Shortly before its release, few people believed in the success of “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”, films of the same genre being generally shunned by viewers. But nobody, at the time, still knew Captain Jack Sparrow, camped by a boosted Johnny Depp.
Pirates of the Caribbean : from park to screen
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is not taken from a novel, even less from a legend. The truth is much more amazing! The feature film is actually based on a must-see Disney park attraction.. A curious origin, since it is usually successful films that inspire rides and not the other way around! Note that shortly after the release of the film, it was the Haunted Manor which had the right to tread the dark rooms, carried by Eddie Murphy.
The plot of the first part of Pirates of the Caribbean revolves around Jack Sparrow, a longtime out-of-the-ordinary pirate in pursuit of his beloved ship, the Black Pearl, stolen by his mate, the fearsome Barbossa. The latter attacks the town of Port Royal and kidnaps the governor’s reckless daughter, Elizabeth Swann. Will Turner, friend of the latter – and secretly in love with the beauty -, will team up with Jack to find the young woman.
Jack Sparrow the Magnificent
As we said above, pirate movies don’t have a big share in the world of cinema. However, one could not blame Pirates of the Caribbean its impeccable cast, led by Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush (The speech of a king), Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom.
But even the film’s leading actors doubted its quality before filming, Keira Knightley the first! Richard Curtis, director of Love Actuallyromantic comedy in which the actress was playing at the time, had thus revealed a rather crisp anecdote to RadioTimes.
I remember hearing Keira Knightley say that her next project was going to be a pirate movie which was sure to be a disaster.
against all odds, Pirates of the Caribbean aroused general enthusiasm. The feature film earned no less than $654,264,015 at box office. But would it have been so without good old Jack? Now a cult character of the comedian, Sparrow was however thought for another actor, Hugh Jackman! But it was ultimately Depp who landed the role, allowing him to participate for the first time in a Disney blockbuster. After reading the script, the actor confided that he did not expect to find so much humor or space to shape his character!
To build the eccentric captain, Johnny Depp was inspired by Keith Richards, famous Rolling Stones guitarist who also lends his features to Jack’s father in the third installment of the franchisebut also rastas and Pépé le polecat. A funny mixture which however led to an interpretation without false notevery funny and sometimes even moving.
An inspiring quote
All along Pirates of the Caribbean, the soldiers in pursuit of Sparrow rightly wonder if he is improvising or rolling out a carefully thought out plan in the face of the obstacles he encounters. But the same question can be asked about Johnny Depp, who improvised several times during Gore Verbinski’s feature film.
Whispered more than spoken, “Bring me that horizon“, Where “bring me that horizon” is Depp’s last line. Words that perfectly define the character of Jack and what he is aiming for, freedom. The actor therefore hit the nail on the head, since he improvised the said line! A persistent and quite amusing rumor has it that his words inspired the name of the famous British metal band Bring me The Horizon.
