Sailing Into Scandal

Sultry TV actress and soap queen Louise Barnes will bare all in a new international television series - Black Sails, reveals Sunday World's Bongiwe Sithole. But local men will have to hold back their drooling for a while as the series will only hit our shores next year. About going nude in front of the cameras, Barnes says: "When I auditioned for the series I had to be prepared to be totally naked on screen. I remember thinking to myself, 'Louise, take your clothes off' and there I was shooting a naked scene in front of six people."

Barnes goes nude in some of the scenes - currently being shot in Cape Town - of Black Sails, a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island, which tells of the exploits of Captain Flint and his band of pirates in the 18th century. She says her 20 years' experience as an actress helped her handle the challenges of playing "Miranda Barlow", the mysterious character who forms a romantic relationship with Captain Flint. Barnes says the project is a breakthrough for her as an actress. "I have been in international films before but this is a big one for me. The fact that I play a meaty role makes it thrilling. I feel incredibly blessed to be part of it."


Natal-born Barnes landed her first professional role in an SABC mini series, "Where Angels Tread". After graduation she went to on to work in theatre and both local and international television and film. While taking a break from the industry in 2002 she went to the USA to train as an instructor of Bikram yoga and opened a studio in Illovo, Johannesburg on her return. She was lured back to the acting world by a role in a South African/Canadian co-production, "Jozi H", and has continued to land exciting roles most recently in a feature film with Billy Zane, "Surviving Evil", and The Sinking of the Laconia, a BBC miniseries starring, amongst others, Franka Potente and Brian Cox. Now 38, Barnes was last week crowned Best Actress in a TV Soap at the South African Film and Television Awards for her role as Donna Harding in Scandal!, before revealing that she has quit the e.tv drama series. Her last episode will be on April 15. In her five years on Scandal!, Barnes played a ruthless and heartless woman who strove for success by stepping on people's toes. "I took a hard decision, considering I had security there. But I have other things such as voice overs to keep me going," she says. "I will absolutely miss the cast. We made friendships I will never forget."

In addition to Barnes, English models-actresses Hannah New, Clara Paget and Laura Higgins will also feature, as well as Canadian Jessica Parker Kennedy and Belgium-born Axelle Carolyn. As befits the channel that shamelessly mined the natural female resources of Australia and New Zealand for Spartacus, casting ads have also gone out for all-natural models/actresses in the Pretoria and Johannesburg region willing to flesh out the nudity in the show. The racy series is produced by Michael Bay, who directed the movie Transformers, and will be flighted on the US channel Starz who will retain all domestic and international rights to the dramatic series – including television, home video, and digital – similar to their hit series Spartacus and Magic City. It will then probably be shipped to one of South Africa's pay TV channels.

So keen was Starz to become the home of Bay's new project, it by-passed the pilot stage to commission eight episodes of the "gritty" pirate adventure series, due to air in 2014, straight off the bat. Black Sails tells the story of Captain Flint- the most brilliant and feared pirate captain of his day- and his crew twenty years before their appearance in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, back when John Silver was younger, leggier, and presumably, less Long. Flint takes on the fast-talking young addition to his crew, Silver, who has stolen a map to a Spanish Treasure galleon that Flint is after. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight against the British Royal Navy for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality.

Luke Arnold (McLeod’s Daughters, Rush, Broken Hill) will star as the classic character, "John Silver", in the years before his well-known feats. Toby Stephens will be featured as the rival pirate captain to "Captain Charles Vane", played by Zach McGowan (Shameless). Hannah New (El Tiempo Entre Costuras, Fuga De Cerebros 2, Maleficent) will be stepping into the role of "Eleanor Guthrie", a beautiful and determined young woman who runs the smuggling operation on New Providence. Jessica Parker Kennedy (Max, The Secret Circle, 50/50, In Time) has been cast in the role of "Max," a tortured young prostitute who sees the dark side of her surroundings. Elsewhere, Hakeem Kae Kazim (Strike Back, Hotel Rwanda) will play "Mr. Scott", Toby Schmitz (Crownies, Three Blind Mice) will play "Rackham" and Clara Paget (One Day, Fast Six) will star as a member of Captain Vane's crew,

Said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht, in a press release: "Starz is excited to be working with a visionary like Michael. Along with the high-octane action that is a hallmark of a Michael Bay production, it has the elements that Starz originals are striving to bring to the premium landscape: epic, larger than life, cinematic storytelling. The series is also a property we believe will appeal to the global content marketplace with broadcasters around the world." Bay added: "I’m excited to branch out into television, especially doing a long-form series for STARZ, a network known for supporting cutting-edge programming."

Black Sails will be executive produced by Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) and his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form (producers on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and Nightmare on Elm Street (2009)). The series is created by showrunner and executive producer Jon Steinberg (creator Jericho, Human Target) and co-executive producer Robert Levine (Touch). Neil Marshall (The Descent, Game of Thrones) is on board to direct the first episode. Filming has just commenced in Cape Town, which is standing in for the Bahamas' New Providence Island, described in the show's bumpf as "a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers." Explosions and nudity come as standard.