Enjoy…
For all you loyal pirate fans…. (I am sure many of you already know), Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales, will shoot in Queensland, Australia, with production expected to get underway by the first quarter of 2015. Along with chosen actors and actresses, (see cast list below) who have now committed to help open a new chapter in the Pirate franchise.
I will be totally honest, at one point I wasn’t sure if POTC 5: “DMTNT” would actually officially set sail at all… period. With Disney’s unfortunate box office bust: “The Lone Ranger”, delays with release dates starting from it’s first announced date slated for summer of 2015 then postponed to 2016 and now spring of 2017….I figured the plug was going to be pulled in short order. Not many actors/actresses were ‘on board’ as of last year committing to this project, (except Mr. Depp). However, seeing as construction has begun (see photos below)…. there is now visual confirmation this ship will indeed set sail…..
Mr. Depp was sighted on set.
“Rumour” (and I emphasize rumour) also has it, that instalment 5 will be the cliff hanger for the final production 6, (5 & 6 will be filmed back to back). This is uncertain and no confirmation of this has been set.
Johnny Depp ~ Jack Sparrow,
Brenton Thwaites ~ Henry,
Orlando Bloom ~ Will Turner,
Javier Bardem ~ Captain Salazar, (villan)
Geoffrey Rush ~ Barbossa,
Stephen Graham ~ Scrum,
Martin Klebba ~ Marty,
Adam Brown ~ Jib,
Kevin McNally ~ Mr. Gibbs
As I am from Dutch decent and born in Holland, I met two lovely and very talented Dutch sisters, (Moniek and Astrid from Holland) whom I have befriended several years ago via Facebook. They surprised me and sent me a heartfelt and amazing video dressed as the characters, Giselle and Scarlett from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Using the tune from the song “Denise” by Randy and The Rainbows, they created their own lyrics to wish me a “Happy Birthday”. I was very moved and touched especially since I know how much effort these two girls went through to create this video:
“Thank you Astrid and Moniek for such a wonderful, unique and toughtful gift”.
Not to out do this wonderful birthday gesture for me, but they also did one for Johnny Depp in celebration of his 52nd birthday. I bring to you with great pleasure that video:
A dear friend of mine from North Carolina, whom I have known for over 5 years, posted this unexpected story on my Facebook timeline…..
“Hey! Funny story mate…We are going through a CARF audit at my place of employment and one of the auditors is from Vancouver Island. Cowichan Valley to be more specific. I was small talking to him and I mentioned that I had a friend who was from there. I said “She is the only female impersonator of Jonny Depp there is and she is just fabulous!” About this time he had this big wide grin on his face but I went on oblivious…”Yes, we have been Facebook friends for a few years now and we send each other postcards every now and then and you should totally catch her performance sometime and you’re just gonna be amazed…” Well, in the middle of all this he puts his hand up and says, “You’re talking about Denise Pearson! Trust me, she’s very famous in those parts! I am very familiar with her work. As a matter of fact, look at this.” Then he pulls out a visitors guide with you on the inside as Jack Sparrow and he then tells me that he takes these guides with him to every county and state that he’s in. We had a good laugh and amazed at what a small world it is. He was very impressed that we converse because as he put it “he’s just another admiring face in the crowd.” Anyway, I thought you would appreciate knowing this and that your image and work is far more reaching than you could possibly know! This guy travels the country in his work and overseas at times so you have nationwide advertising mate! Anyway, I better get back to work, just thought I would drop that line to you because it made my day! Cheers luv!”
After I replied, her second response was…..
“Well, his name is Steve Benjamin. He owns several group homes and has done everything under the sun! He is retired now and travels for CARF auditing healthcare companies. Very cool laid back dude. He has a native American heritage and says he just wants to raise awareness of where he’s from. Well, he said he’s never met you but he has seen you many times. He said he would never be able to get close because so many people flock around you at your performances. He says that you are pretty famous in his neck of the woods, just repeated that several times with a huge grin on his face! Ha, you’re welcome! Have a good ‘un mate!”
What a welcoming surprise story……. this is when you know the World is small.
As a photographer, I tend to play with photo shop to give my clients their optimal final results of their shots. One of my sessions was a 1920’s boudoir shoot, that, even thought the photos looked spectacular in colour, I found they needed to look more authentic…. vintage looking…. dirty, old, crumpled, torn.
