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Jolly pirates: Penelope Cruz, Depp
AP
Photo
In this film publicity image released by Disney, Penelope Cruz portrays Angelica in a scene from, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."
AP Movie Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.
The hardest thing about a pirate’s life for Penelope Cruz was not all the swashbuckling and sword fighting and sailing the high seas.
It was not even the added rigor of being a pregnant pirate as she filmed her scenes last summer for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” while carrying her first child, a son with husband Javier Bardem born early this year.
Cruz said her toughest job on the fourth “Pirates” flick, overseen by her “Nine” director Rob Marshall, was staying in character opposite Johnny Depp as woozy buccaneer Jack Sparrow.
“To keep a straight face sometimes with Johnny in some of the more dramatic scenes,” Cruz said in an interview for “On Stranger Tides,” which sails into U.S. theaters Friday. “I would look at him doing the things he does as Jack Sparrow, and Rob had to cut so many takes with Johnny or me, because we could not control ourselves. He would provoke me and always make me laugh.
“It was harder than the swordfights, for sure.”
Cruz, 37, was easy pickings for Depp, Marshall and the rest of the “Pirates” crew, who landed her without having to put out much bait. She had been friends with Depp since they co-starred in 2001’s crime drama “Blow,” while Marshall directed Cruz to her third Academy Award nomination for the 2009 musical “Nine.”
Marshall popped the question to Cruz over dinner in London as they were finishing work on “Nine.” He already had sounded out Depp and “Pirates” producer Jerry Bruckheimer about casting Cruz as Sparrow’s old flame.
Bruckheimer had been angling for Cruz in the role even before Marshall signed on to direct. He had Cruz’s picture on his planning boards as the character was being developed, and “it made it a lot easier when Rob committed, because she likes him, and she worked with Johnny before, so any trepidation she had about the project was lessened,” Bruckheimer said.
For Cruz, there was no trepidation. The actress, known largely for her work in fellow Spaniard Pedro Almodovar’s films — including “Volver,” which earned Cruz her first Oscar nomination — and Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” which earned her the supporting-actress Oscar for 2008, was a pirate at heart.
Cruz plays Angelica, Sparrow’s embittered former lover, the daughter of dread pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane). Angelica, her dad and Sparrow follow in explorer Ponce de Leon’s search for the fountain of youth, with pirate-turned-British-privateer Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in pursuit.