ENTERTAINMENT SPHERE

 Joining the crew for "On Stranger Tides" is Oscar-winning actress Penelope Cruz, who plays Blackbeard's daughter Angelina. She trained with the stunt crew for two months before shooting to prepare for the sword fights. However, she was pregnant during the actual production. That meant the costumers had to alter her outfits every three weeks to accommodate her growing baby bump. And for some of the more strenuous shots, her sister Monica stepped in as her double.





For the lush jungle scenes in the movie, the production moved to site of what used to be the Coco Palms Hotel. The resort was where Elvis Presley filmed his 1961 movie "Blue Hawaii," but it was shut down after a hurricane hit in 1992. For the safety of the cast and crew, the coconuts from 773 palms had to be harvested to make sure they didn't fall on anyone working below. The coconuts were then donated to the locals.




 
 In the first movie, Jack's ship, the Black Pearl, was actually just a set built on top of a barge. It wasn't until the second movie that a full wooden ship was constructed on top of a modern steel boat. The Pearl doesn't play a role in the fourth movie, so it was sailed 2400 nautical miles from California to Hawaii where it was turned into Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. The rebuilt ship stood three-and-a-half stories tall and weighed 100 tons more than it did as the Pearl.





While much of the first three movies was actually shot in the Caribbean, filming on the fourth took place mostly in Hawaii. The first day of shooting took place on the protected Honopu Beach on the island of Kauai. There are no roads to the beach, and boats aren't even allowed to dock there. So Johnny Depp had to arrive for work via helicopter in full costume and makeup. The crew mostly came in on Jet Skis, but since even those watercraft weren't allowed to stop, they had to jump off before they got to shore.

Captain Jack Sparrow is unfurling his sails for a fourth time this weekend in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides." The movie brings back several characters from the original trilogy, but it tells a standalone story about Jack's quest for the Fountain of Youth. And it's different from the earlier movies in that it weaves in real historical figures as characters. But it does play around with the dates when those actual people were alive.

In the movie, Ian McShane plays Blackbeard, who was a real pirate -- his given name was Edward Teach -- and commanded the ship "Queen Anne's Revenge" in Caribbean waters. Also depicted in the movie in King George II (played by Richard Griffiths) and his Prime Minister Henry Pelham. But Blackbeard was killed off the coast of North Carolina in 1718, and George II did not take the throne until 1727, nine years later. Plus, Pelham was not in office until 1743, 25 years after Blackbeard's death.

Still, you can't really fault a movie that has zombies, mermaids, and hero who was once eaten by a sea monster for not sticking closely to the historical record. Click ahead to read more tidbits about "On Stranger Tides."