The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 192

On the coast of Acapulco, a small pier jutted out into the sea, clearly reconstructed in a classic medieval style. Not far from the dock, a three-masted sailing ship was moored, its deck bustling with figures.

Aboard the sloop, Matthew had just finished in makeup. He stood by the ship's rail, familiarizing himself with the pirate scimitar used by Johnny Depp.

In a moment, he would be filming an action sequence here.

The scene was broken down into dozens of short shots, the plot revolving around Will Turner and Captain Jack Sparrow stealing a warship from the British army for their own purposes.

Since it was just the two of them against a squad of British soldiers, a confrontation was inevitable.

The conflict would end with Will Turner and Jack Sparrow seizing the Interceptor. For now, however, the filming was taking place aboard the Lady Washington, which was standing in for the Interceptor. The crew had slightly altered the deck layout to make the setting look different from the other ship.

Since they were filming at sea, the crew didn't have a second authentic wooden sailing ship, so the scenes involving jumping between boats would have to wait until they returned to Los Angeles.

After testing Depp’s pirate scimitar with a few swings, Matthew decided it was too light—half the weight of his own prop sword—to be wielded with any real force.

Depp, having finished his makeup, was already on board. The crew was nearly ready, and director Gore Verbinski came over to give a few instructions, reminding Matthew to be mindful of the force behind his movements.

During the blacksmith-shop scene, Will Turner had knocked Jack Sparrow down in a swordfight, after which Jack had resorted to a pistol. But while sparring with Johnny Depp’s stunt double, the man had failed to grip his weapon properly, and Matthew had struck too hard, nearly injuring him.Matthew hadn't meant to; he had simply misjudged his own strength and had received several warnings since.

After all, this was a Hollywood film set, not a high-level training session at a gym.

The crew finished their preparations. Matthew and Depp took their places at the helm, and the cameras started rolling.

As the camera hovered in the air, Depp, wearing a grimy pirate hat and holding a musket, emerged from behind the wheel, followed by Matthew from the other side, a pirate cutlass in his hand.

As in their previous scenes, his character was the polar opposite of Depp’s swaggering persona.

The top half of Matthew's shirt was intentionally unbuttoned, revealing his toned chest muscles, and the shirt itself, also deliberately dampened, clung tightly to his body.

The crew had put considerable effort into crafting Will Turner’s look.

For most of the shots featuring Matthew and Depp, Gore Verbinski used dedicated cameras for their close-ups in addition to the main camera.

On the platform below the helm, a squad of British soldiers was loading cargo. Depp slid down the ladder while Matthew vaulted over the railing of the helm platform.

This part of the scene was a late addition; the earliest version of the script had been a simple dialogue-driven moment. It was changed to echo the action in the smithy, further defining Will Turner's character.

When facing Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner pretended to be a polite gentleman, but most of the time he was a fiery man, blazing with the intensity of a blacksmith's forge.

When Elizabeth Swann was captured by pirates, Will Turner was the most desperate to save her, far from the leisurely pace of Jack Sparrow.

"Don't move," Depp commanded, his single-shot musket aimed at the small group of British soldiers.

The platform was only about four feet high. Working in tandem with Depp, Matthew leaped from it, landing between two British soldiers. He threw a left hook, felling the soldier to his left, then slammed the pommel of his sword into the head of the one on his right.

The two soldiers collapsed in sequence.

The scene had been rehearsed, but it didn't last long. Soon, Gore Verbinski called a halt to filming, handing control over to the fight choreographer, while Bob Anderson stepped onto the set to coordinate the fight scenes with Matthew and Depp.

However, Depp quickly brought in his stunt doubles, and the subsequent filming became fragmented, with Will Turner's and Jack Sparrow's scenes shot completely separately.

The two had entirely different fighting styles: Matthew's was direct and intimidating, while Depp's stunt doubles relied on all sorts of clever tricks, maintaining a stark contrast.

The scenes on the Lady Washington were filmed over five days. After Geoffrey Rush arrived in Acapulco, Matthew found himself temporarily without scenes. Instead of returning to Los Angeles, he wandered around the island, taking in the various landscapes.

However, the crew had specifically instructed him to avoid certain areas where Mexican drug traffickers were rampant—men who would dare to kill even police officers.

Matthew, of course, had no intention of taking such risks and limited his exploration to the bustling parts of Acapulco, which, aside from the fiery Latina women, didn't have much to see.

After two short days of leisure, he was soon back to filming. Jerry Bruckheimer arrived in Acapulco, and Helen came with him.

"What a beautiful view," Helen said, standing behind Matthew on one of the yachts chartered by the crew. "A perfect place for a vacation."

Matthew, dressed in his Will Turner costume, gazed at the island looming in the distance.

Helen stepped forward, grasping the railing beside her, and changed the subject. "I hear you're on good terms with Depp and Keira Knightley."

Matthew nodded in acknowledgment. "Well... how should I put it? The cast has a great sense of camaraderie."

He thought for a moment. "Depp is an oddball, but he's not a bad person. And Keira, a girl not yet eighteen, comes from a good family and has a good personality."

Some claimed Keira had an exceedingly high opinion of herself, which led to extreme arrogance and a very difficult personality, but he had seen the opposite. Perhaps, like most Hollywood actors, Keira simply showed different faces to different people.

For him and Depp, who held equal status in the cast and crew, she was all smiles and laughter. For a minor actor or crew member, her attitude might not be so pleasant.

It was human nature and a very normal phenomenon in Hollywood.

In any case, given Jerry Bruckheimer's reputation, the atmosphere among the cast was genuinely good.

The only thing that wasn't so harmonious was the handful of paparazzi who had followed them from Los Angeles to Acapulco, constantly hounding them whenever they went out.

Helen smoothed a strand of hair that had been tousled by the sea breeze.

Leaning against the breeze, Matthew looked into the distance, where the speedboat transporting the cast and crew had not yet returned.

Today's filming location was a small beach on an island, but the water near the island was too shallow for the yacht. They had to use the speedboats that came with the yachts to ferry people back and forth. Fortunately, there were no large-scale scenes to shoot, so they didn't have to transport heavy equipment.

After a twenty-minute wait, a ten-meter speedboat finally returned. Matthew boarded it, but Helen did not follow.

The speedboat turned and headed back to the island, which was indeed very small—no more than a dozen square kilometers from a distance—and had only an old wooden trestle pier.

Once on the pier, Matthew saw that Depp and Keira's scenes weren't finished yet, though they were nearing the end.

Instead of walking over to the beach, Matthew followed an assistant director to a group of well-dressed actors on the trestle pier and waited.

The scene on the beach wrapped up. Soon, director Gore Verbinski arrived with his crew. Those who had finished their scenes left first on the speedboat, while those with more scenes to shoot remained.

Keira, however, didn't leave. As filming continued, she quietly approached Matthew and whispered, "Depp brought two bottles of good wine. He's inviting us for a drink."

Nearby, Depp turned his head and squinted at Matthew, who smiled back in complete agreement.

The speedboat wasn't small, but with so many people on the pier, it had to make at least three trips back and forth.

In fact, back in Los Angeles, Keira had been eager to have a drink with Depp at the Black Mamba Bar, but her mother had been in town and often visited the set to supervise her, so she never found the chance.

Matthew had also heard Depp mention earlier that he had brought several bottles of excellent whiskey with him on his trip to the Caribbean and had even paid a handsome sum for some fine Mexican tequila upon arriving in Acapulco.

It was an invitation Matthew certainly wouldn't refuse.