Elevate June 2022 | Air Serbia

Intervju / Interview

Bio sam Crnobradi danju, a noću radio Tora i razne druge stvari I was Blackbeard by day and then was editing Thor

by night and doing various other things

from set with the shaggy hair and the beard. You didn't know much about that character… - I didn’t do any research on Blackbeard. I went on Wikipedia and realised that no one really knows an- ything about him, and that gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted. And the costume was all leather, like Mad Max, and it looks cool. I felt like a grizzled biker, although it was un- comfortable being in that hot leath- er all day. It made me grumpy some- times, with the hair and the beard, having someone else’s hair in my mouth! Maybe that’s what helped me get to that grumpy state. Was it difficult to find the right tone for your perfor- mance? He has to be cool and tough, but also funny and vulnerable... - I felt the same frustrations; I grew up poor and wanted to see what life was like on the other side of the tracks. Now I do rub shoulders with people in this world of having money and success, which is the same tra- jectory that Blackbeard is having. He does end up hanging out in high soci- ety, but is always reminded of where he comes from and has a resentment towards the world. I definitely felt

that in my youth, resentment towards the rich and towards the colonial pow- ers who oppressed my people. Even now, I question myself: should I have become a filmmaker? I’ve had a great career, but every single human won- ders whether they’d have been happi- er doing something else. And that’s what’s happening for Blackbeard. He’s been the most famous pirate in the world, but he’s still not happy. The sets were impressive. Do you have any favourites? - I loved the French ship with the giant party, the attention to detail was amazing. But my favourite set was the ship, The Revenge. Behind us we had the huge screens with the ocean and rolling waves. Some peo- ple would get on the boat for the first time and start to feel seasick. You really felt like you were at sea. We had wind and the sound of the boat creaking. It was wonderful. Do you have any nautical skills yourself; could you hoist a mainsail? - I can row a boat and I’m good at kayaking, but I’m not a sailor. I went on a few sailing trips as a kid, but I didn't pay much attention. There were better things to do. I couldn’t tell you any of the parts of a boat or how to coil a rope.

for this dream he’s had his whole life, of being an adventurer. But there’s a heavy price to pay if you want to be a pirate. There’s death every day and you’re stuck on a boat in the middle of nowhere. You follow the big events from Stede Bonnet’s real life. Was that an advantage or a disadvantage? - It is way better than making it up. If you were to make it up it could be too preposterous, but there’s enough in there for you to realise he went to sea, wasn’t very good at it, became kind of good at it and then became homesick. There’s some- thing about that which really reso- nated with me, maybe because I’m in my 40s now! What prompted you to take on a performance role as Blackbeard, alongside the directing and executive pro- ducing? - David Jenkins wrote Blackbeard with me in mind and, at first, I was just too busy to do it. But with some shuffling of schedules, we were able to do it, which was great because I really wanted to play the role. So, I was Blackbeard by day and then was editing Thor by night and doing vari- ous other things. I was trying to work

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