How do you handle pics/autograph request?

[BroadSword]

So I was reading Capt_Jack_Savvy's thread about the Disney cruise and how he had to decline photo/autograph requests (at first) and it got me thinking. Since there is a standard policy at the parks to not pose for photos or give autographs on the few occasions they let you in with costumes on..........what is a good method to decline these requests?

I've yet to go anywhere with a full costume since it's not yet done (95% done), so I have no experience with this and I would really hate to crush some little kids memories of a Disney trip. I would also hate to come out of character to explain to the parents that I'm not allowed.

I personally would have hard time not stopping for a photo if asked. I could see the mouse-nazis getting mad if you just parked yourself New Orleans Square and made a spectacle of yourself...but just walking around the park and stopping occasionally to take a photo?

What are some answers you give when these situations occur? Do you just go pirate and say up the rules?

[capt.J.j.sparrow]

I'm always reminding people it's Captain Jack Sparrow

[capt.J.j.sparrow]

at disney I would say no autographs.... elsewhere I'd go for it

[BroadSword]

at disney I would say no autographs.... elsewhere I'd go for it

Right...but what have you actually said to people at places where it is forbidden so as not to seem rude or do you just say no and walk away? I'm trying to find some canned answers that I can say in character that get the point across and not seem like a jerk? Like..."Sorry mate, I'd love to, but there's a rather large rat...errr....mouse that runs this place that says I cannot." or "I'd love to mate, but if I do the East India Trading company will know I'm here...us pirates have to look out for each other, savvy?"

Something like that maybe.

[Capn_Jack_Savvy]

As my good friend Gary once told me when I said No to a 7 year old, "just tell them the mouse or mickey (if in the park) is not letting me sign today" mainly because the look of dismay and sorrow in a child's face when you say No is devastating!

[liarr]

Onboard the Disney Wonder! Young teenage girl yells to me, "Hey it's Jack Sparrow!" I turn around with a play disgust look on my face and reply, "Captain....CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow! There should be a CAPTAIN in there somewhere!" Her mom looks at her daughter and says, "Well that was rather rude wasn't it?" I chuckled and in the corner of my eye the daughter was LHAO!!! The mom was totally clueless!!!

I likes. That was pulled off well.

[jacksadventures]

That's what I always say as well lol and yes it's always jonny this and that I alway look arou wildly and say where I love jonny depp !!!

[aelyn000]

I find it's usually the parents asking.

If out in public, go for it.

If on Disney owned property, you're not supposed to be acting in character anyways. This is the biggest no-no. It's exactly what will cause the most confusion. When we did it at the Halloween party they specifically told us that we weren't allowed to act the parts or sign autographs. Photos are actually okay as long as you specify before hand that you are not a staff member and don't work for the park.

It got a little out of hand when we went... hanging out taking our own personal photos at the Pirates stage... Travis made sure to tell anyone that he didn't work there, he's just a guest...I turned around and there was a line of about 20 people. The photopass lady got very mean and told us to leave the area or security would be over even though I explained that we were told it was ok as long as they knew we didn't work there...she didn't care. Very mean. But the situation expanded quite rapidly...so we just booted it out of there.

So, no to in character on Mouse property. No to autographs. Ok to photos as long as you aren't in character and tell them you are not staff, only a guest...and make it quick and keep on moving. *thumbsup*

[capt.J.j.sparrow]

for me it's not autographs, but hugs..... everyone wants to hug me (Actually, Jack) but my fiance is sort of my wrangler and she says to be careful who I hug. I usually try for a handshake or a high five/fist-bump instead

[Captain McCool]

At my most recent Jack thing, the Pirate Festival..I had a few patrons come up to me and say the strangest things.
The pretty standard 'I haven't seen OST or any pirates movie after the first' "Why are you blonde?"
"Why are you wearing 2 belts?"
"Captain Jack Black!"

And then..
"You got the look down good, but after the first movie, his vest was brown. Betcha didn't know that did ya? Yep...a lot of people didn't notice, but I did. I'm real big into Jack Sparrow."
I honestly..didn't know how to respond to that, as me or as Jack. My costumer and prop brain just went FZZTT and I just looked at the guy, confused..cause, well I was.

In this thread, post your strange people comments!

