Australian actor Geoffrey Rush parlays his role of Barbossa
into wild box office success.
By Juliet Pennington

For “Pirates of the Caribbean” fans, Geoffrey Rush is–and always will be–Capt. Hector Barbossa. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the fourth installment of the popular Disney franchise, has grossed more than $900 million globally, with overseas earnings leading the way. The movie, the first “Pirates” in 3-D, has been wildly popular in markets such as Russia, China and Brazil. The DVD is due for an Oct. 18 release in the United States.

Above: Johnny Depp, left, and Geoffrey Rush in “On Stranger Tides.” Peter Mountain photo/Disney Studios Motion Pictures Below: “On Stranger Tides” was shot on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Find your treasured getaway with the help of AAA. Search Hawaii vacations. HTA photo

Speaking from his home in Melbourne, Australia, Rush said there is a clear “transformation” of Barbossa in the newest film.

“In the first role, he was a very dark villain,” Rush said. “In this fourth version, he is getting older and he’s got this kind of fantastic retirement package where he’s decided to work for King George II.”

With that, Rush reflects for a moment. “I’m working with another George,” he said with a ready laugh, referring to his Oscar-nominated role in “The King’s Speech,” where he played an unorthodox speech therapist that helped King George VI overcome a debilitating stutter. “I’m making a habit of mentoring British royals,” he said, jokingly.

In “On Stranger Tides,” Barbossa and Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, embark on a quest to find the elusive Fountain of Youth. In doing so, they discover that Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and his daughter (Penelope Cruz) are after the coveted find, too. Rush had nothing but high praise for Depp, both as an actor and as a person.

“He’s a very playful performer on camera, and it’s always a great delight to engage in a scene with him,” he said. “He sort of insisted that in developing the story line for the new film that Jack Sparrow and Barbossa continue their ongoing feud.”

From the beginning, the two characters were closely aligned–even though they started out as bitter enemies, Rush said.

“If you look at the range of characters in those first three films, they go from real knucklehead types–they are, after all, part of the pirate world–to the other end of the spectrum, where you have Jack and Barbossa, who are probably two of the brightest, most clever of the pirates,” he said.

But while cunning, Barbossa is also “quite selfish,” Rush said.

“He is constantly manipulating people toward his own goal,” he said. “I would imagine that as a small boy, he went to sea as a cabin boy in some official capacity from the port of Bristol or somewhere in the western part of England. It is then that he would have seen the captain’s quarters and thought ‘I want that,’ and rather than going through naval college, he thought, ‘I’ll be a pirate and get there quicker.’”

Warts and all, Rush said he loves playing the villain and being a part of the “Pirates” movies. “I think the success of the first one (‘The Curse of the Black Pearl’) sort of took everyone by surprise. It was 2003 and ‘Pirates’ was among something like 50 other films, and the focus that year was on the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ sequel,” he recalled. “I suppose that might have been because Hollywood hadn’t had success in the pirate genre for almost half a century.”

The tide has certainly turned on that trend, as collectively, the “Pirates” franchise has reaped nearly $3.7 billion at the box office.

Rush, who turned 60 in July, was a successful stage actor in his native country, but didn’t find international success until later in his life. He was 45 when he won the Oscar for portraying dysfunctional piano prodigy David Helfgott in the 1996 movie, “Shine.”

Attaining fame later in life was probably a good thing, Rush said.

“I’m the sort of actor who always knew that my strengths would probably be sharper as a performer when I was older,” he said before chuckling and adding, “I mean, that’s the character actor’s lot.”

Juliet Pennington is a staff writer for AAA Horizons magazine.