Lee Arenberg Talks Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

The third installment of the trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End hitting theaters next month; it’s likely to bring closure to most of the story lines left open in the previous two Pirates films. I say most of the story lines because JewReview.net sat down with one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, Lee Arenberg, one of the Black Pearl’s very own residents, Pintel – and one of the two comedians on the ship (along with Mackenzie Crook’s Ragetti).

We talked about becoming part of the series, returning to shoot the second and third movie together, working with Keith Richards, Johnny Depp, and director Gore Verbinski, as well as the continuation of the series. Of course, not wanting to give away too much information, Lee was nice enough to spill a couple of details about At World’s End and the future.

Check out what he had to say:

What’s it like getting on the set and putting on the make-up? Do you become Pintel, or are you still Lee?
Lee Arenberg: I must say, fortunately, this role is one I can approach pretty technically. And so the transition of that make-up, which after 300 times of doing it, takes a little over an hour. My guy, Joel Harlow, is one of the most talented dudes on the whole set; he’s a jack of all trades on the artist side, and he’s been my guy for all three pictures. It was a lucky break to have that consistency and the artistry of what he does – the placement of the scar - throughout the process. Sometimes the make-up thing can be where you just sit there and take it, like a Star Treky thing. But with Pintel, you’ve got to stretch the skin, and it’s little participation bits; you’ve got to move your chin, you’ve got to stay locked in in that make-up, which is cool. Because when you stay there for an hour and you see that transition in the room, you’re there. And the very last thing you do before we do a take is the teeth; there’s nothing of Lee left. As long as my sounds sound like something from over there, I’m ok; I’d always run my lines by the other cast members, Mackenzie or (Kevin) McNally. After the first movie, I was on my own and I trusted them; it’s not that easy, especially when you have to ad-lib something. There’s something about those ‘a’ sounds, like ‘father’ or the word ‘last;’ it doesn’t sound right to me, so every time I would say it, it’d be like ‘clink, clink, clunker, clunker.’ To be able to do it enough times that your minds ear gets it; you really do have to nestisize your ears to the sound – (in his Pintel voice) ‘Pintel, he’s real convoluted, you know, at all times.’ And if I had to say those lines, ten times through, I’m good at identifying each one; you see my line, I re-write it above it on the page – ‘i’ becomes ‘oy,’ ‘time’ becomes ‘toyme.’ And every time, it’s not pretty, but my script looks like that; when I’m reading it in my mind, I’m reading the phonetics, I don’t memorize the words – ‘rain’ – ‘rayn.’

What’s it like working with Johnny Depp?
Lee Arenberg: Johnny Depp is one of the greatest actors for his talent, his intellect, his choices, and also just his look – he’s got the ‘ace face’ to back it up; if you’re going to call bullsh*t, you’re a good looking man. He always says the fans are the boss of him, and he works for the fans; I think it was really interesting to me. One of the things about him that was so magical about him on the first one, Curse of the Black Pearl, was here you have one of the greatest actors – although corky and probably many of the audience hadn’t caught many of his pictures, or if they saw him, he was under scissorhand make-up or a pretty elaborate make-up job; to see him there, just nailing a character - in a way, very few actors in film actors ever have. There’s very few actors nominated for Oscars for a comedy; it’s Chaplin-esque. It’s legendary, it’s like Bob Beamon jumping three feet farther than anyone. The studio didn’t want to do it because they were afraid of the sexuality of his character, they didn’t know what to make of the teeth thing; but he sees three steps ahead. The romantic pirate is like a rock and roll star, so I’m going to base my character on my favorite rock and roll star, Keith Richards – and put in a little Pepe Le Peu for the kids.

What about Keith Richards?
Lee Arenberg: When I met Keith Richards on P3, he reminded me of a modern f*ckin’ pirate, he really did; his bodyguard, Bill, was the real Pintel. Here’s a guy from South London, the dialect I’m trying to pull off; he’s my size, bald, stocky, and he works for a Pirate – he is Pintel. And he was paired up with a New York dude, but he was doing a double act too. So the parallels that Johnny sees, allowed for the rest of our success. A magical thing happened when all that came together.

What was that like to see him on set?
Lee Arenberg: So cool; when I first met him, it was the best! He was in the make-up trailer and I just poked my head in there; I wanted to see Keith Richards. Johnny was in there doing a make-up test on him. I was dressed as Pintel, and he looked at me and busted into this Cheshire fat grin smile – he goes to Johnny, ‘Johnny, there’s another one!’ And that made me feel so good; he was such a great addition, if nothing more than a breath of fresh air. Obviously, he busted everyone’s balls – this is Keith Richards; he really is a cool dude, and a legend for a reason. He’s super smart, real charismatic, and it’s a different circus than he’s part of – that rock and roll circus. It was interesting of the two circuses locking up, just to hear his manager – the way we work, and he works hard too, in just one burst of artistic energy, where ours is sustained. We have a lot more people than a rock show, but they’re still there. I don’t want to give it away, but he is very cool – and just to be in the scene. That’s what we always checked in the first version of P3, we figured out where his part was going to be and make sure Mackenzie and I were always in that scene. But to me, it was more of his cameo was more of a kudos for Johnny – Johnny’s work, Johnny’s love. His wife, Patti Hansen, she’s gorgeous; she made me blush – and it’s hard to make Pintel blush. The kiss from Keira, that’s about it; his whole life, the guy’s never blushed and Patti Hansen did it, too.

Seeing Johnny and Keith next to each other as father and son, was it almost trying to figure out who the dad was and who the son was?
Lee Arenberg: What’s interesting is the dynamic – how we act around Johnny is how Johnny acts around Keith. It was more about him hanging out outside Keith’s trailer like the rest of us poor shmucks – it was pretty neat. That’s the great thing, Johnny’s layer of humanity; he sees himself as a regular dude with a superstar gig. I don’t think he buys into his own bullsh*t either really; he’s got a beautiful family, and it’s given him a different perspective. When his daughter came to the set on the first one, he was worried she’d be scared of the pirates, but she loved them – the nastier, the better and that’s what was another good kudo for the project.

Will we see more of the Pirates?
Lee Arenberg: I hope there’s more of them out there; I would want to think so. There’s always a possibility of them making a Pintel and Rigetti movie; I would want to do it, I love the characters. I always have thought these guys are the classic double team; it’s two actors brought together by a physical difference. Luckily for Mackenzie and I, they were looking for sexy and sexy – cause they got that right! Two highly hot, sexy men cast together. He’s such a great guy, I love the chance just to get to hang out with him and work; his acting sensibility matches mine. We were assigned to become really good friends off the first movie, and fortunately I’m loud, he’s quiet; he’s smart, I’m not – that kind of thing, it’s a nice combo. Those things, you can’t take any of that luck, that magic for granted. But when they get it right, they get it right; and the investment of a half a billion dollars, or whatever it is, to invest in a couple more movies – they made it on the first one. Both movies (2&3) are paid for from the success of the first.
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