AAARRRRGGGGHH!!! I've totally gotten this sort of thing too, and it drives me NUTS! Haha... man... like this past summer at the renaissance festival some guy was telling me how my boots were wrong because Jack Sparrow always had black boots, and why didn't I have black boots too, huh? Huh? I must have argued with him for a good ten minutes about how Johnny Depp never once wore black boots in all four movies. I usually try really really hard not to break character while among patrons at the faire, but I just couldn't help myself with this one. In the end he walked away with this attitude like, "pfft, that guy's an idiot! He plays the character and doesn't even know what color boots he wore in the movies!" Totally wanted to strangle him. or better yet, to whip out my iPod right there and PROVE it, haha. But I restrained myself. Barely.

A few people have asked me why I wear two belts, but it's not like they think he doesn't in the movies. It's always more like they just never noticed before, but now that they're looking at me in person they realized it, and want to know the reason Captain Jack Sparrow would actually need two belts. Actually, I find that to be the case with a lot of parts of the costume. Things like the vertebrae, the mermaid netsuke (which, by the way, I need a replacement for. Anyone know where to get one fairly cheap?) , various beads, rings, etc. etc.

And yeah, I get "Jack Black" a lot too. I think people just say that because it rhymes, and since he's also a celebrity it sticks in their brains. Not to mention that "Black" apparently just sort of sounds like a piratey name. Still drives me batty though. It's like when I was a tween and my parents used to call it "Poke-ee-man." Glad I grew out of that fad (clearly, this obsession hobby is far more mature and serious. Yeah. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it).

But I think the most annoying thing ever to happen to me while "on the job" was one particular kid coming up to me and trying (as so many kids do, to my great exasperation) to find everything "fake" about my costume. Luckily for me, I don't generally have many "fake" items if I can avoid it. But this kid was absolutely dead-set at proving my sun buckle was made of plastic. He kept trying to hit it, and like... pull it off me or something. He just would not give it up, and what I found really hilarious but also slightly insulting, was that I actually carved that buckle by hand out of jeweler's wax and had a guy I know cast it in solid bronze. That thing weighs like 3 freakin' pounds. Meanwhile the buttons on my frock coat (which have been "placeholders" for about the past 6 years) ARE in fact made of plastic, but he never once mentioned those. Gah. I hate kids like that.

[Mojo Turbo]

I think it was either Shylaah or Aelyn who said this but it bears repeating, for most people - if you have the head and wig and bandanna and braids down... the rest of the costume doesn't even matter. Most people don't see the rest of the costume on camera. The film is a lot of his head and shoulders talking - and then distant shots of his body. So the attention to detail we take - should not be so much below our neck, but above it.

[liarr]

I think it was either Shylaah or Aelyn who said this but it bears repeating, for most people - if you have the head and wig and bandanna and braids down... the rest of the costume doesn't even matter. Most people don't see the rest of the costume on camera. The film is a lot of his head and shoulders talking - and then distant shots of his body. So the attention to detail we take - should not be so much below our neck, but above it.

yep. for example, you can only see the detail on the OST vest in the promo pics. In the movie, it just looks like old vest. But then there's us... I think that about sums it up.

[Captain McCool]

Yeah, you're pretty much right, Mojo. Though even I noticed his boots were brownish and not at all black the first time I watched CotBP, back in '03 (and my eye wasn't trained AT ALL back then, as might be apparent to anyone here who's seen pics of my first ever Jack costume, including mile-long beard braids, haha). The other funny thing is that I have had more than one person tell me that he didn't wear a red bandana, and that it was blue, or green, etc. To this, I can only assume that they must have been color blind

[bperry]

A common thing that people ask about is "what is the stick in your dreads for?".

[Indy Magnoli]

Ok... so some of you have seen my in progress costume build (for an 18th Feb appearance)... well, I've been listening to Jack and various impersonators on YouTube... but I can't quite get it. Does anyone have some pointers. Certain voice nuances that help get the sound that I might have missed? Any advice would be appreciated.

So far, this guy has got to be one of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7pYA6jlv0E

Thanks,
Magnoli

[capt.J.j.sparrow]

Drunken slurring is a must. Put a bit more emphasis on the "S", I lightly make 'em sound like a "Sh". People often ask if I'm drunk. Don't be afraid of contractions. Also missing letters off the ends of certain words helps; like what? becomes whah?

[Captain McCool]

Agreed. Odd pauses and drawing out certain words slightly longer than they need to be drawn out helps.

Couple accent things to remember: Depp uses a sort of "pseudo London/almost-Cockney-but-not-quite" accent for this role. Therefore, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. "Th" sounds (especially at the end of words) typically turn into "F" sounds, or in some cases almost soft "V" sounds. So, "with" becomes "wif" or "wiv."

