Taika Waititi has put his unique spin on everything from superhero films to coming-of-age stories set in Nazi Germany. Now, he turns his attention to pirates with the HBO Max comedy Our Flag Means Death. Subverting all of the usual pirate adventure tropes audiences have come to expect, the series takes inspiration from the life of Stede Bonnet, an aspiring 18th-century pirate who becomes captain of the Revenge. As he struggles adjusting to his new role, Stede crosses paths with Blackbeard (Waititi). Rhys Darby stars as Stede.
Ahead of Our Flag Means Death's release, Screen Rant spoke with Darby and showrunner David Jenkins about their work on the show.
Screen Rant: I have to say, they gave us five episodes and I binged them all in one sitting. I just was eating it up. I love the show.
Rhys Darby: Oh, brilliant. That's good to hear.
I'm so interested in piracy. So I knew a little bit. David, for you, what was the most surprising thing that's in the show, that is actually 100% true?
David Jenkins: They had a term, I might say it wrong, called matelotage, which was marriage between two crew members and marriage between two same-sex crew members. They had a term and a phrase for it and, to me, that was really interesting. I never heard that before.
I never heard that either.
Rhys, how much did you know about Stede Bonnet before playing him and what was your favorite fun fact to learn about him?
Rhys Darby: I didn't know much at all. He was kind of on the fringe, in terms of the famous pirates, not any longer, though! But learning about him, everything you learn about him is a real shock, really. I mean, he left his life of wealth, his wife and children, and decided to become a pirate. That in itself is ridiculous. But the fact that he then used a lot of his money, secretly, without his wife knowing, to get this ship built. It was already an existing ship, but he added to it. This is the historical truth I'm talking about now, perhaps. Then, he built a library within his boat. That was really, really fascinating to me because he took as much of his own personal life onto this ship, which was a completely different life. You're gonna become a pirate, off you go. It's looting. It's sailing off into the unknown and probably not surviving. Yet, don't forget to bring all your books! I found that was fascinating. And of course, all his garments, all his fancy clothing, that was real as well. Because the actual guy, he wore this stuff, because that's what he was used to wearing. So you wouldn't wear anything else. He just wore these things that made him stand out, including the satin gowns and things.
David Jenkins: You know, the real guy was spotted by someone walking around the deck in a silk dressing gown, reading a book, and he looks kind of depressed, in one of the historical notes about him.
It's like the most historically wild midlife crisis I've ever heard.
So where did the idea of turning this true story into more of a workplace comedy come from?
David Jenkins: I just thought, I like when things have kind of a shaggy, small quality to it, especially when it's a big genre that has a big engine. We're used to seeing explosions and cannonballs and things. There's always a nice place to be like, "Well, what is it like on a Tuesday? What's that like? What's it like when they're bored?" It's very domestic. I mean, he left his family. Why? What was out about? Immediately, this character has a minute, specific, real personal life that, to me, when you mix it with a genre, like pirates or aliens, I love that stuff.
Rhys, how does one prep for piracy? I was talking to the other cast earlier and one of the most interesting things they said was, "I expected it to be like kind of a smaller-type set, and you get on there, the boats rocking. I had to get my real sea legs going." What was that like?
Rhys Darby: Yeah. I'm from New Zealand, so we've got a lot of water activity happening on our islands. So I already knew the basics of sailing. I've been out at sea quite a bit, so I knew that type of thing. Really, the less you know, the better when you come into a show like this because obviously, Stede himself knew nothing practical about being on a boat. So I probably knew a bit too much, to be fair. I had to do extra acting to pretend I didn't know what I was doing. But I think I made it even more difficult for myself, didn't I?
David Jenkins: I think the extra acting paid off.
Rhys Darby: Other than that, in terms of commanding a group of people, I've done that a few times. I'm ex-military myself, so I know what it's like to be on both ends of authority, and it's very easy to mock an authoritative position because it's like, "How do you know? Why are you being the boss?" You know? That kind of thing. So, "Look, I'll tell you why I'm being the boss, because I've got a fancier jacket, Okay? Your jacket's not fancy." So, it was too much fun.
David Jenkins: Seeing Rhys boss somebody around, it's just hilarious.
Rhys Darby: They don't take me seriously, do they? They never take-- You should be one of my children, they'd laugh at me, too, when I tell them to do their homework, "Have you done your homework?! Do it!!"
A little art imitating life there.
I also really loved your dynamic with Blackbeard aka Taika Waititi. I've interviewed him a few times, and he just kind of goes off the rails. David, can you walk me through what these two were like on set together when they're having their scenes together?
David Jenkins: They have a chemistry with each other that, when the first time they shot together, it was obvious. It was noticeable, the chemistry that they have. It was very easy. They both played kind of a heavy scene. I think one of your first scenes, [Rhys], was that one where he's in the bathtub. Immediately it was like, "Oh, there's a shorthand there that's really lovely." And you don't always get to see it, because Rhys and Taika are both used to coming into a scene, killing it by being absolutely hilarious, and then leaving. The thing that I noticed watching it was, and I know I said it to Taika and maybe Rhys, where it was like, "You don't have to come into the scene and kill it, because you've got 10 episodes of scenes to do that. You don't have to do everything." Because they're just amazing and they want to come in and destroy. I think, on this, where they're both the lead and we get to see so much of them, it's nice to see them, and to look at them, and watch them think. I haven't gotten the chance to do that as a fan. So, creating those moments was absolutely a joy.
Rhys Darby: We're both very similar. We have the same sense of humor. We've known each other for a long time and we grew up watching the same comedy. So for us, the challenge on this show was the more dramatic side of it. The comedy, that's a given. We're going to try and outdo each other every time. So if we're in a scene that is made to be really funny, it'll be great and we'll have an absolute blast doing it. Then there's those scenes where they're a little tougher, and we get inside the skin of both characters, and they have to explore each other's mindset, so we were doing the same. Taika and I were going, "What is it about us that that makes us similar? And how did we get here?" And we thought about this quite often. What are we even doing here in America? And there's something that we've got that's obviously letting people believe that we should be here. We're deep-diving into our psyche a little bit and I think that worked out quite well for the characters on the show.
Our Flag Means Death debuts with three episodes March 3 on HBO Max. The ten-episode season continues with three episodes March 10, two episodes on March 17, and concludes with two episodes on March 24.