Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley were Chris Cuomo’s guests on the “Guess Who’s Coming to Breakfast?” segment of GOOD MORNING, AMERICA on Wednesday, May 25th. Cuomo broadcast from the island of Dominica where PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST has been shooting for the past month, and made much of how remote and inaccessible the site was. Keira and Orlando appeared in costume–Keira even sported a black tricorne hat, despite the tropical heat–and were full of good humor, laughing and joking with one another throughout the interview.
Very little plot information about the sequels was given away during the interview; each actor spoke briefly about a particular fight scene he or she found challenging and fun to do, but apart from that, the questions were about filmmaking in general. Orlando said it was “great” and Keira said it was “lovely” to have the POTC group together again. Johnny Depp was not present; his name came up briefly when Chris Cuomo asked about the Keith Richards-Pepe le Pew inspiration for Captain Jack Sparrow. Keira had apparently never heard of Pepe le Pew, but when the concept of the intrepidly romantic skunk was explained to her, she exclaimed, “Yes! You can see it!” and Orlando replied, “The genius of Johnny.”
When asked about the challenges of shooting two sequels simultaneously, Orlando replied, “When you’re shooting two movies, they’re all out of sequence, and you might be shooting a scene for the first movie in the morning, and they might pluck something in from the third movie . . . which is what they’re beginning to do on this one.” Keira added, “We’re going to do a scene from PIRATES 3, either tomorrow or the next day, and we haven’t read the script–I only got given the script for Part 3 last night!” A laughing Orlando corrected her: “This morning.” The actors were obviously thrilled with the script they had just read, and were laughing, exchanging knowing glances, and carrying on what amounted to a private conversation about Part 3 in half-sentences, nods, winks, and grins. “It’s so exciting,” Keira told Cuomo. “I didn’t know what scene I was coming back to shoot, or what storyline was, or anything! And then it gets kind of a little bit scary.”
Orlando interrupted her: “It’s good, though, isn’t it?” Keira turned to him with a vivacious grin. “Oh, yeah! It’s exciting!” They both nodded and repeated “Oh, yeah, yeah,” several times, their eyes glowing, as if checking to be sure their partner was as excited by the script as they were–until they realized the interviewer was finding their giddy delight too tantalizing to bear. “Sorry,” Keira said quickly, and closed the subject of the brand-new script.
Cuomo closed the interview by asking the duo what they would tell the public, to explain why we should be excited about watching the sequels. “Bigger and better,” Orlando said immediately. Keira nodded assent. “Yeah–exactly! Bigger and better!”
The Zone thanks emma for breaking the news of the GOOD MORNING, AMERICA appearance, and numerous Zoners who reported details of the interview on the News & Views forum and the Porch. A full transcript of the GMA interview, including nods, chuckles, and grins, is posted on News & Views.