Jack Sparrow

When writing the screenplay for The Curse of the Black Pearl, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio envisioned Captain Jack Sparrow as a supporting character in the vein of Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx.[1] The producers saw him as a young Burt Lancaster.[2] Director Gore Verbinski admitted, "The first film was a movie, and then Jack was put into it almost. He doesn't have the obligations of the plot in the same ways that the other characters have. He meanders his way through, and he kind of affects everybody else."[3] Sparrow represents an ethical pirate, with Captain Barbossa as his corrupt foil, though both characters viewed as both light and dark tricksters.[1] His true motives usually remain masked, and whether he is honorable or evil depends on the audience's perspective.[4] This acts as part of Will Turner's arc, in which Sparrow tells him a pirate can be a good man, like his father.[1]

Following the success of The Curse of the Black Pearl, the challenge to creating a sequel was, according to Verbinski, "You don't want just the Jack Sparrow movie. It's like having a garlic milkshake. He's the spice and you need a lot of straight men ... Let's not give them too much Jack. It's like too much dessert or too much of a good thing."[3] Although Dead Man's Chest was written to propel the trilogy's plot,[5] Sparrow's state-of-mind as he is pursued by Davy Jones becomes increasingly edgy, and the writers concocted the cannibal sequence to show that he was in danger whether on land or at sea. Sparrow is perplexed over his attraction to Elizabeth Swann, and attempts to justify it throughout the film.[6]

At World's End was meant to return it tonally to a character piece. Sparrow, in particular, is tinged with madness after extended solitary confinement in Davy Jones's Locker,[5] and now desires immortality.[7] Sparrow struggles with what it takes to be a moral person,[8] after his honest streak caused his doom in the second film. This is mainly shown by his increasingly erratic behaviour and Jack's hallucinations, which appeared to be simply his deranged mind in the beginning where dozens of "Jack Sparrows" appeared to crew the ship in his solitary exile, but later the hallucinations grew more important and there were mainly two "Jacks" constantly arguing about which path to follow: the immortality or the mortality. The last hallucination took place while Jack was imprisoned on the Dutchman, where his honest streak won.[9] By the end of At World's End, Sparrow is sailing to the Fountain of Youth, an early concept for the second film.[10] Rossio said in 2007 that a fourth film was possible,[11] and producer Jerry Bruckheimer expressed interest in a spin-off.[12] Gore Verbinski concurred that "all of the stories set in motion by the first film have been resolved. If there ever were another Pirates of the Caribbean film, I would start fresh and focus on the further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow."[13]

On Stranger Tides was first announced on September 28, 2008, during a Disney event at the Kodak Theatre. Verbinski did not return to direct the fourth installment and was replaced by Rob Marshall. The movie uses elements from Tim Powers' novel of the same name, particularly Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, but the film is not a straight adaptation of the novel.[14]

The fifth film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, was co-directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.[15]

Johnny Depp during filming, sporting Jack's 'goatee' applied in makeup.

Looking to do a family film, Johnny Depp visited the Walt Disney Studios in 2001 when he heard of plans to adapt the Pirates of the Caribbean ride into a film. Depp was excited by the possibility of reviving an old Hollywood genre,[2] and found the script met his quirky sensibilities: the crew of the Black Pearl were not in search of treasure but trying to return it to lift a curse on them, and the traditional mutiny had already occurred.[16] Depp was cast on June 10, 2002.[17] Producer Jerry Bruckheimer felt Depp would give the film an edge that could draw teenage and adult audiences despite Disney's reputation for soft children's fare.[18]

At the first read-through, Depp surprised the cast and crew by portraying the character in an off-kilter manner.[19] He researched 18th-century pirates and, seeing parallels with modern rock stars, modeled his performance on Keith Richards.[18] Richards later appeared in two cameos as Jack's father, Captain Teague, in At World's End and On Stranger Tides. Verbinski and Bruckheimer had confidence in Depp, partly because Orlando Bloom would play the traditional Errol Flynn-type character.[16] Depp improvised the film's final line, "Now, bring me that horizon", which the writer called his favorite line.[19] Disney executives were initially confused by Depp's performance, questioning whether the character was drunk or gay. While watching the rushes, Disney CEO Michael Eisner proclaimed Depp was ruining the film.[19] Depp's response to Disney executives was they could trust him with his choices or let him go.[18] Many industry insiders questioned Depp's casting, as he was an unconventional actor not known for working within the traditional studio system.[20]

Depp's performance won acclaim from film critics. Alan Morrison found it "Gloriously over-the-top ... In terms of physical precision and verbal delivery, it's a master-class in comedy acting."[21] Roger Ebert praised Depp for drawing away from the character as written and found Depp's performance "original in its every atom. There has never been a pirate, or for that matter a human being, like this in any other movie ... his behavior shows a lifetime of rehearsal".[22] Depp won a Screen Actor's Guild award for his performance, and was nominated for a Golden Globe[23] and the Academy Award for Best Actor, the first in his career.[24] Film School Rejects argued the film made Depp as much a movie star as he was a character actor.[25]

