Any given day, roughly say we get picked up at the hotel, like, 6 a.m...
...and then driven down to the port.
And that's where the hair and makeup trailers are set up.
Our individual trailers. Get dressed and eat breakfast.
You get your hair and makeup done. And then everybody's on the ship by 7 a.m.
And then there's a whole hour process to get that giant container ship out...
...of this tiny little Maltese port and out into the open sea.
Just leave it for the time being until we get out past the entrance.
The source of tension on the film...
...was just that the ocean doesn't do what you want it to do.
So that means we'd have to go out every day ready for anything.
Because we just don't know.
Interestingly, the Mediterranean was maybe a bit placid for our tastes.
Then a little wind storm would come in and it was too rough.
So Paul would be like, "When's it gonna be right?"
And I never had an answer for that.
Well, I think every day when you film is filled with unforeseen circumstances.
I think...
I think everybody found it a challenge...
...just the sheer physical attrition of shooting out in the ocean.
When you're getting battered about and you're on a small filming boat...
...and the swell, endlessly day in and day out.
I think that's-- I think...
Unless you've done that for sort of 12 weeks at a stretch...
...it's hard to know just physically how much that takes out of you.
I thought I had to be up on deck all the time looking at the horizon.
As I was explaining, it was the opposite. I actually liked being down below...
...because that's where the least amount of movement was.
And days where we had to be up on deck...
...those were times I was the most uncomfortable.
It was the rolling. Just the rolling.
There you are.
If there's sea legs to get, I never got them.
That's the most nauseous of anything you can do.
To be confined without seeing the horizon.
So many films are made in studios and dark rooms, you know what I mean?
In the same sorts of places.
So it was an adventure to be out in the sea.
Thought making a film on the water was interesting from a visual point of view.
Obviously to shoot on water is, you know, commonly held to be...
...you know, right up there in the directors' graveyards.
You know, because it's-- You are out in the middle of the ocean.
It's very hard to supply the unit.
There are a lot of safety issues.
No, I think that should do it. Three. That should do it. Yeah.
Just the three here.
In this first piece...
...we're focused on the ship, which is where? Where is the ship?
Yeah, it should be off to the left.
So I'm looking that way.
So the eyeline to the Alabama...
...is above Barry's head between the two tubes.
But what you get from it-- I think you get it in this film.
--Is a sort of authenticity. You know, it is a film made on the ocean.
It feels like it, it looks like it, because it was.
It's good though because it was making it happen.
Am I using this?
So you're focused and determined. We're riding along, Barry, okay?
Then the radio starts. It'll be Tom's voice on the radio. Okay?
You start to slow down.
You notice he slows.
You go, "What are you doing? Come on. It's this way! Go!"
You take a look at him, you go, "**** it." And off you go. Peel off.
I think what will happen is he'll get too far away to reset.
Okay. Well, we just discussed it.
One question. I'm saying that in English or Somali?
- Somali all the way. - Okay.
All right, guys. Ready?
- We're not ready. - Not ready.
No?
Okay, we're ready.
All right, so everybody line up alongside again.
You may need to help in this.
So when you feel a wave, sell that it's a bit bigger.
Because we wanna really feel like we're in chop, okay?
- I got a three. Okay? - Wait, wait, wait.
- You change it up. - Okay, fine.
- I'll go for four. - Okay.
Five.
I love them. I love them. I love them.
They always make me look nice.
Yeah, I'm sexy now.
I can advance past the gold gate.
- That's me, right? - Yes.
You have to go?
- What? - You have to go.
You don't want your licks, man?
He wants to marry us.
Six wives.
We're Somali. We can have four.
So three of you. I'm looking only for one more.
- One more. - I'm not cleaning and cooking for you.
I wanted to cast real Somalis. That was important to me.
Because I felt that it's a part of the world that's got a story to tell.
And its people have a story to tell. And I wanted young men...
...who understood that part of the world to tell it.
I have just a very tiny memory...
...of Somalia. I remember the war.
Because the war happened in Mogadishu and I was there.
So I remember the war, my mom getting us out. We took a ship to Yemen.
Where my dad was a teacher. There I went to school.
And we lived there until we won the lottery.
The visa lottery to come to America.
When I was 14. Yup.
I am Somalian. I was born in Yemen.
I came here with my brothers and sisters and my mom.
And we just started life in Minnesota.
Now, she did have family in Minnesota, which brought us there.
All of them, all four of them...
...had a powerful point of view that these young men from--
You know, from a desperate part of the world had a story to tell.
And they wanted to tell it without sentimentalizing it...
...without making excuses.
You're in heavy, heavy, heavy waves, right?
Help me sell them.
You'll get worried about your engine.
And eventually we'll say "big wave."
You lose the engine completely. Engines gone.
Restart. Restart it.
It won't work. You try.
Up with the glasses. Look at the ship.
See Phillips.
Down. Look. Okay?
We will give you a cue, Tom and I...
...for the big wave.
We'll just say, "Big wave."
One, two, three.
On three, that's when you're gonna fall.
