One of the best things about Black Sails is the nuanced, deeply flawed and powerful women. (That S1 fuck-up aside, as always.) Let's check in with where they're at in the final season.
In this featurette for 404/XXXII, the showrunners confirm what we already know, and
call Anne Bonny the "most formidable and deadly pirate on the show".
Hannah New talked to
Fangirlish about Eleanor's progress so far. She mentions that Max, Eleanor's ex-girlfriend, is the only one that ever truly loved her (further evidence that her taste in men is awful), talks about their current relationship, switching sides to the British, Eleanor's grief that will "come back to bite her in the ass" and her belief that Black Sails will age well.
Talking to
Monsters and Critics, Hannah New and Jessica Parker Kennedy discuss what they'll miss from filming, their characters' challenges and relationships, and Max's amazing wardrobe. Expectedly, Max's favourite pirate is Anne Bonny, and deservedly, Eleanor's is Flint. (Aka the platonic power couple we all deserve.)
Excerpts:HN: [on Rogers' dark side] She sees a very pragmatic, intelligent naval officer who she admires for his tactical ability and for his determination, all the things I think Eleanor really wants for herself.
She just sees that in him. I don’t know how much she knows him, she knows one side of him.
I think one of the amazing things about Black Sails is that each character has different personas in different environments because that is what survival is about, that’s what adapting is about, so, without revealing too much I think she clings on to this ideal version of who Rogers is so that is how she can justify what she is doing.
Yeah, she is going to cling on to that for life and limb, and when [his true nature] becomes apparent, it is staggering for her. You can see that coming down the line. But it plays out in quite an unexpected way.JPK: All I can say is those two women, having been through what they have been through, the fact that they can still work side by side is pretty extraordinary and says a lot about their character and who they are as people.
They have been through such a rough time emotionally together and that they can put that all behind them — it’s not like they’re best friends and going to get manicures and pedicures together, but they have a mutual respect for each other and a trust for each other.
I think they feel a sense of safety and security with each other and that’s something they tend to use through this season, whether they are physically side-by-side or not.
M&C: Jessica, Max was the clothes horse of the series, can you talk about the wardrobe?
JPK: They were all very historically sourced, because in Season 1 we were wearing underwear that they wore in the 17th century, I remember the very first time I put on a corset, I went into full panic mode. I felt so claustrophobic and I was begging her [costume designer] ‘no one is going to see this corset you have to put velcro or a zipper in’ and they were adamant that it had to be historically accurate and there was no room for any of that.I could not get a zipper or velcro in my corset. It took two women to lace me up every morning while I held on to a table and I was very much like that scene in Titanic where Rose, the maid, is doing her up and her mom comes in a does the corset tighter.
It was very much that way when the head of costumes would come in and she would shoo the other people away and do my corset tighter. I was like ‘no!’.
It was extraordinary as every single dress was designed and hand made — I got really lucky, I think I wore 20 dresses over those four seasons while everyone else wore the same outfits over and over again. So I felt lucky and fortunate, it was like dress up.
By the end of it no one was really caring about using a really light fabric for dresses so she [Max] could breathe in 100 degrees weather, it was about what looked good so there was a lot of wool, there were a lot of layers and lot of heavy fabrics, and me going ‘there’s no way I can say this monologue today because I can’t breathe!’.
The TV show, in general, was such a great challenge. The costumes were so hard to wear, the wig just tremendously challenging.
I hope I rose to the occasion and did the character justice. It was never easy, not one single day, not one single moment.Another reflection on their roles can be found in this IGN interview with Jess and Hannah:
Bonus:When she's not busy being better than all the boys on Black Sails, Clara Paget (Anne Bonny) is a model. Recently she was featured in Vogue Italia!
Check out the interview.Sources:
1234567Crew, are you also worth literally twenty times as much as a man?