Naomie Harris: "Pirates'" Voodoo Princess

She fought zombies in 28 Days Later and will be seen soon in the new Miami Vice film alongside Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Brit Naomie Harris has a degree in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge and acted at the Bristol Old Vic but you would never know it if you saw her in costume for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Pretty Naomie has black teeth, ratty hair and looks downright scary but oddly...still hot as Tia Dalma, a Voodoo witch type who lives in the swamps.

For our interview in Beverly Hills, we hardly recognized the gorgeous actress in a jewel toned multi-hued blue sundress by Ella Moss. The "Pirates" shoot was quite a trial for Naomie as she lost her voice and had to make hand signals to communicate. She had some input into her wild costume and make-up. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer thought she might be too pretty for the part and, at first, she felt like an outsider as the new girl in the cast. Naomi also spills some news on the new Miami Vice film as well so keep reading....

TeenHollywood: Had you seen the first "Pirates"?

Naomie: I had seen it. Because I have a younger brother and sister, they're nine and six, so, yeah I watched it several times because of them.

TeenHollywood: Was there any initiation as one of the newcomers coming to "Pirates"?

Naomie: No, I wish there had been, actually, because I only have two scenes effectively in P2. All the characters had been on it before, generally, and were quite bonded and so it was quite difficult finding my feet in amongst all of that. I wish there had been some kind of initiation process.

TeenHollywood: So was joining the cast just kind of intimidating?

Naomi: It was. Especially because of my first day of shooting I actually flew from London to Los Angeles and started filming, I caught a cold on the plane over and ended up losing my voice and so I wasn't allowed to speakduring any intervals in filming. I had to use sign language because the doctor said that if I spoke too much, I could lose my voice and not be able to continue filming. Orlando was doing most of interpretation for me of my sign Naomie version of sign language. He was very good at that.

TeenHollywood: What's it like being onset with Johnny?

Naomie: You know I don't think I ever got to see him as Johnny, because he stays in character the whole time, and speaks with the accent the whole time, so I don't know if I ever got to meet the real Johnny but I think he's quite shy, really and he's very humorous and very witty

TeenHollywood: If he's still Captain Jack around the set, is that distracting?

Naomie: It's not distracting at all, actually, it's really cool because it kind of gives you the freedom to do the same, as well. And it really helps.

TeenHollywood: What surprised you about working with Johnny and Orlando?

Naomie: What surprised me was just how down to earth they are and how absolutely lovely and yeah, just real. There were no airs and graces. You know it's just basically when you get down and you start doing work together it's just like working with anybody else, really, any other actor, which is nice. You completely forget about who they are and their star status.

TeenHollywood: How did you end up at Cambridge studying Political Science?

Naomie: I went to Cambridge because I was bullied at school. So, I always said that I would leave school at 16. And then when I came to the age of 16, my mom begged me to stay on and do my A-levels, because she said 'just in case you ever change your mind about acting, then just at least have your A-levels behind you'. So, for my mom, I did stay on. And, while I was there, I had this really inspirational teacher called Mr. Murdoch who made me fall in love with Social and Political Sciences. And he was the one who said 'you know you have the potential to go to Cambridge so you should work and do that' and that's what I did. So I really owe it to Mr. Murdoch, basically.

TeenHollywood: Inspirational teachers are the greatest. But why the transition to acting?

Naomie: I always knew I wanted to be an actress. I've never ever wanted to do anything else. But I just loved working with Mr. Murdoch...he was such an inspirational teacher. I fell in love with the subject as a result of his teaching, that's why I wanted to explore it.

TeenHollywood: Why were you bullied in school?

Naomie: Because I was a child actress. I started acting when I was nine, so I was on TV and I just think there was a lot of jealousy to be honest.

TeenHollywood: Tia Dalma is pretty strange looking. Did you have any input into your makeup?

Naomie: Yeah. Martin Samuel, who did the hair and Ve Neill who did the makeup and Penny Rose who did the costume were all open to suggestions and we actually spent two days just trying on different looks and variations. And me saying 'I like this'. I brought in pictures and they said, 'yeah, that's a really good idea, we'll incorporate it.' It was fantastic! We all ended up on a look that we loved, we brought it to Gore [Verbinski] and he said, 'no, that's way too much. Wipe it all off. And just bring everything down. Like bedraggle her.' And that's what we did and that's the image we ended up with.

TeenHollywood: The mouth and teeth...was that really uncomfortable?

Naomie: It was hugely uncomfortable, actually, because it's like having your teeth kind of pressed and your gums pressed constantly, so it wasn't too nice but bearable.

TeenHollywood: Did you ever come up with a back-story to your character? She's so interesting.

Naomie: There is a huge back-story but it's all revealed in "Pirates" 3. You know she has her own reasons for doing what she's doing in P2. P2 is just an introduction for the character and in P3 then she's throughout, she actually goes on a journey with all the different characters and her real intentions are revealed.

TeenHollywood: How was the audition process? Were a lot of girls up for the part?

Naomie: Well, you never know kind of who you're up against. You know you're in a room with the director and the casting director. But I didn't know that Gore didn't actually want me for the part. Because, he said that I was actually too pretty and he didn't want anybody pretty. He wanted like an older actress and I didn't know that when I walked into the audition room but I learned that later. The casting director persuaded Gore to audition me. I read (my scene) once and then he went, 'how would you like to come to the Bahamas?' It was great!

TeenHollywood: How did you get that accent?

Naomie: It is Jamaican, actually. And I did a Jamaican accent for 'White Teeth,' which I did for the BBC in London. And also my family are Jamaican as well.

TeenHollywood: Tia looks like she was really fun to play because she is so colorful.

Naomie: I was really excited about playing Tia Dalma because she allowed me to introduce physicality in a way that I haven't introduced in other characters. She allowed me to be larger than life which I hadn't been allowed to do in other characters. And she also didn't have to worry about being beautiful, which I really like, you know, just not having to worry about your looks and being conventionally attractive. But I think she's a hugely attractive character just not like in a conventional way, and I found that really liberating.

TeenHollywood: Having Jamaican family, were you aware of Voodoo?

Naomie: I used to go back to Jamaica once every year when I was growing up, and actually lived in Jamaica for six months and went to school there for a while. So I know a lot about voodoo and it's very alive and well in Jamaica and in the Caribbean in general. We do believe in it a lot so I wouldn't go exploring in those realms unless I really had to.

TeenHollywood: You have another big summer movie coming out, Miami Vice. How totally different is your character in that film?

Naomie: They are like miles apart. She is an Intel Analyst; an undercover cop basically, and working with a team of undercover agents in Miami. I have a Bronx accent in that. I'm trying to get in all my accents.

TeenHollywood: Were you working on both films at the same time?

Naomie: Yeah. I was flying backwards and forwards, I was filming in Miami and then flying to the Bahamas to film P3. It was kind of filmed simultaneously. It was just a really different atmosphere onset. Because there was Michael Mann (director) with Miami Vice so it's a much more intense experience. And 'Pirates' in the Bahamas was much more fun and a much bigger kind of deal. Because even though Miami Vice is a big production, Michael Mann likes to keep it intimate and very much about the actors and it's not about green screens or what-have-you, and all those kind of technical things.

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.