Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3

Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest
news and rumors
page 22
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News stories may contain SPOILERS!

Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp will once again be strapping on cutlasses and donning pirate hats next summer in the sequel to Disney's 2003 blockbuster movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean."
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But the swashbuckling duo wouldn't have a plank to walk on if it were not for the hard work of the South Sound's foresting company Port Blakely Tree Farms LP. Port Blakely's Tumwater office provided Disney with much of the wood needed to build ship masts and spars for filming the sequel.

Generations in the making

In the days when tall ships ruled the waves, shipbuilders could rely on old growth giants to serve their strict needs for the best wood. Fortunately, Port Blakely is known in the timber industry for having a good number of "second growth" trees, Senior Vice President Court Stanley said. The company, which was started in 1864 by Capt. William Renton, still owns trees near Shelton that were planted at the turn of the century.

"The average age of these trees was 50," Stanley said about the Disney project.  "We're one of the few private companies that still have them."  Lunde said he'd love to take the credit for finding the perfect trees, but he's indebted to the work of past Port Blakely employees.   "It was the intensive management by several generations of foresters who put this tree together," Lunde said.  "They saved the best till last. I'm tickled pink to take credit for their hard work."

From log to pirate mast

Port Blakely worked with the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Society, based in Aberdeen, to provide Disney with the needed masts and spars. The Seaport owns and cares for the Lady Washington, which became the HMS Interceptor -- fastest ship in the Caribbean -- for the first movie.

The Seaport also operates a 120-foot lathe, one of the largest still in operation in North America, for turning a log into a smooth mast, site manager Kent Wall said.  For the sequel, Disney asked the Seaport to make parts for several real sailing ships, as well as extra masts and spars to use as backdrops.  When Wall went looking for the trees to fill the order, he was happy to find what he needed through Port Blakely.

"They've been a godsend to us, due to the size of the trees and quality of the wood," Wall said.  Wall explained it is important that a ship's mast be made of solid "heartwood," the inner dead part of the tree. Greener wood would quickly rot if used for a mast, but that's not to say a log's outer "sapwood" is wasted.  "The sapwood has good, tight grains that are good to use for crow nests or fighting platforms. We try to use every part of the tree we can," Wall said.

When looking for a good mast tree, Wall said, he looked to make sure there were no bad knots and that no branches were tapering up at an angle instead of straight out.  Some of the more promising trees had lost their tops in a bad freeze decades ago, causing the new tops to grow back at too much of an angle.

Special harvest

Last December, Port Blakely and the Seaport harvested their first load of 20 trees. Picking out the best ones was only half the challenge -- getting each log down without breaking it was just as important. Jeff Adams, who owns the Olympia-based company Adams Logging, said extra steps were taken to harvest the trees.

"It took a lot more handling than a typical logging operation," Adams said. "We spent a lot more time looking for stumps, rocks, anything that could scar the tree or break it."  Because this was not a clear-cutting job, Adams said, the branches of nearby trees helped slow down the cut trunks as they fell.  Disney's order was then sent to a studio in California or trucked to Alabama and Florida, where it was loaded on barges and taken to a set in the Caribbean.

Disney still needs parts, and plans are under way at Port Blakely to harvest more trees this summer. The Seaport and Port Blakely have also worked together in building the main mast for the historic schooner Virginia, which just began its sea trials off Hampton Roads, Va., last week.

Nighy's Stones and Who obsessions are always being quoted, and he loves both bands dearly, but he wants to put on record Bob Dylan's influence on his young, diffident life. "I left home on the strength of Dylan's first album. Just threw my suitcase out the window. I suppose I could have used the front door... "

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley reunite in Walt Disney Pictures'/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, an all new epic tale chronicling the further mis-adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski, Captain Jack sets sail on an all new adventure--filled with more intrigue, more spectacular special effects and more comedy--in July 2006."

Geoffrey Rush has signed up for Steven Spielberg's 1972 Munich Olympics drama which is to begin filming next month. The story follows the fallout from the hostage crisis during the games involving Israeli athletes and Palestinian extremists. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor joins Daniel Craig and Eric Bana in the cast, however Variety reports his role remains under wraps. Spielberg has been fairly prolific of late, following up The Terminal with the upcoming adventure War of the Worlds. Early reports say the HG Wells adaptation, which opens later this month, marks a return to the intense, thrill-a-minute style of Jurassic Park.

CanWest News Services
Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Orlando Bloom says that the Pirates of the Caribbean are alive and well in the West Indies, where shooting continues on the two sequels to the hit Disney movie.

Dead Man's Chest, the first of the two films, is due for release in 2006 with Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow and Bloom's Will Turner matching wits with supernatural warriors led by the legendary Davey Jones.

"Johnny's the pirate to end all pirates," says Bloom, who's currently on view in Kingdom Of Heaven. "Will is the straight man who moves the story forward as he did in the first movie."

But this time, Will becomes more of a pirate, despite the fact that "piracy isn't in his blood in the same way that it is for Jack Sparrow. I know there are plans to darken Will up a little. But I love the character and the opportunity to work with Johnny again."

While cast and crew are in the Caribbean, director Gore Verbinski will also start shooting the third movie, which is as yet untitled. Rumour has it that the Rolling Stones's Keith Richards -- the scruffy inspiration for Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack -- is set to make a cameo.

It was further disclosed that one of the cast members has been prescribed by his doctor to remain home in Great Britain while recuperating from an inner ear infection.

The article stated that they will recommence filming in August.

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Helpful Links

If you or planning in visiting the Caribbean, you can discover more about travel there by visiting
The Bahamas Vacation Guide

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any missing links

 

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