As I was playing I stumbled onto some interesting and wonderful techniques and in doing so I decided to turn one of my “in attire Jack” photos into a vintage shot. Even though Pirates of the Caribbean is supposed to take place between 1720 and 1750, and even though the first “camera obscura” was invented in January of 1544, fixed images didn’t come to play until 1816, well past the time period Jack was alive and any photos of him could have been taken.
Needless to say, the vintage technique gave one of my photos a true sense of possible reality. Here is the shot…..
At one of the events I attended a few years ago, a crew member and good friend (Scarlett) snapped an unbelievably, perfectly timed shot of an 8 month old child giving me a true “Pirate’s eye” of “I don’t trust you……” look. Here is the result.
“You look somewhat familiar…. have I threatened you before?”
Upon our arrival at a local school, kids from all ages swarmed around wanting an autograph. Since paper wasn’t readily available for all, many children got creative and extended their arms and legs for the signature. It was brilliant and very imaginative. But the best part of all was putting a huge grin on these children’s faces.
….they extended their arms for the signature….
….their legs……
……and coloured art paper!
Although I’m not sure who had the bigger grin at the end of it all……
Upon the ringing of the bell indicating the end of recess, I was given a beautiful purple flower from one of the students in appreciation on attending.
Let the races begin…..
So how do I say this in short: Family, friends and the public thought I had an uncanny resemblance to Jack and Johnny Depp when I dressed like the infamous pirate for the first time on Halloween eve back in 2003. I guess that sums it up. Well actually…. there is a little more to it. Unfortunately I, myself, wasn’t totally convinced I looked like the artist, at least not the way the public saw me. You know the old saying “The public never lies”…. well, at the time I thought many of them needed to see an eye doctor, but when the words were spoken continuously I thought: “Maybe the public isn’t lying!” Before I decided to make a fool out of myself (as a female dressing as a man), I decided to upgrade my moustache from ‘drawing’ on the stache with a black eye liner to cutting bits off an old wig and gluing it above my upper lip with the strands going sideways. This was to see if the resemblance would start to come alive….. in the mirror ahead of me. In the very early stages of the transformation, the problem was not achieving his look so much, but the fact I had not mentally disengaged myself from knowing I am a woman and having to act and take on the role of a man. Having to get past that initial faze was a bit of an issue, but as the attire grew more accurate the more I became a part of the character. I knew, to make the public believe in me, “I” had to believe in me. As time past, the more I pretended the more I started to “feel” like the pirate.
In 2004 my daughter (who dressed as Elizabeth at the time and two years later decided to take on the task of the “male” role Will Turner) and I started doing videos of us dressed as our favourite character, which not only gave practice to our daughter’s future (now present) film career but also for me it was a helpful practice working out Jacks’ “shtick”, meaning his swagger, flailing arms, body movements etc. The more I did, the more I felt him…. as a character, (get your head out of the gutter).
After I made my first appearance at Tall Ships in 2005, (great way to see if reactions from the public would be positive and determine whether I’m either an idiot or a hero), I was comfortable with his movements but felt my appearance wasn’t accurate or strong enough. The public seemed to be elated with what they saw, but I didn’t feel it. It didn’t help that I KNEW the wig was 3 cheap black Halloween wigs put together, the shirt was altered from an old shirt from my husband’s closet, breeches and waist coat came from a thrift store and were altered, boots were no hell, and well the make-up, I had a lot to learn….. the moustache would slightly detach from the centre of the upper lip, making my mouth look more like the predator in “Alien” than a moustache. I figured, if the responses from the public were going to be positive that day…. I would indeed spend the money to upgrade. Well, got home and looked at my bank statement. We had hundreds of photos taken of us as a family and crew which gave great incentive for me to further the journey.
By 2009 I had upgraded to a well made human hair wig by Ms. Mazie, boots, waste coat, frock coat ( which I sewed myself), bandanna, compass, rings, and buckles. By 2011 I upgraded to a new tricorn hat and pirate shirt and creating my own OST wig upgrade kit, (ie wig trinkets and blond dreads), along with zombie finger.
Here are some photos…..
By the time “On Stranger Tides” was released, our daughter decided to take on the role of Angelica Teach and abandon her role as Will Turner…. for now.
Selected for inclusion for “Canadian Camera” ~ spring edition 2014.
Photography by: Herman Surkis
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