What Davy Jones From Pirates Of The Caribbean Looks Like In Real Life
In 2003, Disney took a massive gamble by debuting a film based upon its fan favorite "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction. The film made waves at the box office, compelling the studio to commission two back-to-back sequels: "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End." Released in 2006 and 2007, respectively, the films brought Jack Sparrow face-to-face with his nemesis, Davy Jones, played by British actor Bill Nighy. There are things fans can expect in every "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, with one of the most prominent being creepy bad guys, and Nighy's performance sets the benchmark for future villains. While the two sequels weren't as well received as the original, audiences and critics were gobsmacked by Jones' design and the effort that went into creating the terrifying antagonist.
Based on the mythical tale of Davy Jones' locker, Nighy's villain has a face that looks like an octopus, with dozens of tentacles populating the lower half of his head. It's a ghastly look, one that was praised by critics when the character first debuted. "It's a triumph of special effects that this cephalopod creation is both unnervingly freakish, yet unmistakably Bill Nighy," wrote The Guardian's Steve Rose in 2006.
Bringing the villain to life was no small task, as Nighy performed on set in a motion capture suit. Then, VFX company Industrial Light & Magic did its job, using computer-generated effects to bring the villain to life. To help make Jones' appearance feel truly authentic, ILM created a new suit to effortlessly capture Nighy's performance, which they didn't want to be overshadowed by the character's effects.
Bill Nighy is an accomplished English actor
Bill Nighy did everything he could to bring the "Pirates of the Caribbean" villain to life, including creating a specific Davy Jones accent, but he was initially surprised to learn that playing the character would require motion capture. "Then, when I got there I didn't realize I wouldn't have a costume like everybody else," he told Vanity Fair. "It turned out I had to wear computer pajamas with white baubles all over them and a skull cap with a bauble on the top, and 250 dots painted out on my face and sneakers... with a bauble on top!"
It must have been jarring for Nighy to step into the world of CGI, as he's a classically trained actor who has starred in a number of iconic and memorable projects over the decades. In addition to his role in the "Pirates" franchise, audiences likely remember the British actor from "Love Actually" and Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's "The Three Flavours Cornetto" trilogy. After his debut as Davy Jones, Nighy continued to double-down on appearing in large-scale, blockbuster fare, lending his talents to pictures like Tom Cruise's "Valkyrie" and "Pokémon Detective Pikachu."
In 2010, after he was seemingly done with the "Pirates" franchise, the actor joined "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1" as Ministry of Magic exec Rufus Scrimgeour. Years later, Davy Jones would return to "Pirates of the Caribbean," and even though Nighy didn't know he was in the pic (the Jones' cameo was fully CG-rendered), he expressed interest in returning to the franchise for at least one more installment.