2. Since modern Cockney is sort of an offshoot of the "Received Pronunciation" accent most Americans think of as the sort of "classic English accent," remember that you should almost always drop your "R's," especially at the end of words. However, if a word ENDS in a vowel sound, you may optionally ADD an "R" sound after it. For instance, "Barbossa" becomes "BarbossAR," or perhaps more accurately, "BarbossER."

3. Along with dropping the "R's," try to sort of "swallow" them a bit when you talk. It's a bit difficult to describe. But a good example is the "Hello boys and girls... or... whatever" line that's become so popular. When you say "girls," say it more like "gulls." And for that matter, the "L" sound in "girls" is slurred over, so try saying it more like "guws," if that makes sense.

At any rate, it's difficult to describe much of this in text. If I were a proper Anglophile and knew the HTML code, I could use the standard pronunciation symbols you see in places like dictionaries and Wikipedia, but I don't really have the know-how. In the end, the very best you can do is listen to select clips from the movies and then repeat them back - over, and over, and over again. If you can, try recording it when you do so, and comparing it to the movie clip.

A few general points on "Jack Speech":

1. Jack often isn't NEARLY as guttural when he speaks as some people seem to think he is. Don't ruin your voice trying to make it "gravely" sounding. He really only does this once in a while, and it's more noticeable if you do it too often than not often enough. Folks often come out sounding like Christian Bale as Batman, and nobody wants that, heh.

2. Jack doesn't really say "savvy" that often either. Ration your "savvies." Only use them when you're really trying to make a point.

3. Don't say "ey?" after every bloody sentence. I'm probably guilty of this one more than any other fault when I do Jack. Drives me nuts when I have hear recordings of myself and it's always "ey" this and "ey" that.

4. And perhaps most importantly - if you can't think of any really good wonky Sparrow-esque backwards double-speak, simply don't attempt it. It's the easiest way to get tongue-tied and look like a buffoon. When it comes to this stuff, either stick to movie quotes, or write some things out in advance and memorize them. Mind you, some people are much better at doing this sort of thing off the cuff than others. I just know that, as for myself, I completely suck at it.


Lastly, regarding that video you put up: the guy is definitely pretty good, but he sort of "lilts" too much. Like, "if THIS video is a RESPONSE to ONE of YOURS," etc. That's really his main fault - going up and down too much, and putting too much emphasis on certain words. It's really more at the beginning of the video, and then he sort of evens out. The other thing I'd say is that he doesn't slur quite enough, and therefore his accent isn't quite "thick" enough, if that makes sense. But otherwise, like I said, he's pretty darn good.

And because I'm totally shameless, here's a video of mine, showing my own impression. I was shanghaied into making it by this guy I know from a con who runs this sort of zombie-hunting group (they're a bit... odd...), but I think it's my best impression to date:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATfWpj9y3X4

P.S. if you skip to the end of the credits there's an out-take, which I probably find funnier than anyone else does, heh.

[capt.J.j.sparrow]

Oi do it like that! Very good McCool!

[Indy Magnoli]

Thanks for the pointers... I've got less than two weeks to listen to Jack constantly and practice. I might try reading a bedtime story to my kids "in character"... they always like that!

[Captain McCool]

Haha, good thought. Also, if you've got an iPod or other portable thingamajigger that can play video, try uploading the movies onto that (I'm pretty sure you can rent them all from iTunes) and just put it on while going about your daily business.

[Indy Magnoli]

Luckily, my daily business is sitting at my computer at home, so I just keep YouTube in a tab and listen when I can!

[Captain McCool]

Even better!

[FrankSparrow]

McCool that was a great explanation, I believe it gave us all some insight on his inscrutable accent.

[turner91]

I havnt been jack yet but last year i was the burton hatter and won two contests but i was walking like him for a week at work afterwards

[FleetStreetNightmare]

At first, when I read through this thread I thought "hahaha that will never happen to me", and then as I got better at staying in character and spent more days as Jack, I realized that this actually does happen.
I've been spending a lot of time as Jack lately, especially with Halloween and all the conventions I've been to. Going to those events has helped me become better at staying in character and I've been able to last the entire day as Jack, which is great, but then the problem started to emerge. I began to find myself doing the Jack mannerisms and a bit of the voice in class, and people started looking at me like I was crazy. It definitely caught the attention of my classmates, which is great for presentations, but it was also a bit distracting... lol
I also have a problem where I'll fall into Jack-like behavior when I'm tired, so my friends will always be like "you're doing it again..."

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