Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
A 2003 adventure film, inspired by a theme park ride of the same name at Disney theme parks around the world. The film concerns Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) as they rescue Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from the clutches of the cursed crew of the Black Pearl, captained by Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).
The film was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by
Jerry Bruckheimer, and becamea first Walt Disney Pictures release to earn PG-13
rating by the MPAA. The world premiere was held at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim,
California, on June 28, 2003. The Curse of the Black Pearl grossed $654 million
worldwide, becoming the 22nd highest grossing film in the US. Two back to back
sequels, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, were released.
Directed
by Gore Verbinski
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by Story:
Ted
Elliott
Terry Rossio
Stuart Beattie
Jay Wolpert
Screenplay:
Ted
Elliott
Terry Rossio
Starring Johnny Depp
Geoffrey Rush
Orlando Bloom
Keira
Knightley
Jack Davenport
and
Jonathan Pryce
Music by Klaus Badelt
Hans
Zimmer
(Uncredited)
Cinematography Dariusz Wolski
Info
and Spoiler
As Governor Weatherby Swann and his 12 year old daughter,
Elizabeth, sail to Port Royal, Jamaica, their ship, HMS Dauntless encounters a
shipwreck with a sole survivor, the young Will Turner. Elizabeth finds and takes
a gold skull medallion from the unconscious Will's neck and hides it, fearing
he will be accused of piracy. She then sees the ghostly Black Pearl. Eight years
later, Captain James Norrington of the British Royal Navy is promoted to Commodore.
At his ceremony, he proposes to Elizabeth, but before answering, she tumbles in
the bay. The skull medallion she is wearing emits a mysterious pulse through the
water. Meanwhile, pirate Captain Jack Sparrow has arrived in Port Royal to commandeer
a ship. Seeing Elizabeth fall, he rescues her, but is promptly arrested for piracy.
He escapes and ducks into a blacksmith shop where he encounters Will Turner, now
a blacksmith's apprentice and self taught expert swordsman. Following a swordfight
with Turner, Sparrow is knocked unconscious and jailed. That night, Port Royal
is besieged by the Black Pearl, having been called by the mysterious pulse from
Elizabeth's medallion. Elizabeth is captured and invokes parley— an agreement
ensuring one's safety until meeting and negotiating with a opposing side. To protect
her identity, Elizabeth tells Captain Hector Barbossa her last name is Turner.
She negotiates for the pirates to cease the attack on Port Royal in exchange for
the medallion. Barbossa agrees, but employing a loophole in their agreement, he
keeps Elizabeth prisoner, believing she is key to breaking an ancient curse they
are under.
Jack and Will prepare to command the Interceptor.Unable
to persuade Commodore Norrington to take immediate action, Will, who is in love
with Elizabeth, persuades Jack Sparrow to help him rescue Elizabeth in exchange
for freeing him from jail. Jack agrees only after learning Will's last name. After
hijacking HMS Interceptor Jack and Will recruit a crew in Tortuga with help from
Jack's friend, Gibbs. They set sail for Isla de Muerta, a mysterious island Jack
knows the pirates will go to break the curse. While sailing their route, Will
learns the Black Pearl was formerly commanded by Sparrow. When Jack shares the
bearings to a hidden chest of Aztec gold coins, First Mate Barbossa instigates
a mutiny and maroons Jack on an island. Jack escapes three days later. The pirates
find and spend the treasure but soon learn it is cursed, rendering them into immortal
skeletal beings whose true forms are only revealed in moonlight. The curse can
only be lifted when every coin and each pirate's blood is returned to the chest.
Bootstrap Bill Turner sends a coin to his son, William, believing the crew should
remain cursed for what they did to Jack. Barbossa then orders Bootstrap tied to
a cannon and thrown overboard only to realize later his blood is also needed to
break the curse; a Turner kin must now take his place. Believing Elizabeth is
Bootstrap's child, Barbossa poises her over the Aztec chest, anoints the last
coin with her blood and drops it into the chest, unsurprisingly, the curse remains
in effect.
On the island, Will suspects Sparrow may betray him and
knocks him out. He rescues Elizabeth, and they escape to the Interceptor. Jack
barters with Barbossa, in exchange for revealing Bootstrap's real child, he wants
to captain the Black Pearl. Jack's negotiations come to naught, when the Pearl
pursues the Interceptor, sinking her and taking the crew captive. Will reveals
that he is Bootstrap Bill's true offspring and demands that Elizabeth and the
crew be freed. Otherwise, he threatens to shoot himself and fall overboard, lost
forever. Barbossa agrees but craftily applies another loophole and strands Elizabeth
and Jack on a deserted island (the same island Jack was marooned on ten years
before) and throws Jack's crew to the brig. Will is taken back to Isla de Muerta
for the ritual.
