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Orlando on the Jo Whiley Show, Radio One (UK), July 11, 2003
transcribed by Bex

Listen to the full interview in Real Audio

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DJ (Nimone): We’ve been promising him here in the studio. He has arrived. He looks ready to talk to us as well. Orlando Bloom, hello welcome to Radio One!

Orlando Bloom: Hello, how are ya?

DJ: I’m very good, thank you, how about you?

OB: Very good, thank you.

DJ: A quick hop back home.

OB: Yeah just a fleeting visit.

DJ: For the premiere of your new movie, uh,  Pirates of the Caribbean

OB: Yeah

DJ: You guys looked like you were having such a good time making this film

OB: It was, it was just, it was such a pleasure. It was…to work with um, with Johnny Depp, who’s been a bit of a sort of guideline for me, a bit of a hero actually, growing up, um, I suppose any young actor would probably say that, but he was-

DJ: Yeah.

OB:  He was amazing. He’s such a lovely man and the opportunity to sort of work along side him and see how he goes about stuff was, was just awesome.

DJ: I wanted to ask you that, actually, 'cos he gets really in depth with a character, doesn’t he, really goes for it.

OB: Well, he just, I mean with a pirate movie- this is a pirate movie, it’s a lot of fun, d’you know what I mean, eh? And he has got it really in depth- and he did with this, because when I read the script, the character- Captain Jack Sparrow- didn’t read like that, I mean it sort of read like a swashbuckling pirate, but not like a drunken, sea legged, Keith Richards sort of-

DJ: Mick Jagger type.

OB: Yeah *laughs* you know, I mean he does, he sort of pulled that out of the darkest crevices of his mind, and I just think that’s his, that’s his genius and stuff- and that’s his skill. And it was amazing to sort of see it come to life.

DJ: Yeah.

OB: Kinda left it open for me to play the straight man, which is sort of what happens, and then it kinda, it was a nice dynamic. It created this sort of odd couple, which was good.

DJ: Definitely. Because you’re not into it at all in the beginning, are you, cos he’s the bad, you know, he’s the bad pirate, and you’re kind of-

OB: Yeah and I’m like-

DJ: You’re the good guy!

OB: Yeah, the idea of pirates is mis- just not right.

DJ: Not a good idea.

OB: No…

DJ: And then you have to hook up together. And you actually get to- you steal a ship, and you’re kind of…he actually gets to steer- steer the ship.

OB: Yeah.

DJ: Which I’ve heard him say was like, ‘suddenly I’m in control of this pirate ship!’

OB: I know! I know!

DJ: And you, like, you’re hanging on for dear life.

OB: I was just, I was just hanging on to any old rope that was hanging about, you know. I mean, it was like, it was so crazy. ‘Cos we, ‘cos we actually, coming up along side this other-other ship that we were stealing it from, it was so- it was quite close, I mean, at v6 feet from another huge ship when Johnny’s at the wheel. It’s close.

DJ: And neither of you are particular sailors.

OB: No…

DJ: No, it’s good!

OB: So all the crew had actually lined up the shot and lined up the boat in order that we wouldn’t hit the other one. It sort of scurried below, so it wouldn’t be in shot.

DJ: I was gonna- yeah, scurried below to get out the way, I think, not only not to be in shot!

OB: Yeah, yeah.

DJ: We should explain a little bit, actually, for anyone who’s not seen the movie- it’s not out in the UK, um, so, would- for you, obviously being in it, sum it up in a few words, if you can.

OB: *semi sarcastically* Oh, thanks. Um…

DJ:  I’m not going to do it! I’m gonna make you do it!

OB: Ok, there’s, um, well there’s, there’s basically Johnny- Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush-who plays the bad pirate. Johnny plays a rogue pirate.

DJ: Yep.

OB: Geoffrey Rush plays the bad pirate. Keira plays the beautiful young girl and I play the boy who’s after the girl- who chases the girl. The girl gets stolen by the bad pirates, um, so I go off with the rogue pirate, Johnny, to catch, to find the girl, he’s going after the bad pirates with me because he wants, he’s got his own intentions which are to get the, the uh, boat. There’s also a curse been placed on the bad pirates, which means when they pass through moonlight they turn skeletal. So there’s a whole sort of-

DJ: This is absolutely brilliant, yeah.

