How Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow Role Became a MASSIVE Game-Changer, Per 'Pirates' Director
"Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski spoke up and recalled how Johnny Depp's role as Captain Jack Sparrow made Disney nervous at one point.
Creating a film that has an unusual plotline may not attract viewers. But Verbinski revealed that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" became a game-changer that proved everyone wrong.
The director recently sat down for an interview with Collider for the 10th Anniversary of his animated film "Rango."
During that time, the news outlet's Steve Weintraub took his chance to ask him how the one "Pirates of the Caribbean" film that caused massive trust issues turned into a global box office hit.
How Johnny Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" Unexpectedly Became Successful
In the interview, Verbinski was asked whether he ever had longer cuts of the three "Pirates" movies he directed.
Per the director, he thinks that he already got the director's cut he always wanted.
"Any fight we had over anything was very nominal. I'm very happy with the cut of those movies. I would say that Pirates 1 had an energy to it, which was essentially, 'you're crazy,'" he said.
Verbinski also recollected the time he opened up the pitch to Hans Zimmer. At that time, the film score composer believed that nobody wants to see a pirate movie.
Of course, for the director's part, it sounded like his pitch was the worst idea ever.
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Still, Verbinski found something exciting about saving a film that would fail and making it a game-changer.
"You're setting out to go make a genre that literally doesn't work, or there's so much historical proof that it will not work," he added.
Thus, his move reportedly made everyone nervous. In fact, Disney also questioned Depp's performance. But to everyone's surprise, the first movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," gained $305 million lifetime gross since its debut in July 2003.
After its success, the director finally planned to create "Pirates 2" and "Pirates 3" accordingly. However, the company already set the films' release dates although the team had not even prepared a script.
While this challenged him even more, seeing Disney not nervous anymore made Verbinski face the hardest part.
"I'm definitely proud of the second one. I feel like that one has a little bit more... it's got a similar spirit. And it's shy of being bloated, and maybe the third one got a little bit, okay, wow. Now where do you go? You have to go even bigger," he went on.
The second film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" indeed became the highest-grossing "Pirates" film with $423 million in sales. Meanwhile, his third film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" earned $309 million.