You're gonna fall down and you're gonna lose the engine.
Big wave.
Big wave on three, two, one. Wave.
Cut.
I think they've done a fantastic job of absolutely showing...
...you know, the criminality and the recklessness...
...and the violence of those men...
...but also the desperation and the humanity.
He didn't have the opportunities that, if I talk about myself, that I had.
You know, I had parents that managed to take me out of the country...
...and move me to the Western countries...
...to have my education going and be a better person.
He didn't have that. But he was stuck in that war-torn country...
...and he didn't had no school...
...or job.
But now he trying to become somebody...
...and he had to basically...
...show these people that he can do it.
You know, he was looking for the chance for quite some time, apparently...
...and he finally got it.
Now he has to prove to these people that he's the man for the job.
And, you know, he can do it.
That struggle as the situation escalates, is really what this film's about.
When you saw those guys coming in on their skiff...
...it was one of the most dramatic times I've ever been...
...of any work I've ever done, in terms of what we were shooting...
...the reality of it sort of really being what was happening.
Do you want me to shout, "Flare"?
Yeah? So I'm gonna go:
Yeah, pull back--
All right, guys, guys, guys. Stop, please.
All right? Go and sit down. Be quiet.
I'm not exactly sure of the final thing right now.
How's--? Flares?
- After the hoses, you turn... - Right.
...and then you start to straighten and you see Phillips on the bridge.
- Okay. - Fire.
Okay.
Then you start to turn to go in towards the
- Okay. - Flare.
- Now we go ladder to the ship. - Okay, deal.
No. No, it's too far.
I remember when we started it, you know, they'd get alongside the ships...
...and we had safe distances and things they couldn't do.
You know, we didn't want them to climb all the way up the ladder...
...and onto the ship in one go because, you know, there was great danger.
You know, if you fell, that would be it.
I mean, you'd be under and through the...
...you know, propeller of the huge container ship.
And they did a lot of training.
I mean, they did months of training to learn to drive those boats.
And they had phenomenal balance.
I mean, you see some of those shots where they're riding.
It looks like a sort of sea chariot...
...and the thing's bucking and roaring away.
And Barkhad in particular. He just stands there.
He's not strapped in, by the way.
He's just standing there with absolutely perfect balance.
It was incredible to watch.
Slow down. Stop.
Let's go. Come on, let's do the...
Everybody over there.
Well done, boys. Well done. Well done, lads. Good one, mate.
Some of the training we actually had was climbing and swimming and shooting.
First of all, I had to learn how to swim.
They were very game. There was no question about it.
And as we went on, they became more and more and more confident.
I remember, on the last day, we literally were screaming at them to stop.
You know, you cannot cross that safety line.
I ended up doing my own stunts and, man, Paul didn't seem to like it.
And no one seemed to like it.
And I had two fight scenes with Tom Hanks.
It was nice. It was all fun, we loved it.
Sometimes I wake up and I think:
"That was just a dream. Wake up." You know?
- Tom on the screen. - Yeah.
-"Eight hundred yards," you turn and go. - Right.
Oh, yeah. Coming up to us.
At 100 yards, we're gonna use the hoses.
- One hundred yards! - Hit the hoses.
Cap, they're making their move.
They're coming up fast, chief, I'm gonna need the hoses.
How's the pressure?
- Count it down. - They're at 800 yards.
Get ready for some hard turns.
Seven hundred yards.
Six hundred yards.
Four hundred.
That's gunfire.
All right, cut.
They look pretty terrifying out there, don%they?
We're pretty much picking up from them seeing Phillips...
...and Muse pointing it out, and gunfire, gunfire.
Shots fired. Shots fired.
In my book I write that I would ask him in the lifeboat:
"Where did you get that ladder?" It was another of the ironies.
Had it been longer, the seas would've washed it away.
Had it been shorter, it wouldn't have been able to fit.
You wouldn't have been able to reach the fishplate to hook it on.
I think what you could do is...
it was actually a struggle to put the ladder on top of the ship.
We tried it really numerous times...
...but at one point we all just did our all to do it...
...and we accomplished it, and I was thrilled.
I actually felt like I was actually a pirate at that point.
I told you they were.
I cannot believe it.
You know, I kept them apart when we shot the film.
They actually never met each other, never saw each other...
...never laid eyes on each other...
...until the moment when those four guys came through the door on the bridge.
- Action. - And action.
Gunfire, door.
It was hairy, you know.
We knew it was fake and all that kind of stuff...
...but still, the environmental atmosphere Paul created was worth its weight in gold.
We were into it, because this is a freaky situation. Guys with AK-47s...
...taking over our ship, raiding the bridge, we haven't met them.
The visceral aspect of that first take, you remember what it's like...
...when the hair stands up on the back of your head...
...because guys are coming in and truly assaulting you.
The set was crackling with anticipation, in a good way.
Okay.
Then there was a moment when Barkhad came face-to-face with Tom...
...he looks at him and says, "Look at me."
- Look at me. - Sure.
I'm the captain now.
And I remember you could feel-- I could see it in Tom's eyes, go, "Wow."
