Bill Nighy has spoken about what it was like playing Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the costume struggles that accompanied it. Dead Man's Chest was released in 2006, and the special effects still hold up amazingly well. However, Nighy struggled to get into character at first, but thankfully he stuck it out, and audiences got to enjoy one of the most impressive CGI characters and iconic villains of all time.
Nighy recently discussed his hilariously sad Davy Jones costume from the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel and how embarrassing his clothing felt while they were shooting the movie. The rest of the cast had to take him completely seriously and treat him as the powerful villain he would be in the film. This was a testament to how talented the effects team was for Dead Man's Chest and how well they could translate Nighy's fantastic performance into Davy Jones' CGI character. Nighy looked completely different from how he would in the final film, dressed in a gray jumpsuit rather than being a barnacle-covered octopus man.
Why Bill Nighy's Davy Jones Costume Looked So Silly
While on set, Bill Nighy wasn't dressed like Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Instead, Nighy was covered in a special effects jumpsuit, complete with sneakers, tracking beads covering his face, and a cap covered in even more trackers. This was necessary to match Davy Jones' CGI octopus face to Nighy's performance, but it made it harder to stay in character for Nighy. While Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp were in their iconic looks as Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, Nighy was a "man in late middle age dressed as somebody who didn't get into Devo."
The dots covering Nighy's face were used when the special effects team was animating the CGI character, Davy Jones. Every individual dot was tracked individually and converted into coordinates for the character model to match its facial expressions. The modern incarnation of the VFX suit looks slightly different, but it remains an absolute necessity in Hollywood to create the stunning effects present in so many films and video games. This presents an additional challenge for the actor wearing the outfit because they have to get into character all on their own without looking the part. However, it created a convincing recreation of Bill Nighy's performance as Davy Jones.
Billy Nighy's Davy Jones Costume Proves His Acting Talent
Nighy explained to Vanity Fair how his interview to be cast as Davy Jones went down, where he was told to have a wet and Scottish accent for the character while riding in the backseat of a car. From this first audition, it was clear that Nighy would have unique challenges with his Pirates of the Caribbean character, which he faced head-on. He struggled to find his place on set among the Pirates of the Caribbean cast. Nighy said that "people wouldn't have lunch with [him], it was too sad."
Even after feeling like an outsider, Nighy still delivered an incredible performance as Davy Jones. Dead Man's Chest was also praised for the incredible special effects work done on his character. Nighy was able to help create one of the greatest characters in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and modern film as a whole, all while wearing some nice gray pajamas.