With his legendary talent, Luke can use body language and other cues to convey emotions to animals beyond humans.
This ability doesn't work much on lower creatures—trying to bond with an insect is a bit too far-fetched, even for him.
Luke's tested it before. For higher mammals like orcas from the dolphin family or primates, his [Life as a Play] skill effectively communicates his emotions to them.
For egg-laying animals, it depends.
Snakes? Almost no effect. But great white sharks, though fish, are advanced enough, with an intelligence roughly equivalent to a three-year-old human.
So, some basic communication is possible.
Luke gently strokes the great white's head, pairing it with rhythmic pats to calm the shark and build its trust.
If the shark had been in a rage, thrashing wildly, Luke wouldn't have had a chance to connect. But now's the perfect moment.
As he soothes it, the great white seems to realize this human on its back means no harm.
It starts to warm up to Luke, no longer trying to shake him off. Instead, it carries him, lifting him above the water as it swims.
If you only saw the triangular dorsal fin, you'd think it was a dolphin or orca—not the infamous great white shark.
Seeing the shark's hostility fade, Luke removes the spear shaft wedged in its mouth but keeps the rope loosely tied around it.
The gesture makes the shark even happier, and it swims more eagerly with Luke aboard.
"Is this for real? Is Luke a beast tamer or something?" Depp says, watching in disbelief.
"It's like an orca trainer at a marine park, but this is a wild animal, not a trained one. It's unreal," Dr. Carl remarks.
"What's so surprising? Isn't Luke the king of the seas? I'm not shocked he's pulling this off," Bob says with a sly grin.
"Look! He's standing up! He's surfing on the shark!" Director Verbinski shouts, stunned.
Luke, now accustomed to the shark's movements, rises from its back and stands steady.
He grips the rope like reins, guiding the shark's direction.
His feet plant firmly on the shark's dark back, like he's riding a surfboard, slicing through the ocean!
A great white can hit speeds of 30 miles per hour in the water—about the speed of a motorcycle on land. That's how fast Luke is surfing right now.
The thrill is unreal.
Plenty of people have surfed, but who's ever ridden a shark?
Waves splash against his face, the wind whipping his hair back, leaving a long wake trailing behind.
In this moment, Luke looks like the king of the ocean!
"Too cool! I can't imagine any guy outshining Luke," Annie says.
"That was insane. The shark's backflip was already wild, but this? This tops it," Verbinski says, genuinely amazed.
The shooting plan was loose since no one could predict how the shark would react.
Verbinski had expected just a shot of Luke clinging to the shark's back while it swam—already a great visual.
But Luke delivered two surprises, completely smashing expectations.
After surfing the shark for a bit, Luke figures the cameras have enough footage. He crouches, pats the shark's head gently, and it seems to understand, slowing down.
Luke slides off its back, unties the rope from its mouth, and gives its big face a few more pats.
Sensing he's saying goodbye, the shark nuzzles him reluctantly before swimming off into the distance.
"Cut!" Verbinski calls out, beyond satisfied with today's shoot.
Bob rallies the crew to bring Luke back to the research vessel, while Verbinski stays busy.
"Let's shoot a quick environmental statement. It'll work for both promo and end-credits bloopers," Verbinski says.
"Got it," Dr. Carl replies, stepping in front of the camera as directed.
"For this shoot, we took great care to protect wildlife…"
"We ensured no harm came to the great white shark…"
"Pirates of the Caribbean 2 proudly donated $5 million to marine animal conservation, thanks to the crew's dedication…"
This statement's a must. Without some preemptive armor, the film could face backlash from environmentalists when it releases.
While Dr. Carl speaks eloquently to the camera, the crew spots something else:
"What's that? Is the great white back?"
"No way—that dorsal fin's way smaller."
"Shark? Or dolphin?"
"It's heading straight for Luke!"
"Quick, ask Dr. Carl!"
Hearing the crew's shouts, Dr. Carl checks the underwater camera feed. His face darkens. "It's a tiger shark. Luke's in danger!"
Luke's swimming back toward the research vessel when Dr. Carl's voice crackles through his earpiece:
"Luke, bad news—a tiger shark's coming your way, and you're probably its target."
Unable to respond underwater, Luke glances at the vessel: about 80 meters away. He'd ridden the great white pretty far out.
With a tiger shark closing in, he likely won't make it back to the boat in time.
Without hesitation, Luke pulls the spear components from his waist and starts assembling the shaft.
Seeing his actions, the crew on the vessel starts buzzing:
"Why isn't he swimming faster? The tiger shark's gonna catch him!" Depp says.
"You think Luke can outswim a shark? It'll tear him apart before he reaches the boat," Bob snaps.
"What's he doing? He's not planning to fight the tiger shark with a spear, is he?" Annie asks.
"No way, right? Tiger sharks are smaller than great whites, but this one's still about 11 feet long and probably weighs around 1,300 pounds," Dr. Carl says.
"That's not that crazy. Knowing Luke, he might actually pull it off," Bob says, thinking it over.