Take a deep dive into Stede and Blackbeards big underwater reunion, featuring Kate Bush and buckets of glitter.
Warning: This story contains spoilers forOur Flag Means Deathseason 2, episode 3, “The Innkeeper.”
How do you turn a pirate into a mermaid?
Gypsy Taylor’s sketch of merman Stede for ‘Our Flag Means Death’.Gypsy Taylor
All you need is a loyal crew, a killer soundtrack, and lots andlotsof glitter.
An injured Blackbeard is hovering near death, stranded in a purgatory-like dream world after his crew attempted mutiny.
Merman Stede coaxes Blackbeard back to life, and together, they swim upwards into the light.
Merman tail construction for ‘Our Flag Means Death’.Gypsy Taylor
“I was like, ‘just make my dreams come true!'”
she tells EW with a laugh.
“‘I want to make Rhys Darby a mermaid!'”
A close-up of Rhys Darby’s tail in ‘Our Flag Means Death’.Gypsy Taylor
So, that’s where I started.
He’s just this sweet, loving little goldfish."
For the actual construction, Taylor recruited her longtime collaborator and props maker Hayley Egan.
The tail required 5 kilograms of glitter.Gypsy Taylor
She carefully monitored the tail’s weight but it still wound up heavier than she anticipated.
“I had to warn the stunt team.
I was like, ‘I didn’t think glitter would be that heavy!
Rhys Darby on the set of ‘Our Flag Means Death’.Gypsy Taylor
But we needed a lot of it.
And it’s so pretty!'”
“She was in fits,” Taylor recalls, laughing.
“She was like, ‘Well,actually…
I’m bringing four fish into the country.'”
But although Darby moved gracefully underwater, navigating dry land proved to be a bigger challenge.
(See the video below.)
“Everyone was trying very hard not to laugh.”
So, the crew scouted a gorgeous spot near Bethells Beach, capturing drone photography and 3-D photogrammetry.
The actual ocean scenes were shot in an enormous indoor tank.
“So, they knew what they were doing.”
So, thank you, Nancy, for doing that!"
“Ultimately, my feeling is that whenever Kate Bush gets exposed to new audiences, that’s great.
But I was fully like, ‘Don’t use this song.
There’s too much baggage.'”
Still, Phillips remained hesitant.
“And then I saw a cut of [the scene], and I ate my words.”
“I saw it in a totally new context, and I love it,” she says.
“They actually recontextualize the song and make it work in a new way.
I got chills watching it.”
Our Flag Means Deathairs Thursdays on Max.
