Meet Jack Sparrow’s nemesis – by Steve Head.
**May Contain Spoilers**
IGN – To many Pirates, Davy Jones is a frightening myth. They tell stories of “those who have disturbed him” – entire crews being killed, and their ships pulled to the bottom of the sea, trapped in his locker. There have been a few survivors of these phantom encounters. (Their lives were spared to tell the tale.) They liken the experience to staring death in the face.
“I’ll tell you this,” says Bill Nighy, the actor who plays Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, “If you are so unlucky as to stand before him, then it’s true: you are staring death in the face, and he’ll kill you without question.”
There are few things that will deter Jack Sparrow if a tidy profit is involved. Without getting into spoilers here, we’ll just say, in pursuit of his next treasure, he isn’t entirely aware of the consequence involved.
“Most don’t have any idea what Davy will do because they don’t expect it,” Nighy tells IGN FilmForce. “It isn’t that he’s an entirely predatory killer. He’s not out to simply kill pirates. He’s out to kill the pirates who trespass upon his territory. Death has always surrounded him, and he spends considerable time arranging for the destruction of such adversaries. Unfortunately [Sparrow] looks where he ought not to, and stirs up trouble as such that the price he’ll pay is more than he initially considered.”
Now you might be wondering, how did Davy Jones come to be? And what in the world is he? A man? A ghost? A creature? “To him, his origin is a bit foggy,” says Nighy. “At one time he was a man, a captain of the Ship of Death. This was so long ago, and in Davy’s mind, he’s not sure if that’s real anymore. He suffers profoundly. And he’s lived under sea for so long he’s been effectively transformed into a half-squid creature.” Exactly why he’s been vanquished to the bottom of the sea, we can’t say. However, Nighy adds, his desire to obtain and protect anything relating to his treasure “has no bounds. He’s trapped by his own quest, and just not all there because of it.”
Not only was Davy Jones condemned to live forever on the ocean floor, so was his crew. And they, too, have been transformed, each inhabiting the likenesses of sharks. They’re the cronies who do his dirty work, marauding for wayward ships. Their goal, says Nighy, “is to put the fear of God in you. They’re of the sea, and I must say, they’re a sight to behold.
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On Pirates 2…
It’s the camaraderie, the give-and-take with other actors that’s most enjoyable for Nighy. “It’s when you’re on the set and you’re inhabiting these bad guys, and amid the talent and the ambiance of the sets, there’s an electricity. Everyone feels it.
And when they get down to business, Davy and his crew will lay down the law with Jack Sparrow. “The old term Shiver Me Timbers certainly applies,” says Nighy. “If you’re so unlucky as to meet Davy, there comes a time when he might make a bargain. He would offer you death, and Davy and his crew have no concern about allowing Jack and his cohorts to die, most painfully.”
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