Lord of the Rings star thinks new swashbuckler will be Bloom-ing marvellous.

Pirates of the Caribbean
"I only made the film because Geoffrey Rush said I'd be an idiot if I didn't." So laughs Orlando Bloom about his decision to co-star in Pirates of the Caribbean, a big-screen take on the popular Disneyland ride. "I'd seen the script and I knew about the ride," continues the actor, "but it just didn't feel like my cup of tea. Then I was hanging around with Geoffrey on the Ned Kelly set and he said that he thought it would be a really fantastic experience. And that's exactly what it's turned out to be."

Besides Rush, Bloom - who is midway though shooting the film on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent - will also be sharing screen time with Johnny Depp and Kiera Knightley. Gore Verbinski [The Ring] will be calling the shots.

"It's been such a pleasure working with Gore," bubbles Bloom, who compounds the misery of being such good-looking chap with the fact that he's also a really nice guy. "Thanks to him, Pirates of the Caribbean is a film in the very best tradition of swashbucklers."

The actor - who came to St. Vincent on the back of completing British comedy The Calcium Kid - also isn't short of good things to say about co-star Johnny Depp. "Working with Johnny's been on the greatest thrills of my career." he enthuses. "He was an actor I was very keen to work with, and I've been thrilled to discover he's as great a bloke as he is a performer."