Beverly Hills, July 7 (AP): Since playing an aspiring pirate in 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Orlando Bloom has been an elf, a milkman, a shoe designer and a soldier.
The 29-year-old British actor is back to his seafaring ways in the second Pirates film, Dead Man’s Chest, opening on Friday.
Bloom plays Will Turner, a blacksmith-turned-seaman who is set to marry the governor’s daughter, Elizabeth Swann, played by Keira Knightley. Before they can wed, though, they are swept away with Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) on a wild adventure that takes them to a cannibal colony and into the watery underworld, where they meet the heartless Davy Jones.
Sitting in a posh hotel suite, his mild-mannered black Labrador, M’boy, napping on the floor, Bloom spoke about why it’s a pirate’s life for him.
How much did your life change after the first Pirates film?
The first one really opened the floodgates in terms of my career. It was a real door into the American marketplace, which is kind of awesome.
Didn’t Lord of the Rings have a similar effect?
It was different. I didn’t have a blond wig. This is more of me in the character, where the elf, you know, was an elf.
Was it hard to make the two Pirates sequels back-to-back?
It was a long shoot and we were away for a long time. If you have one movie and you have this one character, the arc of that character just spans over one movie, whereas when it’s over two, you have to keep in mind exactly where your character is. You’re skipping all over the place, so it’s kind of hard to keep that through-line. But it was fun.
What makes these Pirates films so appealing?
I guess we all want to be a pirate. Somewhere inside us I suppose it’s a real fantasy about being out on the open sea. Nothing’s stopping you from living whatever life you want to live.
You’re not landlocked. And pirate booty, everyone likes a bit of pirate booty ? the idea that you can dig up a pot of gold or find a treasure. That has a little dream-like quality to it.
I think what’s cool about this movie is there’s the mythology side to it, like the myth of the ocean and Davy Jones. We’ve all heard of Davy Jones and Davy Jones’s locker but we don’t really know what it’s about. That gives (the film) a certain credibility, a method to the madness.
How is it being a movie heartthrob?
It’s very flattering but I don’t think it’s anything you ever get too used to.
Did you always want to be an actor?
I really did. I always knew that's what I wanted to do. I feel like I lucked out.
It’s kind of a dream to do this sort of stuff, and when it happens, you just hold on for dear life.
