Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa has undergone quite a bit of change since the start of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise all the way back in 2003. Not only was he originally introduced as a villain in The Curse of the Black Pearl, but let's not forget that he also spent many, many years as a ghost. The latest adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, once again presents audiences with another evolved version of the character -- and it specifically involves fabulous prosperity and a demonstrated lack of any kind of fashion sense.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Geoffrey Rush last week at the Los Angeles press day for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and it was while discussing the actor's ownership of the character we got into the new duds that Barbossa is wearing in the film. Discussing how he looked at the part going into Dead Men Tell No Tales, he likened Barbossa to a modern-day executive who dresses as garishly as possible to demonstrate his wealth. Rush explained,
In this one he's got a lot of wealth, and he's sort of become a corporate CEO pirate -- with a terrible sense of style. For me that rings more true in today's age then in the 18th century... Penny Rose, who has done all of the costumes for all five films, she was very excited. She emailed me some prototypes and said, 'I'm headed down this path.' I just wrote back and said, 'Yep!' The more bling, the more vulgar, the better. Barbossa seems to have picked up that it's okay to wear stripes with checks. To hell with the color palette. I sort of said he's a bit Greek tycoon in Las Vegas, and maybe too much Adam Ant!
At the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Barbossa sailed off as the captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge, returning to the world of piracy... and then ten years that elapsed before the start of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales saw him do extremely well for himself. When we catch up with him in Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg's movie, he has basically managed to become king of the pirates, and actually commands an entire fleet of ships doing his bidding. The success has clearly gone to his head, as he not only wears the ridiculous get-up that you see in the picture above, but has even gone as far as to encrust his peg leg with fine jewels. As odd as the look is, however, the narrative of the movie proves that Barbossa is still very much the same man underneath it all, particularly in how he finds himself willing to sell out Captain Jack Sparrow in order to save his own life.
You can watch Geoffrey Rush talk about Captain Barbossa's brand new look in Pirates of the Caribbean 5 by clicking play in the video below!
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales marks the fifth time that Geoffrey Rush has brought Captain Barbossa to the big screen, and you can now see him along with co-stars Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites at a theater near you. Hit the comments below to tell us what you think of Barbossa's new look and the new turn for the character, and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more about the new Pirates adventure!
