Secrets from the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Gold Coast shoot

HIDDEN tales from the sets of the biggest movie ever to film in Australia are washing ashore ahead of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on Thursday.

HIDDEN tales from the sets of the biggest movie ever to film in Australia are washing ashore ahead of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on Thursday.

Here are some interesting facts about the $300 million plus Walt Disney Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer production’s six-month shoot on the Gold Coast back in 2015.

The sprawling St Martin town set built at Maudsland for filming on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Picture Glenn Hampson.

THE MAUDSLAND SET

* The detailed St Martin town set — a fanciful, teeming British colonial village in the Caribbean — occupied five acres at Maudsland. Most of the structures were only fronts, but at least two — Grimes’ Tavern and Swift’s Chart House — were three dimensional.

A horse and carriage on the Maudsland set of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Picture Glenn Hampson.

* Each shop had wares displayed outside — including real dried octopus and squid, “stinking to high heaven over the course of many months”.

* Crew had to move 30 tons of sand into the St Martin set the day the Execution Square sequence was filmed after several inches of rain soaked the site.

Cast and crew on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales at Maudsland on the Gold Coast. Picture: Scott Fletcher

CAST OF THOUSANDS

* More than 1000 wigs were used in the film. On the biggest days, the hair department worked on 700 extras and 30 principals, with a main team of 22 people and another 70 in a vast tent for background, stunt players and wranglers. The facility was known as “the sausage factory.”

An estimated 2000 costumes, hats, shoes and accessories were used on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Picture: Peter Mountain..© Disney Enterprises, Inc.

VILLAGE ROADSHOW STUDIOS

* An entire 20,000 foot soundstage was turned into a wardrobe warehouse filled with 2000 costumes, hats, shoes and accessories, all arranged by character names, types, genders and ages.

Pirates of the Caribbean on the Coast

VIEW GALLERY

* The costumed team aged clothes with a variety of techniques, including putting costumes and pebbles in a cement mixer and using cheese graters to wear them down.

* On State of Origin night on May 27, 2015, a gigantic screen was set up in the Village Roadshow Studios outdoor tank, projected on to the side of a production truck, so crew could watch the Maroons beat the Blues.

The massive Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales outdoor studio at Helensvale on the Gold Coast. Picture: Scott Fletcher

One of the 11 ships built at the Pirates 5 Helensvale set during filming. Picture: Tim Marsden

THE HELENSVALE SHIPS

* The so-called “ship arena” at Helensvale housed 11 ships, built on computerised motion bases inside 100 shipping cargo containers piled on top of each other like bricks. The containers formed the frame for massive inflatable blue screens, later replaced with sky and surf by the visual effects team.

One of the elaborate pirate ship sets at Helensvale. Picture Mike Batterham

* At least 27 “knucklebooms” (giraffe-like boom cranes for hydraulic lifting, loading and handling) were used in the ship arena, with a 150-foot-long lighting grid hovering over the pirate boats.

* The ship arena featured 30-40 pieces of heavy equipment, with three Technocranes with five cameras mounted on them working every day.

A man-made whale carcass on the Pirates 5 Hastings Point set. Picture: Geoff Chambers

HASTINGS POINT

* The “shotgun wedding” sequence set near the whale carcass was a family affair for Stephen Graham (Scrum), whose wife Hannah Walters played Captain Jack’s would-be, not-so-blushing bride, Beatrice Kelly. Graham and Walters’ children, Alfie and Grace, played Beatrice’s two kids.

The villainous Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) heads for shore in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Picture ©Disney Enterprises, Inc.

THE WHITSUNDAYS

* A staggering 60 trucks travelled 1400km from the Gold Coast to north Queensland, followed by a 40-minute drive and barge trip from the mainland to Hamilton Island, one of the filming locations, and then another hour-and-a-half barge trip to other filming locations including Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island.

Johnny Depp (Captain Jack Sparrow) and co-director Espen Sandberg on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Picture: ©Disney Enterprises, Inc.

* After production wrapped on 93 days of principal photography in Australia, a storm system saw all flights from Hamilton Island airstrip cancelled. More than 200 cast and crew had to be ferried over rough waters in the Whitsunday Passage to the mainland before being driven more than two hours to Mackay, so they could be flown home.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales opens on Thursday.