Depp's return in Dead Man's Chest was the first time he had ever made a sequel.[19] Drew McWeeny wrote, "Remember how cool Han Solo was in Star Wars the first time you saw it? And then remember how much cooler he seemed when Empire came out? This is that big a jump."[26] Depp received an MTV Movie Award[27] and a Teen Choice Award for Dead Man's Chest, and was nominated for an Empire Award and another Golden Globe.[28] For his performance in At World's End, Depp won an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance, as well as a People's Choice Award, a Kids' Choice Award, and another Teen Choice Award. He has signed on to reprise the role for future sequels.[29]

Early character sketches of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow by Crash McCreery. An initial costume concept before Depp's ideas took hold.

Depp wears a dreadlock wig in a rock-and-roll approach to a pirate aesthetic.[30] He wears a red bandanna and numerous objects in his hair, influenced by Keith Richards' habit of collecting souvenirs from his travels;[31] Sparrow's decorations include his "piece of eight".[32] Sparrow wears kohl around his eyes, which was inspired by Depp's study of nomads, whom he compared to pirates,[33] and he wore contacts that acted as sunglasses.[34] Sparrow has several gold teeth, two of which belong to Depp,[35] although they were applied during filming. Depp initially forgot to have them removed after shooting The Curse of the Black Pearl,[36] and wore them throughout the shooting of the sequels.[2] Like all aspects of Depp's performance, Disney initially expressed great concern over Depp's teeth.[6] Sparrow wears his goatee in two braids. Initially wire was used in them, but the wires were abandoned because they made the braids stick up when Depp lay down.[37] Sparrow has numerous tattoos,[32] and has been branded a pirate on his right arm by Cutler Beckett,[38] underneath a tattoo of a sparrow.[39]

Depp collaborated with costume designer Penny Rose on his character's appearance, handpicking a tricorne as Sparrow's signature leather hat; to make Sparrow's unique, the other characters did not wear leather hats. A rubber version was used for the scene in Dead Man's Chest when the hat floats on water.[40] Depp liked to stick to one costume, wearing one lightweight silk tweed frock coat throughout the series,[41] and he had to be coaxed out of wearing his boots for a version without a sole or heel in beach scenes.[42] The official line is that none of the costumes from The Curse of the Black Pearl survived, which allowed the opportunity to create tougher linen shirts for stunts.[43] However, one remains which has been displayed in an exhibition of screen costumes in Worcester, England.[44] It was a nightmare for Rose to track down the same makers of Sparrow's sash in Turkey. Rose did not want to silkscreen it, as the homewoven piece had the correct worn feel.[45] Sparrow wears an additional belt in the sequels, because Depp liked a new buckle which did not fit with the original piece.[46]

Sparrow's weapons are genuine 18th-century pieces: his sword dates to the 1740s and his pistol is from the 1760s. Both were made in London.[34][47] Depp used two pistols on set, one of rubber. Both survived production of the first film.[48] Sparrow's magic compass also survived into the sequels, though director Gore Verbinski had a red arrow added to the dial as it became a more prominent prop. As it does not act like a normal compass, a magnet was used to make it spin.[49] Sparrow wears four rings, two of which belong to Depp. Depp bought the green ring in 1989 and the gold ring is a replica of a 2400-year-old ring Depp gave to the crew, though the original was later stolen. The other two are props to which Depp gave backstories: the gold-and-black ring is stolen from a Spanish widow Sparrow seduced and the green dragon ring recalls his adventures in the Far East.[50] Among Depp's additional ideas was the necklace made of human toes that Sparrow wears as the Pelegosto prepare to eat him,[51] and the sceptre was based on one a friend of Depp's owned.[52]

During the course of the trilogy, Sparrow undergoes physical transformations. In The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sparrow curses himself to battle the undead Barbossa. Like all the actors playing the Black Pearl crew, Depp had to shoot scenes in costume as a reference for the animators, and his shots as a skeleton were shot again without him. Depp reprised the scene again on a motion capture stage.[34] In At World's End, Sparrow hallucinates a version of himself as a member of Davy Jones's crew, adhered to a wall and encrusted with barnacles. Verbinski oversaw that the design retained Sparrow's distinctive look,[53] and rejected initial designs which portrayed him as over 100 years old.[54]

Captain Jack Sparrow first appears in The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

