. So, I try to catch up on things I have missed out on. A lot of that is just spending time with people though that are important to me.