Recreating the Past on Film, Historical Advisors Are a Director’s Lifelines

The year is 1805. Captain “Lucky Jack” Aubrey is surveying the foggy Atlantic horizon for the renegade Acheron, a Napoleonic privateer warship out to sink Aubrey and his fellow Brits into watery oblivion. As he peers through his telescope, Aubrey suddenly recoils in disbelief—the Acheron is headed straight for his ship!

But wait—what does that enemy ship look like? What color is the telescope Aubrey—or Russell Crowe in period attire—is holding?