In his debut scene, Sparrow arrives in Port Royal, Jamaica on a sinking boat, seeking to commandeer a new ship. Despite rescuing Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann, from drowning, he is jailed for piracy. That night, a cursed pirate ship called the Black Pearl attacks Port Royal and Elizabeth is kidnapped. The Black Pearl's captain, Hector Barbossa, desperately seeks one last gold coin to break an ancient Aztec curse that he and his crew are under. A blacksmith named Will Turner frees Sparrow to aid him in rescuing Elizabeth. They commandeer HMS Interceptor and recruit a motley crew in Tortuga, Haiti before heading to Isla de Muerta, where Elizabeth is held captive. Along the way, Will learns that Sparrow was the Black Pearl's original captain until Barbossa led a mutiny ten years earlier and took over the ship, marooning Sparrow on an island to die. Sparrow tells Turner that his father was a pirate known as "Bootstrap" Bill Turner.[39]

The rescue attempt goes awry and Barbossa maroons Jack and Elizabeth on the same island upon which he had stranded Sparrow before. Elizabeth creates a signal fire from rum barrels and they are rescued by the Royal Navy. Sparrow cuts a deal with Commodore James Norrington to lead Norrington to the Black Pearl. Norrington refuses until Elizabeth, desperate to save Will, spontaneously accepts Norrington's earlier marriage proposal. Right before the film's climactic battle with the pirates at Isla de Muerta, Sparrow swipes a cursed coin from the treasure chest, making himself immortal and capable of dueling Barbossa. He shoots his nemesis with the pistol he has carried for ten years just as Will breaks the curse, killing Barbossa. Despite having assisted the Navy, Sparrow is sentenced to hang.[39]

At Sparrow's execution in Port Royal, Will saves Sparrow, but they are quickly captured. Elizabeth intervenes, declaring her love for Will who is pardoned, while Sparrow escapes by tumbling off a sea wall. The Black Pearl and her new crew arrive in time to retrieve him, and he becomes captain once more. Impressed by the wily pirate, Norrington allows him one day's head start before giving chase.[39]

A year following the events of the first film, Sparrow searches for the Dead Man's Chest, which contains the heart of Davy Jones. Sparrow made a bargain with Jones to raise the sunken Black Pearl and make Sparrow captain for thirteen years. Now the debt is due, and Sparrow must either serve one hundred years aboard the Flying Dutchman, or be dragged to Davy Jones's Locker by the Kraken. If he can find the Dead Man's Chest, Sparrow can free his soul and control Jones and the seas.[38]

Adding to Sparrow's woes, Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company has a personal score to settle with Sparrow. Beckett wants the chest and forces Will Turner to search for Sparrow and his magic compass. Turner locates Sparrow and his crew on Pelegosto, held captive by cannibals who intend to eat Sparrow. They escape, and voyage to Tia Dalma (a magical woman later revealed to be the Goddess, Calypso, bound in human form as Dalma, and former lover of Jones). Dalma immediately sees destiny in Will, and provides Sparrow with a jar of dirt – Jones can only set foot on land once every 10 years, and since land is where Sparrow is safe, Dalma suggests with the dirt that he takes land with him.

Sparrow strikes a new deal with Jones to deliver one hundred souls in exchange for his own. Jones agrees but keeps Turner as a "good faith payment". Sparrow is recruiting sailors in Tortuga when he encounters Elizabeth Swann and James Norrington, the latter having succumbed to alcohol. Sparrow convinces Elizabeth that Turner can be freed by using the magic compass to find the chest. The duo head for Isla Cruces and find Will, who escaped Jones's ship and has stolen the key to the Chest. Turner wants to stab Jones's heart and free his father from Jones's servitude, while Norrington plots to restore his career by delivering the heart to Beckett. Sparrow wants it to convince Jones to call off the Kraken.[38]

Norrington escapes with the heart amid a battle with Jones's crew, and Jones summons the Kraken. Realizing Sparrow is the target, Elizabeth traps him aboard the Black Pearl as the crew abandons the ship, and kisses him while she handcuffs him to the mast. Then, the monster devours Sparrow and drags the ship and his soul to Davy Jones's Locker. The surviving crew seeks refuge with Tia Dalma who produces a captain she says can rescue Sparrow: a resurrected Hector Barbossa.[38]

Two months following the events of the second film, with Davy Jones's heart in his possession and the Flying Dutchman under his command, Cutler Beckett begins exterminating all pirates. To combat Beckett, the nine pirate lords of the Brethren Court convene at Shipwreck Cove. Only Jack Sparrow is missing, killed and sent to Davy Jones's Locker at the end of the previous film. Sparrow, as Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, must attend, as he did not bequeath to a designated heir his "piece of eight", a pirate lord's marker. The collective "nine pieces of eight" are needed to free sea goddess Calypso to defeat Beckett. With Elizabeth and Will, Barbossa leads Sparrow's crew to Davy Jones's Locker using stolen navigational charts from the pirate lord Sao Feng. After the crew locate him, Sparrow deciphers a clue on the charts allowing them to escape the Locker.[32]

