They say dead men tell no tales but these guys have a wonderful tale to tell, an interview with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Directors Joachim Ronning & Espen Sandberg #PiratesLifeEvent

Recently myself and 24 other great bloggers had the chance to sit down and interview Joachim Ronning & Espen Sandberg directors of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Before the interview while we were taking a group photo with Captain Salizar himself Javier Bardem, while taking the photo, we were all laughing and having a great time, this is when were first introduced to Joachim & Espen who just happened to be in the hall at the same time. And these big directing stars were taking pictures of us! That was pretty cool. 


As we walked into the interview they remarked, It’s going to be hard to top what you just did!. (meaning the fun we were having in the hall). We were all sure this interview and experience would be just as fun, it is not every day that you get to chat with the people that made a movie that you have been waiting for, for 6 years happen. A movie that is destined to be a classic! We chatted with these guys who are the best of friends, they knew each other since they were 10 years old. We were ready to chat, about all things pirates, friendship, and breakdancing… breakdancing? Well read on to find out more…

Espen Sandberg & Joachim Ronning Photo Credit: Disney

 Can you talk a little bit about you came about directing this 5^th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean?

Espen Sandberg: “It didn’t fall into our laps. We chased it. We really wanted to make this movie. I think the basic reason as you know Joachim and I started making movies together when we were 10. Movies that inspired us back then was you know the Spielberg and Lucas and Zemeckis films. This franchise just reminds us of that. It has that unique blend of spectacle and humor and scary parts and also a lot of heart. That meant a lot to us”.

Joachim Ronning: "We wanted to do the movie, when we grew up we were very influenced by Hollywood adventure family movies, they inspired us to become filmmakers in the first place and Pirates reminds us of that". "We both have kids and that is a big part of why we wanted to do this, it is something they can relate to".

                                    Espen Sandberg Photo Credit: Disney

When you were filming the young Jack scenes, was the process similar to the rogue one and filming Lea (the young Lea) in terms of the CGI for his face?

Joachim Ronning:  “I would say yes and no because the Leah was not with Carrie Fisher but we shot with Johnny Depp. The Youthification we call it. We shot it with Johnny and then spent the year in the computer basically.  He was thrilled when he saw the result. He was a little freaked out by it like looking at it but he loved it. And that was a fun moment”. 

The parts of the movie the stood out the most for me were the amazing special effects. Of course there was the Youthification of Johnny Depp, he looked so young! Just ready to star on 21 Jump Street, that was spectacular. But my favorite was the scene with the ghost sharks it was so eerie and just plain cool. How did a scene like that come about? The guys said having a great script was a big help. 
The script was written by Jeff Nathanson, and it then became Epsen & Joachim jobs to translate that and to add elements into the action sequence. The imagination these guys had to come up with the look of the ghost sharks, it is so unique and different. They put the scene together and developed the idea. It was my favorite of the movie! For those who have not seen the movie, be prepared to be impressed!

Johnny Depp & Espen Sandberg Photo Credit: Disney

Because you work with a team and you work as a team so often, do you have individual roles directing?

Joachim Ronning: (Jokingly said…) “We only work every other day.  We don’t really know any other way of doing this then being together. For us, it’s a very natural process. And I think it’s a collaborative one. We include like the actors and the crew and everyone as part of the discussion. We try to create safe work environment as you could say. You know where every one is welcome and everybody can be a part of the discussion. That’s important to us. I think that’s like probably one of the strong advantages that we have as a directing team”.

What was it like working with Johnny Depp? And what was the chemistry like on set?

Espen Sandberg: “Oh, it’s amazing. He’s so funny. When you see with Jack Sparrow it’s all Johnny. He’s a genius. For us he’s up there with Chaplin and the other ones because his timing is just perfect and he has such a weird imagination. He comes up with the craziest ideas. And for us, the highlight was always going into his trailer in the morning and going through the scenes and the lines and trying to come up with even more cool stuff to do to make it even more funny. And of course when we started shooting he would do something completely different. And everyone was sort of thrown off but that also makes it come alive”.

Espen Sandberg Photo Credit: Louise Bishop / MomStart.com

Pirates is such an iconic part of Disney and history. What’s it like being part of that?

Joachim Ronning: “It’s a dream come true”.

Espen Sandberg: “It’s so much bigger than us. It’s amazing to go to China and there are thousands of screaming fans. It’s such a global phenomenon and it’s because they love the universe. They love the characters. For us to be a part of that and keep that story going is really cool”. 

One of my most favorite parts of the interview was when the friends talked about knowing each other since they were about 10 years old. They smiled as they remembered how they met up through dance… They were break dancers! We asked if they could show us and break out some of their break dancing moves! Then Joachim pretended like he was getting up to show us, it was pretty funny. 

                       Joachim Ronning Photo Credit: Louise Bishop / MomStart.com

Espen, stated “We were 10! And we immediately started making movies instead. Luckily we didn’t pursue the dancing career. We went for the movie making”. We all wondered if they still had and of those films that they made when they were kids, and yes they still do! The films were described as “hilarious” and Joachim said “We were talking like this…” all while doing his best impersonation of a high-pitched voice of a child, these two were cracking me up. It is great to see such good friends being able to do a project like this together. It is every best friends dream! 

                

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is now playing in theaters everywhere. 

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