The Bluff: Prime Video's R-Rated Pirate Thriller Redefines the Genre

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The Bluff is changing the face of pirate movies.

ScreenRant's Ash Crossan spoke to the film's stars at The Bluff premiere in Los Angeles last week, where they shared how Amazon Prime's new R-rated pirate thriller is re-defining the genre.

Safia Oakley-Green: I think it's because they are enormous. It's like, beaches, it's the sea — everything's so intense. The weather is so intense. And everyone's really passionate, because they're fighting for something that they really believe in, and then it's really gory, and it's also really hot, 'cause everyone's kissing and stuff. It's all the elements that make a great movie, rammed together into this beautiful sort of thing that's a pirate movie. I don't think we've got enough of them, to be honest.

In fact, Safia Oakely-Green, who plays Elizabeth Bodden, Ercell's sister-in-law, in the film, not only thinks there should be more pirate films, but more pirate films with women at the center. Campaigning for a sequel, Oakley-Green told ScreenRant she would "love that to be the case."

It would be so fun to watch Ercell and Lizzie, grow and change, and Vedanten [Naidoo], and see what adventures they go on next, and what else they conquer. I think pirate movies with women at the center — it's something we need right now, so let's make more of them.

The female-led film, which sees Chopra-Jonas at the helm, is the perfect balance of high-octane action and grit, with Temuera Morrison, who plays Quartier-maitre Lee, telling ScreenRant that the Heads of State actress had that "X-factor," that made her the perfect fit to play Ercell.

Temuera Morrison: I was also so impressed with Priyanka, just how gritty she was, because she was very physical. I was there on set a number of times [where] she went home battered and bruised. She's got a wonderful, wonderful camera presence—one of those X-factors, I think you call it, when the camera likes you. And man, when she looks at you, she has a lot of power, a lot of depth, a lot of soul there. So I was blessed to get a glimmer every now and then.

As for how Chopra-Jonas channeled that grit, she told SR at the premiere that she didn't have to look far to draw inspiration, with the mother of one turning within — and to a few of action's other leading ladies — to help portray the scorned pirate.

Priyanka Chopra-Jonas: Tom Raider was one of them for me. I think Uma Thurman in Kill Bill was a big inspiration for me, for this movie. I really thought about, "What would a parent do? How far would a parent go to protect their family?" And, I think that just brought me to Kill Bill, the bride, who was also on a vengeance/revenge journey because her dream was destroyed. I felt the same: you're coming to destroy my dream, which is my island, and my life, and my family.

It's a sentiment Ismael Cruz Córdova, who plays Ercell's husband, T.H. Bodden, in the film, couldn't have agreed more with.

These larger-than-life characters—yeah, it's a genre and whatnot—but the way that she plays it, and because she plays it and because she performs it in that way, it's still grounded in reality. So, it's still very plausible. It's still something that really does inspire you. It inspired me, as an actor, watching her do all of that, and how she behaved on set as well. But it's rooted in that ferociousness of a mother, as well. There's no, "Oh, mama bear." And I would never get in between a mother and her children, if it was a mother like that. If it's a mother like that? Nah.

Everything Else The Bluff Cast & Team Has Said About The Gritty Pirate Thriller

THE BLUFF, Karl Urban, 2026. © Amazon Prime Video

ScreenRant: So, the first time you put on your pirate costume, or anytime you have it on, what's the first thing you do? What can't you help but do in the costume?

Karl Urban: You know what? We were blessed. We had such a great costume designer on this, and you put that costume on, and you can't help but feel formidable, and you want to draw that sword and go out and do some swashbuckling.

ScreenRant: Tell me about just stepping into this movie. I mean, everyone loves a pirate adventure, so what was it about this, just stepping on set, that you were like, "I want to play with this. I want to be in this?"

Ismael Cruz Córdova: I mean, it really is one of those things that everyone wants to do. So when it came, it was a beautiful offer. I said, "Yes," too quick, apparently. My team was like, "But did you read the email?" I was like, "It's a pirate movie with Priyanka Chopra and Karl Urban. What do I need to read?" It was so exciting, and it got even more exciting when Frank E. [Flowers] explained where it all began. Here is this genre that we're always talking about and seeing, but the historical reality of the fact, like, "Oh, what happened to the people the pirates kind of surprised and stole from? Where are their stories?" And this is where this story begins, and what he did and how he wrote it — but he refrained from making it a film that's heavy. You see all of it, but it still moves, it's still a pirate film, and it has just about the most perfect lead that you could ever have for this. It is the gift that keeps on giving, in terms of performance. You do not expect how gritty it's going to get, how much stronger it's going to get, and how ferocious he is. And all of that is also behind the scenes. It lifted everybody up.

ScreenRant: The first time you walked on a set. I mean, what a fun adventure to dive into.

Safia Oakley-Green: Oh my gosh, this set, the production design on this movie, is out of this world. I've never seen anything like it. There were entire villages built. There's an entire cave system built, and I knew as soon as I walked on and saw that, I was like, "Okay, we mean serious business." I mean, it makes the performances so much better, because you're free to roam and do whatever you want and pick things up, and you open a drawer and there's stuff in it. It is so beautifully and amazingly thought out, and it was really amazing to be a part of.

ScreenRant: I love that you do love letters to your home [The Cayman Islands] and The Bluff is one of them. Tell me about the inspiration and why you wanted to make this movie.

Frank E. Flowers: It was great to be able to just paint on a canvas that no one had ever seen before. This is a period in time that's not your typical pirate movie, a location that's not your typical pirate movie. And so, for us, it actually added to the intensity and the unique nature of the movie we were trying to make. It was a cultural love letter, but again, it's also like, "Don't come for my family, don't come for my people, don't come for my island." And so we were able to blend those two things and make something that was, I think, pretty unique and visceral and raw.

Check out more of our The Bluff coverage here:

The Bluff is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.