At the Brethren Court, Elizabeth has succeeded Captain Sao Feng as a Pirate Lord and is elected "Pirate King" after Sparrow breaks a stalemate vote. Sparrow is briefly reunited with his father, Captain Teague. During a parley with Beckett and Jones, Sparrow is traded for Turner, whom Jones and Beckett had captured. The Black Pearl battles the Flying Dutchman during a maelstrom created by Calypso, during which Sparrow steals Jones's heart to become immortal. When Jones mortally wounds Turner, Sparrow instead chooses to save Turner by helping him stab the heart, which kills Jones and makes Turner the Dutchman's captain. Together, the Pearl and the Dutchman destroy Beckett's ship. At the end, Barbossa again commandeers the Pearl and Sao Feng's charts, stranding Sparrow and Gibbs in Tortuga. However, Sparrow had managed to cut out the navigational section of the charts and with them begins to search for the legendary Fountain of Youth.

After failing to find the Fountain of Youth, Sparrow arrives in London only to learn someone is gathering a crew by using his name. While searching for the imposter, he saves Gibbs from being hanged but is captured by the Royal Guards. They present him to King George II. Sparrow is surprised to learn Captain Barbossa is now a privateer in the Royal Navy. Sparrow refuses to negotiate with them to locate the Fountain of Youth and escapes. Soon he crosses paths with his impersonator, an old flame named Angelica. She shanghais him to serve aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship captained by her father Blackbeard, who forces Sparrow to search for the Fountain of Youth.[32]

Sparrow fails in his attempt to take over the ship in a mutiny against Blackbeard and save the naive Angelica from her evil father. After encountering dangerous mermaids, Barbossa, and the Spanish Navy, Sparrow locates the Fountain of Youth. When Angelica is mortally wounded, he tricks Blackbeard into sacrificing himself to save her, and Angelica blames Sparrow for her father's death. Sparrow and Angelica acknowledge their feelings for one another, but Sparrow maroons Angelica on an island, deeming her untrustworthy and dangerous. Gibbs, meanwhile, has retrieved the shrunken Black Pearl from Blackbeard's collection of shrunken ships in the hope of restoring it to normal size. Though he has forfeited his opportunity for immortality, Sparrow settles for being famous as the one who found the Fountain of Youth. Following the film's end credits, Angelica's voodoo doll of Sparrow has drifted to the island that she is marooned on.[55]

Some time after the quest for the Fountain of Youth, Jack has reassembled a small crew, but the Black Pearl is still trapped in a bottle, his new ship the Dying Gull has never left berth, and his latest plans have met with failure. Meanwhile, his rival Barbossa has become the richest and most powerful pirate of the seven seas.

Sparrow and his crew attempt to rob the new bank of St. Martin. The robbery is a success, but all the gold in it had fallen while they were dragging the locker, and Sparrow's crew abandons him. Despondent, Jack trades his magical compass for a drink. However, this betrayal of the compass releases an old enemy of Sparrow, who holds a serious grudge against him; the ruthless undead pirate hunter Captain Salazar. Years previously, Jack had defeated Salazar by tricking him into sailing his ship into the Devil's Triangle, where Salazar and his crew were cursed to live as the undead. Salazar states that Jack perched in the ship's rigging like a "little bird", earning him the name "Jack the Sparrow". It was during this event that Jack received his compass, as well as his characteristic gear.

While in prison, Jack is contacted by Henry Turner, the son of Will and Elizabeth, to seek his aid in finding the Trident of Poseidon. Remembering Elizabeth and Will from his previous misadventures, Jack agrees but not before expressing some hesitation. The next day, Sparrow is sentenced to be executed by guillotine (by Jack's accidental choosing), but is rescued by Henry and his crew. Aided by aspiring astronomer Carina, Jack and Henry attempt to locate the Trident of Poseidon, as both are in need of its power to break curses related to the sea. Barbossa releases the Pearl from its bottle, giving them a chance to outrun Salazar. Jack and Barbossa discuss the fact that Carina is in truth Barbossa's long-lost daughter, whom he had left at an orphanage in order to give her a chance for a better life. Jack attempts to use the secret to blackmail Barbossa, but fails.

They are able to track the Trident to its resting place. Though Salazar nearly kills Jack, they are able to destroy the Trident. With the destruction of the Trident, Salazar and his crew become mortal again. Jack, Henry and Carina escape as Barbossa sacrifices himself to kill Salazar. Despite their differences, Jack mourns Barbossa's death. Later, Jack watches Will and Elizabeth's reunion before he departs, the Black Pearl and his compass once again in his possession.