Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean by Michael Singer - Book Review
I’ve picked up and enjoyed a few books that were connected to the the Pirates of the Caribbean movies so I got Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean by Michael Singer when I found it.
Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean is an over size paperback book, slightly larger than most magazines. The book contained information about the making of all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. There weren’t plot summaries for the movie though some plot elements were discussed throughout the book. There could be spoilers for the movie in the book for people who haven’t seen the movies yet. The information in the book was divided into four chapters that covered different aspects of the making of the movies. There was also a foreword and afterword. Each of the chapters was started with a picture that covered two pages with the title of the chapter on one of the pages.
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The book started off with a short foreword by Jeffrey Bruckheimer. He served as a producer for all three movies. Several photos that Bruckheimer took during the filming of the movies were also included. Some of the photos looked like they had been taken while scenes were being filmed and others, like one of Kiera Knightly and another of Johnny Depp, seemed to have been taken when the actors had a few minutes between scenes. A few other pictures that Bruckheimer took were included later in the book.
The first chapter, Hitting the High Seas, talked a little bit about the filming of a few key scenes. More of the chapter was focused on discussing the massive success the first two movies achieved. The popularity of the character Jack Sparrow was also brought up.
A Pirate’s Life for Them started off by sharing some history on pirates. Real pirates like Captain Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and Captain Rackham (Calico Jack) were briefly mentioned. Books like Treasure Island and movies about pirates were brought up. A little bit of information about the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and how it was created was shared. It was also briefly mentioned about how Pirates of the Caribbean rides were added to the other Disney parks over the years. Then it was discussed how the decision was made to make a movie based on the ride and how different people became involved in the project. The information was interesting, but parts of it weren’t very detailed. Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies gives much more in depth information about the creation of the rides and the decision to make the first movie.
The third chapter, An Amazing Cast of Characters, focused in on the main characters as well as a few of the more minor characters. There were even characters brought up who were only around in the last movie. The chapter was divided up by character, with the different sections separated by headings that identified the character and the actor. The first section on Captain Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp was the longest. He was my favorite character in the movie, so I was very happy that there were several pages devoted just to him. It was shared how Depp came to get the part and created the character. It was briefly touched on how the studio was very nervous about his take on the character at first. It was also mentioned how Depp himself came up with some of Jack’s baubles and rings. There was a good amount of information about the other main characters, including Elizabeth, Will, Barbossa, Davy Jones and even Captain Sao Feng. Several of the minor characters were also mentioned as well as the few animal characters like Jack the monkey. I really enjoyed reading more about all the characters and would have liked it if there had been even more about some of them.
Creating the Pirate World was the longest of the chapters and it did cover a lot of things. This chapter covered several different things related to the filming of the movie. The different locations and sets were discussed, including how actual ships were built. The chapter covered how the director filmed as much as he could and then turned to special effects for other things. It was very interesting to read about those things. The chapter also discussed the costumes and make up for the different characters. There were a few very detailed sketches that showed characters in costumes. The characters in most of them looked like the actors. I really enjoyed learning more about those elements.
The book ended with a short afterword. It mostly focused on the last day that Johnny Depp was on the set. A few things that Depp had to say about his character and on leaving Jack behind after so many years were shared as well.
Photographs were used throughout the book. Some looked to have been taken during the actual filming of scenes. Of those particular photos, some of them looked like stills from the movie and others also showed members of the crew or the camera. A few of the pictures showed someone from the cast relaxing while between filming of scenes. Different sets turned up in a few of the pictures, some of which helped to illustrate how certain special effects were fully done. There were also a few of the storyboard sketches shared. The photographs showed things from all three of the movies. In the section that focused on the characters, the pictures used were of the character being discussed. There were full page pictures of the main characters as well as several smaller ones. There were several large pictures that took up two pages I loved all the pictures that were used.
Quotes from some of the cast as well as some of the crew were inserted throughout the book. I think most of them turned up in the chapter about the characters. There weren’t really interviews with anyone, just the quotes of the cast members talking about their characters and their experience making the movie. Some of the quotes, mostly from Johnny Depp sounded very familiar and I believe they were also used in Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies. When some of the other aspects of making the movie were covered, quotes from different crew members were shared in those parts to help explain how certain things were done. What was shared from the cast and crew was interesting. I just thought it would have been nice if there had been more of that sort of thing. It really would have been nice if there were some actual in depth interviews with the cast, especially Depp.
The information presented in Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean was well organized and presented in a way that wasn’t boring or dull in any way. I did enjoy learning more about how the three movies were made and thought all of the information was very interesting. When photographs or quotes were added, they were connected to the topic being discussed. I just would have liked for there to have been a bit more information about some of the characters and on the filming of the movies.
I really enjoyed reading Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean. There was a lot of interesting information shared about how the movies were made. I think this is a good book for people who have enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.