JACK SPARROW SERIES

He doesn’t have the obligations of the plot in the same ways that the other characters have.” Image: Walt Disney Pictures He’s the spice and you need a lot of straight men The first film was a movie, and then Jack was put into it almost.

“You don’t want just the Jack Sparrow movie,” said Verbinski.

JACK SPARROW SERIES

This was something that Verbinski felt was absolutely necessary for the series to work. No matter how much screen time he had, the story was still someone else’s. Most importantly, throughout all three movies, Sparrow never became the main character. But thanks to Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy, two of the best character actors alive, the charisma of Keira Knightley, the pretty face of Orlando Bloom, and the distinctly strange and specific stylings of director Gore Verbinski, Jack Sparrow was mostly kept in check. Suddenly, we weren’t being toured through a pirate-themed circus world by a likeable outsider, we were being guided by the head clown himself. In the sequels, the series made room alongside the romantic swashbuckling of Will and Elizabeth for the outsized grandeur and complete ridiculousness of Sparrow himself. By the time work began on the back-to-back sequels, it was already clear that Jack was going to serve a more central role in Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End.Įlizabeth Swann one-upped Luke Skywalker The Pirates of the Caribbean sequels unleashed a true blockbuster auteur Even the franchise that spawned him wasn’t immune to the charms, and the lucrative profits, of the Jack Sparrow wave. From his own performances in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to Sweeney Todd to Alice in Wonderland, to Mortdecai, to Into the Woods, to The Lone Ranger, it all felt like variations on a Jack Sparrow theme. In no career was this trend more evident than Depp’s own. The effects of the character’s popularity were almost immediate.Īll of blockbuster output - from Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes reboot to the anarchy of Heath Ledger’s Joker - seemed tinged with Depp’s now-signature strangeness. In the years after Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow became the poster boy for new Pirates movies and a pop culture idol. With his drunken sword fights, half-baked antics that always seem to work, and his lovable roguishness, he’s the real swashbuckling pirate in the franchise, which is exactly what made him the standout favorite for both audience and critics.

Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann may have been the heart of the blockbuster, but Depp’s Jack Sparrow had all the fun. But even with his extra screen time, he was never really integral to the plot, so the ploy worked. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl took a gamble: Jack Sparrow, the kind of wacky supporting character who might command eight-or-so memorable minutes of screentime, was one of the stars. Grab your cutlass and hoist the colors: here be Polygon’s take on all things PotC. With the Pirates of the Caribbean movies more accessible than ever, and a summer season void of blockbusters, this month we’re diving deep into Disney’s swashbuckling series.

Jack sparrow