In a recent interview with Total Film, IanMcShane talked about playing “the most infamous pirate who ever lived,” Blackbeard, in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. “He was feared by everybody,” McShane said. “[H]e just looked so fearsome. He’d light torches in his beard so he could impress everybody, or so the legend goes.” For the actor, though, Blackbeard’s legendary beard was the least attractive part of the role. “It was the heaviest thing — it was like having a dead cat around my face! It was made in three or four pieces and held on by magnets and God knows what else. It took an hour and a half to put on every day.” Still, the beard had its compensations: “It was sort of spectacular. And combined with Penny Rose’s great costume, he was a real biker pirate — it’s all black leather.”

McShane said he wasn’t concerned about joining the billion-dollar Pirates franchise, because the project had a fresh look. “It’s really only Johnny, Geoffrey [Rush] and Kevin [McNally] from the other ones — Penelope and I are the two new additions, and there’s a new director, Rob Marshall, who brings a different eye, which I think helps.

“It’s not going to be exactly the same as the last three shows,” McShane promised. “So it was a pleasure to shoot it.” And the actor found an added bonus in filming a family-friendly adventure: “It’s actually been nice, the last couple of years, to be able to do films that I can show to the grandchildren.”

The Zone thanks Emma for sharing the McShane interview; you can read more about On Stranger Tides on the Zone’s News & Views forum.