Elizabeth burns a cache of abandoned rum to create a signal fire that is spotted by Norrington. She convinces Norrington to rescue Will by accepting a earlier marriage proposal. Arriving at the island, Norrington sets an ambush outside the cave while Jack goes inside and persuades Barbossa to form an alliance. He tells him to delay breaking the curse until after they have taken the Dauntless and killed the crew. Jack then sneaks a coin from the chest, rendering himself immortal. But whatever Jack's actual intent is, his plan goes awry when Barbossa orders his crew to infiltrate the Dauntless from underwater. Jack's true allegiance is revealed when he attacks and then shoots Barbossa. Jack tosses his bloodied coin to Will, who returns the last two medallions to the chest, breaking the curse. No longer immortal, the fatally wounded Barbossa falls dead. Realizing they are no longer cursed, the now mortal pirates surrender to the navy. Back in Port Royal, Jack is about to be executed. Believing Jack deserves to live, Will rescues him. Both are quickly captured, but Elizabeth lends her support and declares her love for Will. Norrington releases her from their engagement, and Will is pardoned. Meanwhile, Jack escapes by falling into the bay. His crew, who escaped with the Black Pearl, rescue him. Norrington is impressed enough to allow him one day's head start before giving pursuit.
After the credits roll the film shows a clip where Barbossa's monkey goes to the cursed treasure and takes a piece, making him cursed again.
Cast
Johnny Depp as Captain
Jack Sparrow: An eccentric pirate noted for slightly drunken swagger, accompanied
by slurred speech and awkwardly flailing hand gestures. His obsession for rum
is only matched by a obsession with regaining the Black Pearl, which he captained
ten years before. Jack uses his wits rather than weapons, and has gained a reputation
with made up stories.
Orlando Bloom as Will Turner: A blacksmith's apprentice
working in Port Royal, he is in love with Elizabeth Swann. Will struggles with
a fact his father, "Bootstrap" Bill, was a pirate, unable to reconcile
that he was a good man too.
Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann: The daughter
of Governor Weatherby Swann, Elizabeth has been fascinated with pirates since
childhood. During the Black Pearl's attack on Port Royal, she gives her name as
Turner and is mistaken for "Bootstrap" Bill's child. She also is in
love with Will Turner.
Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa: The captain of the
Black Pearl, he was Jack Sparrow's first mate before he led a mutiny ten years
before, having become annoyed with Jack's non violent methods. He stole Aztec
gold, and he and his crew are cursed to walk the Earth as undead skeletons unless
they can return all the gold coins and pay a blood debt: complicated by the fact
that they drowned one of their crew, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner. He also
has a love of green apples.
Jack Davenport as Commodore Norrington: A officer
in the Royal Navy who is in love with Elizabeth, and also has a deep-seated hatred
for pirates. He considers Jack Sparrow to be, "the worst pirate I have ever
heard of."
Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann: Governor of Port
Royal, Jamaica and father of Elizabeth Swann.
Lee Arenberg as Pintel: A cursed
pirate aboard Black Pearl.
Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti: A pirate aboard Black
Pearl, Pintel's buddy, with a wooden eye.
Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs:
Jack Sparrow's friend, he was once a sailor for the Royal Navy.
Zoë Saldaña
as Anamaria: A woman who lent Sparrow her boat, and is furious at him for not
returning it. He promises her the Interceptor.
Development
During the
early 1990s, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio began to think of a supernatural
spin on the pirate genre, having been inspired by the opening narration of the
Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride. Meanwhile, Disney had Jay Wolpert write
a script based on the ride, which producer Jerry Bruckheimer rejected, feeling
it was, a straight pirate movie. Beattie was brought in to rewrite the script
in March 2002, due to a knowledge of piracy, and later that month Elliott and
Rossio were brought in, entertaining Bruckheimer with the notion of cursed pirates.
As the budget rose, Michael Eisner and Bob Iger threatened to cancel the film,
though Bruckheimer changed their minds when he showed them concept art and animatics.
In May 2002 Gore Verbinski signed on to direct Pirates of the Caribbean, and Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush signed on the following month to star. Verbinski was attracted to the idea of using modern technology to resurrect a genre that had disappeared after the Golden Age of Hollywood, and recalled his childhood memories of the ride, feeling the film was an opportunity to tribute the scary and funny tone of it. Depp was attracted to the story as he found it quirky: rather than trying to find treasure, the crew of the Black Pearl were trying to return it in order to lift their curse, and a traditional mutiny already taken place. Verbinski approached Rush for Barbossa, as he knew he would not play it with attempts at complexity, but with a simple villainy that suited the story's tone. Orlando Bloom read the script after Rush, whom he was working with on Ned Kelly, suggested it to him. Keira Knightley came as a surprise to Verbinski: he had not seen her performance in Bend It Like Beckham and was impressed by her audition. Tom Wilkinson was negotiated with to play Governor Swann, but the role went to Jonathan Pryce, whom Depp idolized.
Initially Jack Sparrow was, according to Bruckheimer, a young Burt Lancaster, just the cocky pirate. At the first read through, Depp surprised the rest of the cast and crew by portraying the character in an off kilter manner. After researching 18th century pirates, Depp compared them to modern rock stars and decided to base his performance on Keith Richards. Although Verbinski and Bruckheimer had confidence in Depp, partly because it would be Bloom who was playing the traditional Errol Flynn-type, Disney executives were confused, asking Depp whether the character was drunk or gay, and Michael Eisner even proclaimed while watching rushes, "He's ruining the film!" Depp answered back, "Look, these are the choices I made. You know my work. So either trust me or give me the boot."
