This Morning Interview (18/07/2003)

You buckle a mean swash and I’ve seen you fence before in Don Juan De Marco. Was it tough getting back into sword fighting?

Johnny: Oh yeah, because my memory of fencing on Don Juan De Marco....it was pretty brief, you know. We had a couple of sword fights. Nothing. This one was giant. It was like a big, huge, choreographed , eight minute, endless battle.

The two great things about your character, Captain Jack spring to mind immediately. The first is the look. What did you base that on? Where did you get that from?

Johnny: One of the great inspirations for the character was, I think the greatest rock star of all time, which is Keith Richards. I don’t know, I felt it was some kind of obviously Caribbean dreadlock kind of thing. IA guy who’d spent too much time in the sun maybe.

And the other thing of course is the accent. It’s the return of Johnny English with you doing your British accent. Did you base that on anybody when you were working on that accent because it’s different to your accent in ‘From Hell’.

Johnny: Yeah, it’s a little bit more....there’s a bit of Keith in there and at the same time there’s a bit of Shane McGowan in there.

So, it’s Shane McGowan from The Pogues and Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones. Thank goodness you didn’t try to look like Shane McGowan because that is a scary thought!

Johnny: Oh, Shane’s got a great look!

Now, it’s a very good looking cast in this film and that’s not just Geoffrey Rush (!). You’ve got you, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. Was she fun to work with?

Johnny: Wonderful. Just a blast. She’s really a doll. Very good in terms of you get in there, into the ring, and you throw stuff out there and she’s right there with you. She’ll throw it right back.

Your daughter is now, what? Four years old?

Johnny: Four, yeah.

Did you make this family film for your own family to see?

Johnny: Yeah, in a way that was part of it, certainly. For the last four years I’ve been watching nothing but these Disney animated films...princess films and what not.

What’s your favourite, Johnny?

Johnny: My favourite? I think, Snow White. They allow room for magic in those films which you don’t get in most big people movies.

Was it tough working so much with special effects?

Johnny:Yeah, it was a different challenge. But I kind of like thing. I like obstacles. I like it when you set up stuff that feels almost impossible.