Working on Pirates of the Caribbean

As many of you probably know by now, I was lucky enough to be chosen to be a photo double for Johnny Depp on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Captain Jack searches for the fountain of youth in On Stranger Tides

As I've signed plenty of paperwork limiting what I can say about the experience, but I'll touch on what the general experience is like for those of you who are unfamiliar with the glamourous and glitzy world of Hollywood.

First off, what is a photo double?    It can be confusing working out who does what on films.   A leading actor or actress may have all sorts of stand ins and doubles.    First off there is a stand in, who is used to set up the shot - to quote from wikipedia

"Stand-ins allow the director of photography to light the set, the camera department to light and focus scenes. The director will often ask stand-ins to deliver the scene dialogue ("lines") and walk through ("blocking") the scenes to be filmed."

After that comes the stunt and photo doubles - stunt doubles.    They are used and will be seen in the final edit of the film.   Stunt doubles are usually hired with a specific skill set required to perform dangerous stunts, and sometimes they themselves have their own standins - a double double if you will.   Last and by no means least is where I came in, as a photo double - they are generally used in shots where the actors face isn't prominent.   Maybe the back of his head whilst talking to another actor, a close up shots of his hands doing something, or a long distance shot.    Obviously whatever part of the actor is supposed to be on screen they need to match as much as possible.    Johnny Depp, for example has small hands and isn't that tall (just under 5'10").   Luckily I'm fairly similar physically from my hands to my height so I did a variety of things.

Anyway, that's the technicalities over with... what about all that glitz and glamour?   "Pirates was filmed in Hawaii wasn't it?  Did you get to go?"   As much as I'd have loved that, the extent to most of my excitement was confined to a muddy field just off the M25 near Heathrow Airport (for those of you unfamiliar with it, the M25 is the main orbital road around London).    OK so that muddy field was next to the huge 007 stage at the world famous Pinewood Studios, but it was still a muddy field full of caravans and tents!    As most people who have worked on films will tell you, whilst you might get to rub shoulders with the famous over lunch, the nitty gritty of the realities of making a film isn't all that exciting - most of my time was spent waiting around, or doing the same thing over and over again.

However, it's not an experience I'd change for the world - I got to meet my number one imposter afterall!  I'm sure Johnny Depp feels the same way about his experience meeting me too...