I improvised that. We just had to make it our own.
But we still stayed on the script.
It was a big call because you're asking a young man...
...who's not acted professionally...
...to go head-to-head with a two-time Academy Award winner.
It was gonna be one of those moments...
...where you were gonna find out whether the film could work.
So obviously I was quite keyed up, I think. Be honest to say.
And it is my favorite scene of the movie.
I really love that scene, you know.
It was the same scene we did all the audition in.
It felt like a very powerful, real moment.
But also a moment when you knew he, Barkhad, was gonna be able to do it.
It was a very, very exciting moment.
They come in, they do the thing, they hold something...
...and it's all moving really fast and all of a sudden you hear--
Cut.
And right after it you hear, "Hey."
Tom Hanks is out there glad-handing the pirates like:
"Welcome to the neighborhood, guys."
Welcome. Welcome to the movie, guys. Welcome to the movie.
It's a pleasure to finally be working with you guys.
-It's a pleasure. - Fantastic.
Finally a pleasure.
Everybody's going, "I thought we were gonna keep this tense.
But, okay, we're making a movie, let's have fun."
After the scene finished, you know, that's when I told Tom, like:
"I can't believe I'm doing this with the Forrest Gump guy."
They were very quick in getting up on the ship.
Originally, it was just the two guys on the ship...
...and they were shooting up at me as I was shooting flares at them...
...even while they were on the ship.
So they got very quick from the main deck and up to the bridge...
...before we could back off and surrender the bridge.
So they never broke in.
They did just get to the bridge, fired two shots, leveled the AK-47...
...and the one guy walked in and he basically said...
...very similar to what the movie said:
"Relax, captain. Just business, just business.
No al Qaeda, just business. Relax, captain, just business."
And that's pretty much what he said.
And similar to the movie when they--
They were actually high-fiving each other...
...when they found out we were an American ship.
They were just high-fiving each other.
They thought they were in for a big payday.
So am I gonna say, "American ship"?
- No, you're gonna say, "Who's ship--?" - Right. "Where you from?"
When he says "American," you tell them this is an American ship.
- Okay. - See what I mean? So they know.
Then they react. Then you have a conversation about it.
Okay.
Besides fantastic, we can feel what you think about it being an American ship.
Yes! Yes!
It wasn't till I really started the story that I understood...
...that so much of global trade actually goes down the shipping lanes.
You know, they're like the sort of freeways of the world...
...down which, ceaselessly, 365 days a year, these ships...
...these huge container ships go one after the other, sort of herds of them.
And they're basically carrying the goods of the world.
And that's what makes it interesting from my point of view...
...because, of course, they go also past, you know, the badlands of the world...
...the forgotten places, the places that are excluded from...
...you know, from the global trading order.
How are the boxes?
Yeah, good.
A hundred and sixty-six tons of freshwater...
...250 measured tons of heavy fuel bunkered.
So here we are in Salalah.
Travel down the coalition corridor to Djibouti.
Then we exit the shipping lane south of Socotra.
Then we're on our own along the coast through the Somali Basin...
...all the way down to Mombasa.
In those area you get endemic piracy.
You know, young men coming out in these tiny skiffs to attack these ships...
...because they represent easy pickings.
Every year, $1 trillion worth of goods is shipped through these waters...
...off the coast of Somalia.
That's a massive part of the global economy.
And as long as Somalia is a failed state...
...that those $1 trillion worth of goods are gonna be in some form ofjeopardy.
We deal with piracy in the Philippines, Sulu Sea, Vietnam...
...Malacca Strait historically is a piracy area.
Sri Lanka, east-west coast of Africa...
...east-west coast of South America, it's there.
There's different modus operandi the pirates use.
Sometimes they're after the ship, sometimes the crew.
Indeed, today, Nigeria is worse than Somalia ever was...
...and people don't realize that. It's just something we deal with.
It's organized crime. It's international organized crime, is what it is.
You know, and the people who are really benefitting from it...
...are, you know, Sing and Mogadishu or Kenya or Nigeria or wherever...
...you know, the organizers of it, as a business.
There are four main pirate bosses in Somalia...
...and they have their crews and operations going at all times.
But these things cost money.
It costs money for them to get weapons, it costs to train these guys...
...how to use the equipment, even though it's rudimentary equipment.
And these operations are all financed by mostly people of Somali descent...
...but they're all over the world. They're in London, they're in Canada.
The FBl's followed this all over the planet.
The screenplay felt, to me, like it illuminated...
...you know, the giant wheels that are driving our world.
You know, here are these sort of cargo ships taking trade round the world...
...you know, and here are these young kids...
...who take their skiffs out to rob it, so it's a crime story...
...but from the sort of far-flung frontiers of the globalizing world, if you like.
I went round to Tom's place...
...and we sat down and I gave him a bit of a speech around that...
...and he looked at me a bit quizzically and he said:
"Yeah, I suppose so," he said.
"But kind of feels like it's the story about a guy who's in peril on the sea."
And I thought, "Yeah, no, that is absolutely right."