I always felt that there was some presence, as opposed to me pretending and acting that I was getting hurt when I wasn’t, I was lucky to always have someone guiding me along. So it was never too hard for me personally.

- Rob Marshall is also new to the franchise in this movie so how did you find him as a filmmaker?

Great. I think from every actor’s perspective… and I think I speak for every actor involved in Pirates of the Caribbean he really gave us a lot of time and spent a lot of time getting his hands dirty and really getting to grips with how the actors were doing, what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go with our character.

Right from the get go, like I mention earlier, when he called me to tell me I had the part he said ‘don’t worry I haven’t done anything this big either so we are both in the same boat’.

So I think I had that confidence to go up to him about a problem - he was very approachable and hugely passionate about the project; which was nice to see. So he definitely helped me a long the way so hats off to him and a big thank you really.

- And the film sees you reunite with Ian McShane after working together on Pillars of the Earth so how comforting was it to have someone you knew around?

He was the first person that I saw when I got off the plane (laughs). I was walking through the corridors of the hotel with all of my suitcases and I just saw him with a big beard and long hair, that took me aback, but he just said ‘hello darling’ in his raspy voice and gave me the biggest hug.

So he really sort of took me under his wing and helped me a long the way. We did a read through with all of the cast and crew watching and it was coming up to my first line and he just patted me on the back and leaned in and said ‘you will be fine’.

He really really helped me - I am going to be working with him again so it will be three summers in a row.

- I was watching some of the extras on the DVD last night and it looked like and really fun set to be on?

Yeah, all I can say is that I wish you had been there to see it in person. It’s one of those sets that every actor strives to have with every production that they are involved in.

We were a proper little family unit; the amount of time that the cast went out for dinner when we were in Hawaii, we would hang out during the day and I would babysit some of the other actors’ kids if they wanted to go out with their wives.

Everyone got on really well and were lucky to have a very close knit community feel to the set.

- What have to taken away from your experience on this movie to help in future projects?

I suppose it was a bit of advice that Johnny Depp himself gave to me… my parents came to see me on set and he took time out of his lunch break to come and meet my parents.

And my dad did that horrible horrible dad moment, one of those jokes that you can’t help but cringe at, he said ’so Johnny what’s it like being assistant to my son?’ But he just turned to me and said ’as long as you stay grounded you will be fine.’

So I kind of took that as the most notable piece of advice - and it’s something that I am strongly trying to keep close to my heart in the future.

- Recently you have work on TV series such as Any Human Heart and The Pillars of the Earth so how was the transition into film? How do the two mediums compare or differ?

It’s so different! Between Pirates and I am now doing Snow White I have done two little TV dramas and the pace is just so different - also the amount of people around; the were a re few hundred people watching when we were at Pinewood Studios shooting Pirates but when you are working on TV there are about three people.

But I like being kept on my toes and being challenged with both genres is a dream really and not getting use to doing one or the other I feel it’s important to have best of both worlds.

- You are also going to be starring in Snow White and the Huntsman so can you tell me a little bit about that?

The problem is I am not too sure how much I can tell (laughs) no one has really warned me. What I can say is it is a darker telling of the tale with some new characters added to it and they are all different to how you may imagine them from the Disney version for example. So it’s very different so it’s nice and refreshing I feel. 

But also, because I am playing Prince Charming, all I can say is the characters are very very different - there was a moment when they were quite similar and I felt like I was just playing Philip in another film but they have changed him a little to make him different; so it’s nice to have the challenge of a new character and being surrounded by new people.

- Finally what's next for you?

Well it’s Snow White at the moment, I’m going to be in the middle of that until December, and after that my options are open - I have a few things that I’m toying with the idea of but nothing is set in stone.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tide is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw


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