The Pirates of the Caribbean film series are based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disney world. The series surrounds the adventures of four primary characters, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan, Captain Barbossa, and of course the eccentric, self-centered, yet hilarious pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow.
Keira Knightley was 17 during filming and her mother accompanied her to all of the shoot locations.
The entire attack scene on Port Royal was shot in a single take.
There is a small scab on Jack Sparrow’s chin that gets bigger and bigger throughout the movie. The makeup artist and Johnny Depp did it on purpose as a prank.
Originally, Johnny Depp wanted Jack Sparrow to have no nose and be afraid of silly things like pepper and the common cold. Disney rejected the idea.
First theatrical trailer was released with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), to capitalize on the fact that both films starred Orlando Bloom.
This was the first PG-13 release under the Walt Disney Pictures label in the United States. The Walt Disney Company, however, has released PG-13 and R rated films under the Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures labels since the 1980’s.
The Pirates of the Caribbean series is the 12th highest grossing franchise ever.
The movie is inspired by, and takes its theme from, the popular Walt Disney theme park ride of the same name.
The title of the original Pirates movie was just Pirates Of The Caribbean but the name was changed to Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl in case it did well enough at the box office to merit a sequel.
Johnny Depp reportedly improvised the line Savvy, during shooting in The Curse of the Black Pearl, and continued to use it throughout the film.
Pirates of the Caribbean Behind the Scenes
Undeniably, Pirates of the Caribbean is one of Disney’s classic theme parks that successfully came to life through movies. Although not all series hit the movie chart, the first film is an incredibly entertaining blockbuster. Let’s glimpse the Behind-the-Scene epic facts before it became a massive success.
- Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio introduced the film to Disney in the 1990s. The script ended up in the hands of Steven Spielberg, who was considering directing it during those times. However, pirate films weren’t considered box office hits for quite some time. After the failure of Cutthroat Island, no one wanted to revisit the genre. That was when Disney tried filming some famous amusement park rides.
- Johnny Depp was not initially on the top list for Jack Sparrow. When Spielberg considered the project, his frontrunners were Steve Martin, Bill Murray, and Robin Williams. Christopher Walken was also a candidate for a time, and co-writer Stuart Beattie wrote the role with Hugh Jackman in mind.
- Given the success of this franchise for Disney, it’s surprising to learn that the studio initially put little faith in this first film. Michael Eisner, Disney’s president, was willing to halt production that had already started. He was ready to pull the plug on this film, but director Gore Verbinski showed him some concept art to convince him they were on the right track.
