Why did I get in a lifeboat? Well, actually, I started in the--
I started in the rescue boat, which wasn't covered in the movie...
...because of the sequence of it.
Basically, it was really a time of success, I felt...
...because we were actually getting the pirates off the ship.
The deal was I would get the pirates off the ship.
They had no idea how to run the equipment.
How to put the boat in the water. How to run the davit, how to lower it.
I did. And I just said, "I'll help you get off the ship."
Once we're off, they could no longer get back on...
...because they had lost their boat and their ladder when they boarded our ship.
My crew, my ship and my cargo are all free, I just had to that point--
I just had to worry about me.
When we were shooting stuff in the lifeboat...
...you know, that's a small little space to be in.
It was very evocative.
Tom, when he jumps out of the ship and tries to get away...
...we shot that in the tank in Malta.
So we shot one day on land.
You're talking about multiple lives. You gotta worry about stunts.
You gotta worry about the actors, you gotta worry about underwater cameras.
You gotta worry about the fact...
...that the sun is gonna come up in about 45 minutes and you haven't finished.
And you have to look calm and go, "Oh, it'll be fine"...
...even though you can see on a tank when dawn comes up.
You can just see the little horizon line started creeping in.
"Hold that back."
You know, it's a boot shape so they're in the high space.
Well, that meant all the camera positions were in the very confined spaces.
You know, high seat backs.
You know, where Tom is kept more towards the back of the lifeboat.
So we're behind him.
Between seats.
You know, trying to hold things off bungees, off little handrails...
...we were just trying to wedge ourselves in there.
You know, push the camera and struggle-- Every part of it was a struggle.
Action.
Tom did his own stunts.
Seeing him doing it and then firing gun shots at him.
It was really amazing experience.
I had told Shane over the radio, you know:
"if you see a splash that's me coming out the back door. Come get me."
But they pretty much watched me.
The normal routine was two guys on the aft door. Aft hatch.
One guy up forward, by the forward hatch and one up on the coxswain area...
...which was above everybody. The leader was usually there.
And all of a sudden during the night...
...one guy got up from the stern, the pirate went up and he lied down.
I was pretending I was asleep and just watching him.
And he lied down and pretty soon I could hear what was two guys snoring.
The forward end of the boat, I'm watching the leader and he's sort of nodding...
...and dozing his head as if he's at a bad movie. And I'm thinking I can get by him...
...so I just concentrate on this one guy who still had an AK-47.
And all of a sudden he got up and went out on the aft end of the lifeboat.
And he actually put his gun down.
I don't know any real refined way to say it...
...he's one of these guys uses two hands when he goes.
So he's peeing and I'm never gonna get a better chance than this.
So I sort of move my feet to make sure I wouldn't fall down, my legs weren't asleep.
And I just got up, took two strides out, got out the hatch, pushed him...
...had to push him twice and he went into the water screaming.
There was a second where I could've grabbed the gun.
And maybe the story would've been different.
But at that time I didn't know how to use an AK-47.
The first sensation I had once I dove in was, "This is so cool."
The pirates were jumping in to go to the bathroom...
...and to jump in the water and get cool it was so hot, they wouldn't allow me to.
Then, "I gotta get out of here," the third was I lost my glasses.
And then I just swam underwater as far as I could go in one breath.
Came up, took another breath, swam underwater as far as I could go.
Turned around, look at the boat.
Unfortunately, during that time it was a full moon...
...and the clouds just parted and it was almost as bright as day.
I mean, when I was underwater it was almost like a swimming pool.
...with a green tint to it. And you could see three or four feet down.
They were able to see me by the light and they started coming after me.
There were reprisals, yes.
They were very upset that I didn't follow proper etiquette for a hostage, I guess.
They beat me, they hit me with the butts of their rifles and their AK-47s...
...slapped, punched me in the head.
They're yelling and cursing and scream-- The leader was very upset.
He was screaming at them, they were screaming at me.
They tied me up so tight even today I have some scars and numbness today.
And that started a different atmosphere in the boat.
The massive amount of resources that the U.S put towards rescuing one man.
It's really astounding.
There were between 6O and 80 SEALs...
...who jumped out of the that plane into the Indian Ocean.
And they deployed on all the three ships that were there.
Who is this?
The negotiator. I'm the one that's authorized to negotiate with you.
There was a whole operation behind the scenes at Somalia...
...using some covert sources to find out the names of the individual pirates.
Now, you are Abduwali Muse, right? From Jariban, Puntland?
From the clans of the Hawiye and the Daarood?
Your friends are Adan Bilala...
...Walid Elmi and Nour Najee.
But you are Muse. You're in command. Is that correct?
That was an absolutely critical moment because they suddenly were made.
These were guys who were giving bullshit names.
They were, you know, didn't make it clear who they were, they were just in charge.
And all of a sudden their names are broadcast over the water.
And that was a huge "oh, shit" moment for them.
And I think it was critical in getting Muse, the lead pirate, to get off the lifeboat.
Which was the beginning of the end for their whole operation.
