Bootstrap Bill Turner: Progression of Makeup Stages
This is a remake of an older post, with more information, behind-the-scenes photos, and better screencaps thanks to the 4:3 aspect ratio versions of the films.
Bootstrap Bill's appearance in "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" was devised as a progression of six makeup stages, with his character undergoing a transformation from being encrusted to being completely engulfed in sea life. The makeups were brought to life by Joel Harlow and Ve Neill, based on conceptual art by Crash McCreery, and provide a visual link between the films' live and digitally generated pirate characters.
STAGE ONE: Rum Locker Scene
"What we tried to do was develop a kind of hierarchy to the curse, the idea being that the longer that you serve on Davy Jones' crew and on the Flying Dutchman, the more encrusted you become and more calcified and caked with barnacles and sea life. It starts out as a low-level infection kinda like rosacea or acne or boils or something like that." — Aaron Mcbride, Visual Effects Art Director
Bootstrap's first onscreen appearance. Stage One involved a three-piece facial appliance and a bedraggled wig braided with strands of seaweed, created by supervising hair stylist Martin Samuel. I like to track Bootstrap's progression throughout DMC by the starfish on his face; here, it's a lower-level "infection" still forming under his skin, as suggested by the VFX art director.
STAGE TWO: Whipping Scene
Bootstrap reunites with his son under rather tragic circumstances. Stage Two enhanced Stage One with Pros-Aide transfer pieces and encrustations on Skarsgård's arm. The starfish is now halfway formed; mostly emerged from under his skin, while still looking sort of flesh-toned and incomplete.
STAGE THREE: Dice Game & Kraken Scenes
"The starfish gave us an opportunity to drag his eye down in a puppy-dog look. The character was not supposed to be menacing. He’s more confused and forlorn." — Joel Harlow, Lead Makeup Artist
Bootstrap wagers his soul in a game with the devil. Despite taking place within less than three days after the previous scene, his transformation has progressed noticeably. Stage Three involved a more extensive sculpture with larger coral outgrowths, barnacles, and the now fully-formed starfish woven into Bootstrap's cheekbone.
For the shot where Davy Jones uses his giant claw arm to grab Bootstrap by the throat before summoning the Kraken, Industrial Light & Magic added subtle digital attachments, making the mussels on his face appear to "scream".
STAGE FOUR: Brig Scene / "Part of the Ship"
When we meet Bootstrap again in AWE, he has fallen into an even worse state. He has begun to fuse with the Flying Dutchman's hull, like the "Wyvern" character from DMC. Stage Four has a lot more happening on the left side of his face, with new barnacles and growths. Everything on him from the previous stages was amplified, but leaving the eyes clear, which director Gore Verbinski still wanted to read.
STAGE FIVE: ?????
Despite Bootstrap's transformation being conceived as a six-stage progression, Stage Five seems to have been skipped over by the filmmakers for some reason. The scripts don't include any cut scenes with him, so my guess is that it was done to make the final stage appear more dramatic.
STAGE SIX: The Maelstrom Sequence
"His pirate hat had completely rotted away, so we blended growths out of the top of his head with sea life growing out of his face. Stellan particularly requested gooseneck barnacles, so we threw in some of those long, tendrilly growths to make this special for him." — Joel Harlow, Lead Makeup Artist
The final and most ravaged stage of Bootstrap's transformation, almost completely covered with sea life. Stage Six was altered from the original design, so it could be accomplished with makeup, and was featured in the finale of the film amid swashbuckling action devised by stunt coordinator George Marshall Ruge.
Sources:
Cinefex #107 "Beneath the Barnacles" and #110 "Enter the Maelstrom"
Morphology FX
Behind the Scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (DVD Talk)
PoTC but they are Polish and their names are Jacek Wróbel, Dawid Jonasz, Marek (Maccus), Heniek Barbossa, Wilhelm Turner, Ela Łabądź & Janek Norrington.
PoTC but they are Spanish, and their names are Juan Gorrión, David Gutierrez, Tibumarco, Hector Barbarrosa, Guillermo Vueltas, Isabella Cisneros, y Jaime Narvaez.
POTC but they are French, and their names are Valet Moineau, David Manie, Monsieur Marcus, Hector Barbossé, Guillaume Tourneur, Elyse Cygne et Jacques Fermière
potc but they are german and their names are jakob spatz, david jonas, manfred (maccus 😭), heinrich rotbarth, wilhelm tischler, elisabeth schwan und johann norrmann. also adding herr karl besteck for funsies
The amount of times I've thought about that deleted scene in CotBP where he shows Elizabeth his scars that we never got to see further... anyways-- I should be working.
this face weatherby makes when jack starts talking is fucking sending me like truly yeah that conveys the experience of having to interact with that little freak
james norrington delivering “i think we can afford to give him one day’s head start” with a smirk then proceeding to ruin his entire life chasing jack into a hurricane #boyfailure
I keep returning to this but I just loooove the emphasis on jack with ranged weapons like yeah he can get in a cool swordfight or whatever but he does his best work from afar surely this tells us nothing about his overall character
kianamaiart
stormborns
areudirty
origamiaround
yousharknotpass