OB: It’s great. I mean for a summer film, like, it sort of ticks all the boxes.

DJ: Oh, I was gonna say it’s got like, everything.

OB: It’s got like, special effects, visual effects, it’s got…

DJ: a bit of lurve.

OB: Action adventure, yeah.

DJ: A bit of romance as well. 

OB: A bit of romance, yeah.

DJ: You can’t go wrong.

OB: It’s great, it’s so much fun.

DJ: Now, I’m not going to give too much away, but there is a baddie pirate in the shape of Mackenzie Crook.

OB: Oh yeah!

DJ: Otherwise known as Gareth, from The Office.

OB: That was amazing, ‘cos when I met Gareth, everyone was talking about The Office, but I’ve- I hadn’t seen it. I just hadn’t seen it because I’d been, you know, I’d been out of the country and then…

DJ: Yeah.

OB: So I bought it on DVD at Heathrow. It’s amazing!

DJ: It’s brilliant, isn’t it?

OB: He is unbelievable!

DJ: I know.

OB: And he is so good in this film.

DJ: Yeah.

OB: So good in this film and he just like, even like, they, there’s a point where his-his-his skele- he passes through moonlight-

DJ: Yeah.

OB: And he turns into a skeleton, and he’s got this wooden eye in the film, and he loses his eye and he’s chasing the eye along the floor, but as a skeleton. It’s brilliant! He’s amazing.

DJ: He seems really good actually. There’s another couple of movies coming up with him, so he’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.

OB: Oh yeah, for sure!

DJ: Was it, was it, I mean it kind of looked like, quite hard work. There’s a lot of action scenes and sort of fighting and swashbuckling…

OB: Hmm.

DJ: Like, you said.

OB: Yeah.

DJ: But you obviously had time to have a giggle with it as well.

OB: Totally. I mean, Johnny kind of- we have this big opening fight sequence and unfortunately he made, he, he created a couple of little comic moments within this fight sequence which was great, but actually some of them didn’t- some of them made it, some of them didn’t because, I think, it was like, Gore?? wanted to create a real tension between us at the beginning so we had somewhere to go from ‘cos we end up kind of having a few comic moments through the-

DJ: Yeah.

OB: Through the film. I mean, Basically, Johnny turned it into a comedy as well as a swashbuckling adventure.

DJ: *laughs* Exactly

OB: I mean, when you see what he’s doing, it’s so funny. So um, so yeah, there was a lot of sword fighting. I worked…you know, Bob Anderson, is the, is the guy who trained Errol Flynn-

DJ: He’s the old school of fencing, yeah?

OB: He’s the old school, the original. And he actually worked with us on Lord of the Rings as well, so I kind of teamed up with him again and he taught me a different style of fencing.

DJ: Okay.

OB: For um, for this. But it was, um, it was great.

DJ: You, um, you- it’s been quite a rise to this point as well.

OB: It’s been completely biz- unbelievable. I’m so lucky, I’m just, I feel- I pinch myself.

DJ: If you could see him now, he’s looking a bit shocked still, he’s like ‘Am I really here?’

OB: Yeah!

DJ: I mean, obviously, Lord of the Rings, you’ve done a couple of those now. And you starred with the likes of Sir Ian McKellen. You’ve done Johnny Depp, starred with Johnny Depp in the Pirates movie.

OB: Mm.

DJ: Up and coming Troy with Brad Pitt.

OB: Mm.

DJ: Do you still get that kind of ‘I gotta pinch myself’ moment?

OB: Totally. Oh, I pinch myself all the time. I mean I just, I do feel so lucky. I just, you know, it’s been um, you know, the opportunities. I mean, it’s basically about opportunity, isn’t it?  And then if you get opportunity, what you do with it, and the choices you make after that. And I’ve just been really fortunate ‘cos the opportunities have been coming and I’ve been, managed to be around at the right time, and in the right place and stuff. There’s so many, you know, when I was training at Drama School, there were so many fantastic young actors and it’s just, you know that like, I know that there are a whole bunch of young people who are trying to do it.