Design
Verbinski did not want a entirely
romanticized feel to the film: he wanted a sense of historical fantasy. Most of
the actors wore prosthetics and contact lenses. Depp had contacts that acted as
sunglasses, while Rush and Lee Arenberg wore dulled contacts that gave a sinister
feel to the characters. Mackenzie Crook wore two contacts to represent his character's
wooden eye: a soft version, and a harder version for when it protrudes. In addition,
their rotten teeth and scurvy skin were dyed on, although Depp did have gold teeth
added, which he forgot to remove after filming. The crew spent five months creating
a cavern in which Barbossa and the Black Pearl crew attempt to reverse their curse,
filling it with five feet of water, eight hundred and eighty two Aztec coins and
some gold paint on the styrofoam rocks for more impressions of treasure. The crew
also built the fortress at Port Royal in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and
Governor Swann's palace was built at Manhattan Beach. A fire broke in September
2002, causing $525,000 worth of damage, though no one was injured.
The filmmakers chose St. Vincent as their primary shooting location, as it was the most quiet beach they could find, and built three piers and a backlot for Port Royal and Tortuga. Of most importance to the film were the three ships: the Black Pearl, the Dauntless and the Interceptor. For budget reasons, the ships were built on docks, with only six days spent in the open sea for the battle between the Black Pearl and the Interceptor. The Dauntless and the Black Pearl were built on barges, with computer-generated imagery finishing the structures. The Black Pearl was also built on the Spruce Goose stage, in order to control fog and lighting. The Interceptor was a replica of the Lady Washington, fully repainted before going on a 40 day voyage beginning December 2, 2002, arriving on location on January 12, 2003. A miniature was also built for the storm sequence.
Production
Shooting
began on October 9, 2002 and wrapped by March 2003.[4] The quick shoot was only
marred by two accidents: as Jack Sparrow steals the Interceptor, three of the
ropes attaching it to the Dauntless did not break at first, and when it did snap
debris hit Depp's knee, though he was not injured, and the way the incident played
out on film made it look like Sparrow merely ducks. A more humourous accident
was when the boat Sparrow was supposed to arrive in at Port Royal sank. In October
the crew was shooting scenes at Rancho Palos Verdes, by December they were shooting
at St. Vincent and in January they were at the cavern set at Los Angeles. The
script often changed with Elliott and Rossio on set, with additions such as Gibbs
(Kevin McNally) telling Will of how Sparrow escaped from an island, strapping
two turtles together with rope made of his back hair, and Pryce was written into
the climactic battle to keep empathy for the audience.
Due to a quick schedule of the shoot, Industrial Light & Magic immediately began visual effects work. Whilst the skeletal forms of the pirates revealed by moonlight take up relatively little screentime, the crew knew their computer-generated forms had to convince in terms of replicating performances and characteristics of the actors, or else the transistion would not work. Each scene featuring them was shot twice: a reference plate with the actors, and then without them to add in the skeletons, an ethic complicated by Verbinski's decision to shoot the battles with handheld cameras. The actors also had to perform their scenes again on motion capture stage. With the shoot only wrapping four months before release, Verbinski spent eighteen hour days on the edit, while at the same time spending time on six hundred effects shots, two hundred and fifty of which were merely removing modern sailboats from shots. He also had to quickly manage the score with Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer, who headed 15 composers to finish the score quickly.
Reception
Before
its release, many had expected Pirates of the Caribbean to be a flop, as the pirate
genre had not been successful for years, with Cutthroat Island (1995) a notable
flop, that the film was based on a theme park ride, and that Johnny Depp rarely
made a big film. Walt Disney Pictures also took a big risk in allowing it to be
the first PG 13 rated film by the studio, with one executive noting that she found
the film too intense for her five-year old child. Nonetheless, the studio was
confident enough to add The Curse of the Black Pearl subtitle to the film in case
sequels were made. Their confidence paid off: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse
of the Black Pearl grossed approximately $47 million in its US opening weekend,
before grossing $305 million domestically in a worldwide total of approximately
$654 million, becoming the fourth highest grossing film of 2003.
Johnny Depp was nominated at the 76th Academy Awards for his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow, though he lost the award to Sean Penn in Mystic River. The Curse of the Black Pearl was also nominated for Achievement in Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects, but did not win in any of those categories. At the Golden Globes, The Curse of the Black Pearl was nominated for acting (Depp), but lost to Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. Johnny Depp won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for a performance as Jack Sparrow.
Home release
The DVD for the film
was released five months after the theatrical release, December 2, 2003. A UMD
release of the film followed in 2005. The high-definition Blu-ray Disc version
of the film was released on May 22, 2007.
This movie was
also among the first to be sold at the iTunes music store. It was ranked the number
one movie download upon its release.
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