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[Earlier that year,] Dick Cook, now co-heading the film studio with Nina Jacobson, called Jerry Bruckheimer about a new project. "You won't be excited, but take a look," Cook told him--hardly a ringing endorsement. The project had begun life as another attempt to carry out Cook's idea to mine the theme parks for movie ideas. First there had been The Country Bears, based on Disneyland's singing bears, and Disney vice president for production Brigham Taylor had sketched out an idea for Pirates of the Caribbean, initially as a cheap, direct-to-video project. (The Haunted Mansion, another venerable theme park attraction, was also in development.) But during a meeting to discuss whether Disney should invest in Master and Commander: Far Side of the World, an expensive seafaring adventure starring Russell Crowe (Disney passed), Taylor mentioned his pirate idea, and suggested Disney might do its own adventure movie set on the high seas. Jacobson had encouraged him to develop a script.
After talking to Bruckheimer, Cook sent over a new script by Jay Wolpert based on the pirate ride. As Cook had predicted, Bruckheimer was underwhelmed. "It's not a movie I'd go see," he told Cook, and Bruckheimer had long adhered to the self-imposed standard that he'd only make movies he'd want to see. But Bruckheimer knew two writers who were fascinated by the pirate genre, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who had just written Shrek. Cook said he'd show them the script. Ironically, they'd already pitched a pirate movie to Disney and had been turned down.
After seeing the script, the writers called Bruckheimer with a fresh idea: make the pirates cursed (the same idea they'd pitched to Disney before). The pirates would already be dead, trying to return a stolen treasure to earn their final resting place. Visually, they'd look mortal, but would turn into skeletons in the moonlight. Now Bruckheimer's interest was piqued. He called Cook to say he was interested in something that would merge the pirate and supernatural genres.
As the new writers went to work on the script, Bruckheimer flew to St.Tropez to meet with actor Johnny Depp. Depp, the sultry, iconoclastic star of the cult classics Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape? was hardly an obvious choice for a Disney action-adventure. Depp had turned down the chance to star in such mainstream hits as Speed and Titanic. Nor had his films been big commercial successes. But Depp and his companion, French actress Vanessa Paradis, now had two young children, and Depp had hinted that he was interested in performing in films his children might enjoy watching.
With Depp at least interested, Bruckheimer approached director Gore Verbinski, someone he'd been talking to since Con Air. A former rock guitarist, Verbinski had moved from directing music videos to the cult horror hit The Ring. "I thought the pirate genre was extinct," Verbinski told Bruckheimer. But the more Verbinski thought about it, the more intriguing the project sounded, especially if Depp committed to it. With Bruckheimer attached, he knew they'd get a big budget. If they failed, they'd fail big. He liked the element of risk. When else would he get the chance to do a big-budget pirate movie?
With Depp still uncommitted, Verbinski met the actor in London. Depp was having some trouble with the notion of working for Disney, which symbolized everything he wasn't. "What can we do that will really freak the studio out?" Depp wondered.
"Pirates are gross and disgusting," Verbinski pointed out, encouraging Depp to use his imagination.
"Yeah! That's great," Depp said. Then he had an inspiration: Jack Sparrow would already have had his nose cut off, leaving nothing but a bloody wound. "I could play the whole part without a nose!" Depp enthused.
"Uh-huh," Verbinski replied, noncommital. He knew that would never fly, but why make an issue of it? "See how liberating this could be?" Verbinski continued, noting that there was another "straight" part, the romantic hero, which meant the Sparrow character could be as eccentric as Depp wanted.
Images started popping into Depp's mind: Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou. Rock stars. Keith Richards prancing around the stage as lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones.
"This could be the end of our careers," Verbinski mused, "but let's have fun."
Once Depp committed to do the film (for a relatively modest fee, but also a cut of the gross), Verbinski turned to Orlando Bloom for the role of the "straight" romantic lead, and sent a script and cover letter to Geoffrey Rush, whom he wanted for the part of Barbossa, the villain and pirate captain. "Barbossa is both treacherous and charming and requires a commitment to that wondrous archetype of villainy that has been missing from cinema for so long," Verbinski wrote Rush in a cover letter with the script. "As I look across the landscape of contemporary actors I cannot think of anyone else but you who has the ability to make Barbossa simply delicious. This is a big pirate movie that turns the genre on its head."
Rush loved the reference to "simply delicious."
All that remained was the issue of budget. Eisner had groaned when Cook presented him with the notion of a $120 million period costume drama on the high seas--a recipe for disaster. Every recent pirate movie had failed, including 1980's The Island, based on a Peter Benchley novel that Eisner had tried to buy while he was still at Paramount. Thankfully he'd been outbid by Universal. Cutthroat Island with Geena Davis was a 1995 flop. Why would this be any different? Eisner rejected the idea out of hand.
Bruckheimer called him repeatedly. Finally Eisner agreed to attend a meeting at Bruckheimer's luxurious offices in Santa Monica, but he was still determined to kill the project. Bruckheimer had assembled storyboards, and drawings of the major scenes: the island of the dead, the Caribbean port under siege, the skeletons under water and on the moonlit pirate ship. After getting a tour and running commentary from Verbinski, Eisner sat down. "I love it," he said. "Why does it have to cost so much?"
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During the first days of production, Depp showed up with gold-capped teeth, heavy eyeliner, a braided goatee, and sideburns for a hair and makeup test. "I'm nudging towards Keith Richards here rather than Errol Flynn," Depp said in an aside to Geoffrey Rush.
"Fantastic," Rush said. He could practically see the Disney executives' jaws drop at the sight of Depp.
Disney executives were indeed taken aback. "We should talk about the teeth," Brigham Taylor, the production chief, said to Nina Jacobson, the studio head, as they walked out of the test. The hair, the braids, the capped teeth--they had to go. Depp flatly refused. A meeting was convened with Depp and the Disney executives, with Bruckheimer mediating. "Look," Depp protested. "You do your thing, this is mine. This is my circle, and you're not allowed inside my circle."
"We just want the audience to see more of you," Taylor diplomatically countered.
Finally a compromise was reached. Depp agreed to reduce the gold teeth to three in return for keeping the braided goatee and the eyeliner. But when filming began, Depp slipped some of the gold caps back on.
Even after the hair and makeup test, Disney executives were unprepared for the sashaying gait, slurred speech, and stoned demeanor that Depp brought to the role.
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Pirates of the Caribbean opened on July 9, a Wednesday rather than the usual Friday, and after the critical July 4 period. Conventional wisdom was that a summer blockbuster had to be out by Memorial Day, July 4 at the latest.
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Pirates of the Caribbean joined The Sixth Sense as that increasingly rare phenomenon--a movie with "legs." Backed by Disney's marketing muscle and across-the-company promotions, Pirates had a good opening weekend with minimal competition. But ticket sales kept surging--Pirates was among the top five grossing films for a record twelve weeks.
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Disney moved swiftly to capitalize on its new franchise, signing Verbinski, Depp, Rush, Bloom, and the winsome Keira Knightley to two sequels, to be shot simultaneously, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Verbinski assured me that he and Depp will have more surprises for audiences--and for Disney. "We've already grafted the pirate genre with the supernatural. I think we're fair game to go into everything from the Orient to sea monsters," he said.
Copyright © 2005 by James B. Stewart. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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