DJ: Yeah. 

OB: And are perfectly capable and just haven’t managed to get the opportunities. So it’s about a break, and I just feel so lucky that I got mine early on, you know?

DJ: And they’ve kept coming, so far.

OB: Touch wood!* laughs*

DJ: *laughs* Well, listen, we’re going to keep you here for another couple of minutes.

OB: Alright.

DJ: If that’s ok?

OB: No worries!

DJ: Play you a tune from Evanescence now, and we’ll come back to Orlando Bloom, Thank you very much!

OB: Cool, cool.

*song (Evanescence- Bring me to Life)*

DJ: Evanescence and Bring Me to Life. We are not alone in the studio at Radio One. It is Namone(?), in for Jo Wiley, with Orlando Bloom who we welcome!

OB: Hello!

DJ: Just prior to his premiere of Pirates of the Carribean, that’s why he’s in the UK at the moment, uh, but all sorts of things going on, and uh, we’ve-you’ve got a bit of a reputation as an adrenalin junkie. I don’t know how you picked this up but

OB: Ah, I think its ‘cos of all the stuff that was on the DVD for Lord of the Rings where I’m jumping out of airplanes and flying off of bungee jumps and stuff like that.

DJ: Which obviously wasn’t included in the movie- that was just you.

OB: No, that was just me having a laugh!

DJ: On down time. And you learnt how to surf doing that as well.

OB: Yeah, I learnt to surf down there as well.

DJ: And you-

OB: I mean, New Zealands’s kind of outsdoorsy and stuff. It’s not like I go around looking for a bungee jump every time I arrive in a new location.

DJ: You can’t avoid it there, I guess.

OB: You can’t really, it’s sort of like, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a dare thing isn’t it? Jumping off…oh god…

DJ: It’s a bit of a boy thing as well, isn’t’ it? It’s like aah, there’s a chance to kind of throw myself off of a crane with-

OB: Yeah.

DJ: -a large rope attached to me.

OB: Yeah, well, this was even better. It was like a, it was a cable car in the middle of a valley with a river running below, so it was kind of amazing as well, like a huge thing.

DJ: God you wouldn’t get- I couldn’t go off that, I’d have a vertigo attack. Um, but don’t you worry with your kind of accident prone side- that I’ve also heard about.

OB: *laughs*

DJ: Do you not think, right...

OB: I was worried about that, actually, cos I had the back injury, and I hadn’t really…but I’d been horse riding and I’d been doing other stuff.

DJ: This is it- you’ve learnt to horse ride and shoot arrows, you’ve learnt to chariot race, you’ve kind of done swashbuckling…

OB: I’ve got all these brilliant skills which are completely useless in every day life. It’s like, take me back a few hundred years and I’ll be a real hero, but right now, you know.

DJ: What’s the favourite thing you’ve learnt?

OB: Ummm…I love to ride, actually.

DJ: The horse riding?

OB: Horses- it’s amazing, yeah, horse riding. And chariot racing, chariot riding is pretty phenomenal, when you’ve got two, two horses and you’re just standing with, you know,  them right there 

DJ: That’s the sort of thing that not many people get the chance to do, as you’ve rightly said, in everyday life. Now, when you were blond, in LoTR, did you have more fun? This is from Melanie in Stockport.

OB: Um, oh yeah, definitely, I had so much fun in New Zealand, are you crazy? Yeah, it was brilliant. And Legolas was awesome, so yeah.

DJ: Yeah, the blond wig, but it was the pointy ears that I reckon probably did it.

OB: Yeah, the pointy ears sent it away, yeah definitely.

DJ: Okay, Yvonne, near Cambridge says which of the four lifestyles you’ve played- Elf, Outlaw, Pirate and Milkman, would you prefer to live like in real life.

