Penelope Cruz Q&A on her role in Pirates of The Caribbean

PENÉLOPE CRUZ IS ANGELICA IN “PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES”

When Penélope Cruz signed on to play Angelica in Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” she was excited—and for several very good reasons.

First Of All, It Was Her First Role In A High-Budget Action Movie.

“I love working in Europe and most of the times when I’m working in America, I tend to choose smaller projects with less action, because that’s where I find the most interesting characters,” Cruz says, “but I have to say that here I found both.  I found a very interesting character in a movie that is really big and it gave me the opportunity to see how those movies are made.  And I love the pirate world because it’s so attractive and so interesting.”

Then There Was The Opportunity To Reunite With Both Rob Marshall And Johnny Depp On A Film. Cruz last worked with Johnny Depp ten years ago on “Blow,” where she played his character’s wife.

“When we were together in ‘Blow,’ we got along really well,” Cruz recalls. “We became friends. Then I didn’t see him for a long time, but now that I’ve spent a lot of time with him again, after all these years, it just gets better and better every day. He’s so kind to everyone and so sweet and he has a really brilliant mind—smart, really clever, fast, really funny. He’s one of the funniest people I know and he has a very big heart. When you work with somebody like that, it’s special. He’s a very unique human being.”

Cruz plays Angelica, the first-ever female pirate in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film franchise, and says she enjoyed being a pirate every bit as tricky and cunning as Captain Jack Sparrow.

“They are both trying to find The Fountain of Youth and Angelica has information that Jack Sparrow needs, and he has information that she needs,” explains Cruz. “And for many different reasons, they need each other. So there they are, stuck on a boat, trying to play this card. The whole time they are tricking each other but at the same time, they are helping each other. They have this dance with dialog that is very clever, very well written.  I think we had a great script to work with.”

Describing Angelica, Cruz says:

“Angelica is a pirate and she has the pirate mind; tricky, manipulative, dangerous when she has to be. She loves games, but she has a good heart and her motivation is always a good one. But she has a religious background and very strong values. Angelica doesn’t want to admit that she cannot trust her father. She wants to give him a chance to change and she keeps fighting for that, but it’s very hard.

“So she’s full of contradictions and I think that’s what makes the character so interesting.  She knows that to get what she wants, she has to be tricky and she has to manipulate, for example, Jack Sparrow. And she knows that to be his equal, she has to be a very good liar, a very good actress in life, a very good manipulator.  So to get what she wants she’s capable of tricking anybody, but at the end, what she wants is something good.”

To prepare for her role, Cruz had to learn how to sword fight.

“I trained for two months before we started shooting,” she says. “So I knew all the choreography. I trained with all the specialists and all the stunt men and with my double…she’s amazing.”

Academy Award®–winner Penélope Cruz has proven herself to be one of the most versatile actresses in the world by playing a variety of compelling characters, and becoming the first actress from Spain to be nominated and win an Oscar®. Cruz won the Oscar®, a BAFTA, a New York Film Critics Circle and a National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

ABOUT THE MOVIE: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Rob Marshall, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” captures the fun, excitement and humor that ignited the hit franchise—this time in Disney Digital 3D™. Johnny Depp returns to his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow in this action-packed adventure that finds him crossing paths (and swords) with the enigmatic Angelica (Penélope Cruz). When she forces him aboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” the ship of the legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected journey to the fabled Fountain of Youth. Along the way Jack must use all his wiles to deal with the barbarous Blackbeard and his crew of zombies, Angelica, the ravishing pirate with whom he shares a dubious past, and the beautiful, enchanting mermaids whose masterful cunning can lure even the most seasoned sailor to his doom. The international cast includes franchise vets Geoffrey Rush as the indestructible Captain Hector Barbossa and Kevin R. McNally as Captain Jack’s longtime comrade Joshamee Gibbs, plus Sam Claflin as a stalwart missionary and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey as a mysterious mermaid.

 

Walt Disney Pictures’ and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” opens in theaters May 20, 2011, in Disney Digital 3D™, with screen story and screenplay by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, based on characters created by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert, and suggested by the novel by Tim Powers.