The interesting thing of understanding that side of the story...
...was the pressure that the Navy captain, Commander Castellano, was under.
He had to keep the situation cool...
...and keep the pirates from shooting Captain Phillips.
At the same time he had to prevent them from getting to Somalia.
And the only thing he had to prevent them was his massive warship.
He could've blown it out of the water any time.
When you juxtapose that lifeboat and that Burke-class destroyer...
...you're like, "This is just ridiculous."
We wanna resolve this thing peacefully.
Let's find a way out of this together before someone gets hurt.
They made 30-foot waves to push them back.
They launched a helicopter to blow the lifeboat back with the rotor wash.
All of those things agitated the pirates.
And then he had to send his people with food and water...
...and talk and try to calm them down.
So he was really given an impossible task.
And he managed it phenomenally.
So ultimately, it's gonna be out of his hands.
Because if by X time it's not done, the SEALs are coming in.
These guys have been doing this night after night...
...in Afghanistan and Iraq for years.
So they really kind of had it down and it's a very dramatic thing for us...
...and for SEAL Team 6, it was a fairly easy operation, in a sense.
Alfa team green. One green, two red.
Give me a distance.
Two twenty. Still 129 out.
As some of them said to me, it was wasn't what part of the body you want us to hit.
It's where on the head do you want us to hit?
- Sir, the pirates have just issued a threat. - What's the translation?
"If he moves again, shoot him."
Execute.
Careful, sir.
When we got on board the ship that was the sister ship to the Bainbridge...
...we shot a scene that was sort of reminiscent of the book...
...and it all made sense.
But then we said, "Well, what did you do with him when you first got him?"
The captain said, "He was such a mess...
...first thing we did was took him to the infirmary."
Captain Phillips, please come in.
Have a seat.
You know, and this is to Paul's credit.
It wasn't on the schedule, it wasn't in the script.
They hadn't gone down to see what their infirmary looked like...
...for lighting or camera positions or whatnot.
And we worked with the actual infirmary crew, the people who would do that.
And they just showed us what they would do.
And we said, "Well, let's shoot this and see what happens."
I'm Chief O'Brien. I'll be your corpsman today.
Can you please tell me what's going on?
Can you talk?
She was a real Naval corpsman.
And there's no way to explain to somebody how to make a movie...
...if they've never made a movie before.
And everybody in that room, particularly her...
...they were flustered the first time we did it.
And it was-- We-- She-- They literally went, "Stop, stop, stop.
I'm not sure what I'm saying."
So we stopped.
And we said, "Look, that's perfectly all right, don't worry about anything.
This happens all the time. We're gonna do it again.
And you can't do anything wrong." That's really what we said.
I need you to look at me. I need you to calm down...
...and I need you to breath. Deep breaths
There you go. Very good.
Awesome. Now I want you to relax your arm.
This is only a film.
If you're in those real circumstances...
...you know, the thing that she is trained for...
...is a lot more important than the film, you know.
It's saving lives and that's-- You know, we're just making a film.
So she-- When it came to it...
...she just put everything she knew in front of the camera. It was incredible.
--Make sure you're breathing.
- Okay. - What happened to your head?
Captain, can you tell me what happened to your head?
They“.-
It's okay. Take your time.
There's a 2-centimeter laceration on the left eyebrow.
It's okay. It's all right.
- Okay. Okay. - I want you to look at me and breathe.
- Understand? - Yeah.
Okay, all right
He's got a 4-centimeter gap. Little laceration there on the left temple.
- Got it. - Okay. Very good.
All right. You're doing great, okay?
Did all this blood come from your eyebrow and your head?
What?
Did the blood come from your eyebrow and your head?
- All of this. - Well, no, not all of it.
- Okay. - That's nof mine.
Okay, all right, all right. Look at me.
- Okay, we're gonna lay you down, okay? - Okay.
- All right. - Yeah.
You know, this movie begins with a woman, Catherine Keener...
...who says, "Are we gonna be okay?"
It's gonna be okay, right?
Oh, yeah.
And it ends with a woman, that corpsman, saying, "it's all right.
You're okay, you're going to be okay."
Which is this accidental profound, you know, journey from one thing to the other.
Captain, you're safe now, okay?
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
- You're okay. - Thank you.
You're welcome.
So the emotion in the film, I think, you know, again, you hope that it's there.
But until you actually see it put together...
...and its effect on an audience, you don't know.
So that was a, you know, surprise in a good way.
No matter who you talk to about piracy...
...whether the Navy, the Navy SEALS, the shipping people...
...they all know that the answer to this is not on the water.
It's not more patrols, it's not more SEALs.
It's the conditions on the ground in Somalia have to change for this to end.
Although this is a very exciting film and it, you know...
You've got to, if you make any film...
...make it worthwhile the audience pay to come and see it.
There's always a bit of you that remembers that it's the real world...
...and, you know, other people were not so lucky.
And that was something that Richard Phillips...
...I remember him saying to me the first time I met him, you know?
There are people out there who didn't get back.
And, you know, you always have to bear that in mind.