OB: Elf, Outlaw…ooh, um, oooh, er, that’s a tricky, that’s a good question! I think I’d be like, um, I liked the elf actually. It was a good space to be in, nice and meditative

DJ: The elf life!

OB: Elf life.

DJ: Okay.

OB: Although I’m not sure if I could deal with putting the wig and ears every morning.

DJ: *laughs* A bit too much. A bit too much hassle.

OB: Yeah.

DJ: Okay, um, apparently, fellow Weneford(?) House mate Ross Fairburn, says ‘I went to school with Orlando’-

OB: Oh wow!

DJ: -‘Does he remember nicking my girlfriend’?

OB: Oh my God, Ross Fairburn, yeah of course. No, I don’t remember nicking your girlfriend, mate.

DJ: That’s such a- what a nasty question!

OB: Weneford House, yeah well, that’s mad.

DJ: He’s probably hurting still about that.

OB: Yeah, he’s still cut up, obviously!

DJ: And uh, Pauline, on the text, says ‘Orlando, there’s a rumour you’re lined up to do a movie with Justin Timberlake in Belfast later this year.’

OB: *Laughs* It’s so funny, this stuff that comes rumoured about, I mean, apparently I’m doing all sorts of things I never even heard of!

DJ: Apparently, you could be the new, is it the new Superman?

OB: No…, yeah I mean I met, I…no, I wouldn’t wanna do that, to be honest.

DJ: Okay.

OB: So, but…I mean, its flattering that people think I could be.

DJ: And the movie with Justin Timberlake?

OB: No, no, no. No plans to do a movie with Justin Timberlake.

DJ: How would that work? Yeah, okay, but nice rumour.

OB:  Yeah, I know.

DJ: Okay, now um, what’s- what’s it like to be back in London? ‘Cos obviously you sort of-

OB: Oh, it’s great.

DJ: You haven’t spent a lot of time here in the last couple of years, but its home for you, isn’t it?

OB: It is, yeah, but it’s fantastic, I love it. It’s just good to see my friends and you know, there’s something about this city that keeps, keeps you very real, you know? Just- it’s quite a tricky city to get through, isn’t it sometimes, I think everyone gets a bit down with the weather and dealing with like, walking the streets and sometimes the traffic and transport.

DJ: I got that when I lived in Manchester. I think that can just be the UK generally.

OB: Yeah, you might be right, but, but London’s like, I dunno, for me it’s just, i-it keeps it, I don’t know, I love all that about it now I’ve been away. Its funny how you go away, and I actually miss the bad weather sometimes. Cos obviously when you’re somewhere where it’s hot the whole time. Malta was so hot, at the moment.

DJ: That was filming Troy with Brad Pitt.

OB: Yeah it was 43, 43 degrees or something. It was crazy. And I was like, you know, oh, give me a rainy day in London.

DJ: A cloudy day in the UK.

OB: Yeah.

DJ: Okay, do you hook up with mates? Have you been out?

OB: Course, yeah. Just actually got together with a whole group yesterday…

DJ: Did you?


OB: We got into the park, had a bit of a picnic, and then, uh-

DJ: A few bevies?

OB: A few bevies, yeah.

DJ: Excellent, okay, we’ve talked to you a little bit about Troy, it’s the new movie with Brad Pitt.

OB: Yeah.

DJ: Now, Orlando how…what's your most embarrassing moment? It’s Tracy in Bedford, sorry.

OB: My must embarrassing moment. Umm…oh, I really can’t remember my most emb- probably trying to snog my first girlfriend, when I sort of, couldn’t work out what word to use- like, can I kiss her, can I, can I…I said something like ‘can I get off with you’ or something.

DJ: *laughs* Oh, that’s, oh that’s classic!

OB: I think I was 9 though, so maybe I can be forgiven.

DJ: I think you can get away with it at 9. I-I assume it’s moved on slightly now.

OB: Yeah. *giggles* You mean, my lines are a bit better? I dunno.

DJ: What would be the line you use now? Can I get off with you?

OB: Ooh, yeah. 

DJ: What about, I mean, you’ve worked with people like Keira Knightly, a fairly fine kind of star.

