It’s one thing for Disney Studio executives to decide to base a motion picture on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme park ride. It’s quite another to take that bare-bones idea and then turn it something truly special. A series of films that people the world over could then enthusiastically embrace.
If you’d like some real insight as to how that goal was actually achieved, I can think of no better book to pick up than “The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean” (Disney Editions, May 2007). This 160-page coffee table book will give you (I’m quoting from Gore Verbinski’s introduction here) …
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
” … a faint echo of a madness that was our collective creative process.
Working with writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, and a team of talented and sleep deprived artists … We could begin to see the films taking shape as ideas were transformed into images and (these) images (then) generated new ideas.”
That’s the real beauty part of “The Art of the Pirates of the Caribbean.” This handsome hardcover actually puts you in the room as the talented team that Brian Morris & Rick Heinrichs assembled tries to get a handle on what the Black Pearl should really look like.
“The Black Pearl” by Miles Teves
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
And — when it comes to deciding what an undead pirate captain should look like in a Disney film — how much is too much ?
“Skeletal Captain Barbossa” by Aaron McBride
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
On epic fantasy films like “The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End,” you literally have to design everything. I mean, it’s not like Gore could just go down to Disney’s prop department and then get out the box that that studio always uses to store cruel sea captains’ severed hearts in. In order to get just the right look for this very crucial prop, concept artist Crash McCreery first had to do drawing after drawing after drawing …
“Dead Man’s Chest prototypes” by Crash McCreery
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
… until McCreery finally came up with something that Verbinski really liked. That actually fit the style & tone of the story that Gore and his “Pirates” production team were trying to tell.
So from the smallest of props to entire cities …
“Shipwreck Island” by Nathan Schroeder
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
… This talented group of artists were the first to really visualize what the world of “Pirates of the Caribbean” might look like. Showing the film-makers other characters that might then have connections to Captain Jack Sparrow …
Captain Teague” by Crash McCreery
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
… As well as reminding Verbinski and his production team that — underneath all of those tentacles — Davy Jones was still once a real man …
“Davy Jones as a man” by Crash McCreery
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
… who made the mistake of falling in love with a woman who could be … Well … rather crabby.
“At World’s End” storyboards by James Ward Byrkit
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
All joking aside, the tremendous selection of paintings & drawings that you’ll find inside of “The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean” … They’re just spectacular. As you page through this enormous coffee table book with its full-color plates, you’re going to find yourself sorely tempted to tear various pages out and then have them framed.
But don’t give into the temptation, folks. “The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean” is a treasure just the way it is. Which is why you may want to rush out and get yourself a copy of this admittedly pricey hardcover (This Disney Editions book currently retails for $50 apiece) before all the “Pirates” fans out there go and snatch them up.
Beyond that … Here’s hoping that — when it finally comes time to begin work on “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” (Which will reportedly be built around Jack Sparrow & Barbossa. With the two captains initially reconnecting in the just-founded city of New Orleans before they then join forces and head off to Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth) — …
“Map to the Land of the Dead” by James Ward Byrkit
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
… Gore Verbinski has the good sense to rehire Heinrichs, McCreery as well as John Dexter (I.E. The supervising art director for “Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End”). So that this talented group of artists can once again be among the first to explore what the world of Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” films really looks like.
Your thoughts ?