TF talks Pirates: Part One

Mackenzie Crook is gagging to rest his weary bones. You’d have thought with being a Pirate, he would be used to boats by now but after 5-plus hours standing onboard The Pirates Of The Caribbean Volvo Ocean race vessel, he looks like he could do with a stiff drink and a nap.

“I’ve been on a lot of ships, obviously, but this is my first time on a sailing boat,” he says, stroking his tangled facial hair. “It was fun though,” he laughs.

Crook returns to his role as wooden-eyed Pirate, Ragetti for Gore Verbinski’s Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and admits that despite doing everything in his power to avoid typecasting, he just couldn’t turn down the chance to work on Pirates 2 and 3.

“It’s a great gig. I couldn’t ask for a better one as an actor but it is a job and they’ve taken a long time. It’s hard work but so much fun. We’re a third of the way through the third one, we’ve got to go back and finish the third one in August after all the promotion for number two.”

Totalfilm.com suggests that the mark of a good movie is when you ruin a genre for anyone who follows – something that Pirates Of The Caribbean has undoubtedly achieved.“ You hear that people have tried recently to get a pirate movie made but it hasn’t happened. I think that’s because we’ve got the elements exactly right and captured the audience's imagination. It works so well. It’s something for the whole family.”

From mugging with Johnny Vegas, to swashbuckling with Johnny Depp, Mackenzie Crook has come a long way in a few short years and is fast becoming adept at pinching the odd scene from some of Hollywood’s finest. “Hopefully we steal a few scenes from Johnny, that’s the idea yeah but Johnny is a great guy, he’s such a generous actor to work with and that’s why he’s in the position he is, because of that generosity.”

So what of the third movie, tentatively titled At World’s End? Rumour has it that it breaks a little with the formula set down by the first two flicks…

“The third one goes a bit crazy, in a good way. There’s going to be some great surprises in store.” Hmm… crazy like Ragetti getting a love scene with Elizabeth Swann?

“Oh god no, I don’t get Keira Knightley,” he laughs. “In fact, I tend to pick up characters that don’t really enjoy a great deal of growth but it’s so much fun, I can’t complain. But no, I don’t get the girl at the end of the day.”

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is in cinemas from 6 July.