OB: Fairly fine, I’d say. She’s beautiful!

DJ: I know my other half, when we were watching the movie, was like whoo! She’s moved on from Bend it Like Beckham.

OB: She’s moved on from, yeah. Definitely, definitely. She’s definitely blossoming.

DJ: Is that difficult to work opposite somebody like that, is it just, oh.

OB: What, not to have a crush?

DJ: Yeah.

OB: Yeah, it is, with someone like Keira. She’s beautiful. I think I did have a crush on her actually!

DJ: Did you?

OB: She’s beaut-. Nah, she’s…well nah, we got on really well. And I got on well with her boyfriend too so.

DJ: Oh okay, that’s okay then, right we’ll let you off on that one.

OB: She-she’s lovely, Keira. She's great. And she does such a fantastic job in that film. I just thought she was amazing. She really like, she-she, I mean, she’s 17, she was 17, she’s 18 now, 17 when she filmed it. And she just, you know, her sort of control and presence was just…I thought, fantastic.

DJ: She held her own against.

OB: Mm, really, held her own. I mean, that’s a big, that’s a big film. I mean, I was, I mean, I guess we’re all nervous about that.

DJ: Yeah.

OB: You know, about whether you can sort of hold your own, when you’re working with people like Johnny and Geoffrey Rush, you know.

DJ: Absolutely, no, definitely.

OB: Jonathan Price, you know, there’s a whole, there’s-

DJ: A lot of names there.

OB: Some pretty heavy weight dudes.

DJ: Definitely, definitely. Now, we’ve had lots of texts. Obviously the marriage proposals, which I’m totting up now into the hundreds. But we’re not going to give you each-

OB:  Oh yeah, I’m ready, I’m ready. I want to marry all of them!

DJ: Radio one’s first mass wedding.  What are you going to do when you’re in the Hollywood A-list? Okay. But people are asking you to dish the dirt on Brad Pitt. What was he like to work with him?

OB: You know, I don’t actually do a lot of stuff with Brad, in terms of acting scenes, I have to shoot him at the end of the movie. But he’s, he’s one of the loveliest men. He’s so, he’s so gracious. And you know, he’s a fan-I’ve always admired his work to be honest, I think he’s probably, you know, he’s a fantastic looking guy and he does an amazing job every time. He always, he’s also one of those guys, like Johnny, who sort of morphs into a character, who just really puts himself out there and-

DJ: And are they down to earth? I mean, are they kinda like, regular?

OB: Totally! Oh yeah, you know what? That’s the funny thing. The more you do this and the more you- you know. I mean, one of the great things, you know, is that I feel really lucky about is that I’ve worked with people like Brad and people like Johnny now, and Viggo you know. And that’s a great demographic, leading men like that, and it’s like, they, they’re just so normal. They’re so real. Everyone, everyone wakes up in the morning, sometimes feels a bit grumpy, whatever, gets over it, and gets on with the day, and everyone has, like, their moments, everyone has you know, everyone, you know, people are people.

DJ: Yeah.

OB: Whatever you do. You know what I mean? Everyone has to drop their pants to *quietly* take a crap.

DJ: *laughs* Everyone goes to the loo. I think that’s quite a nice way of putting it. I was going to ask you about your normal day, but I think we’ve probably had most of it.

OB: It’s just, do you know what I mean? It is that thing of people being people. And, yeah, Brad’s just a lovely bloke.

DJ: So, do you get time for any sort of normal activities, sort of shopping in between and kinda hanging out and, and dating?

OB: Um, not a huge amount to be honest. I’ve just been trying to get stuff for a new house, and shopping and stuff and dating doesn’t really, I mean it sort of, that sort of side of things, you just kind of, it just sort of happens when it happens, doesn’t it? At the moment, works been really kind of predominant in my, quite a forefront for me.

DJ: Okay. Alright, so when it happens, you’ll let us know?

OB: Mmhm.

DJ: Orlando Bloom, thank you very much for joining us on Radio One.

OB: Cheers, nice to speak to you!

DJ: Good luck on the movie.

OB: Thank you very much.