Disney Inadvertently Gives Johnny Depp Huge Jack Sparrow Role

Disney makes Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean a reality by removing a famed director from the franchise.

Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the most recognized characters of all time. Thanks to Johnny Depp’s portrayal, the rogueish pirate has firmly cemented himself in the pop culture lexicon after appearing in all five of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Beginning in the early 2000s with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), the franchise has gone on to take over $4.5 billion across 14 years and is one of Disney’s most commercial properties.

While many love Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, the franchise is currently on ice after the lengthy litigation Depp was involved in surrounding his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard.

The pair, who met on the set of The Rum Diary (2011), married in 2015. A year later, Heard filed for divorce and issued a restraining order, citing physical and verbal abuse. What followed were years of domestic abuse allegations from both parties, a libel trial in London, United Kingdom, and a defamation suit in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States.

Depp lost the former, which he took out against British tabloid The Sun and parent company News Group Newspapers LTD, with Justice Andrew Nicol citing that most of the domestic abuse claims were “substantially true.” The lawsuit was launched following The Sun‘s use of the term “wife-beater” on its front page.

As a result of the loss at the London High Court, Depp was cast out of his role in the Hary Potter spinoff franchise, Fantastic Beasts, with his role being recast with Hannibal and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) actor Mads Mikkelsen.

It also left him out of the future Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Even after his more positive outcome in the U.S., where the jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages (which Judge Penney Azcarate lowered to $350,000 per Virginia state law) vs. Heard’s $2 million in compensatory damages, Depp is presumably never returning as his beloved Captain Jack Sparrow. He said during the six-week trial that he was disheartened never to have gotten to say goodbye to the character.

Depp is currently on tour with the Hollywood Vampires and recently starred in the Cannes Film Festival opener, Jeanne du Barry (2023), where he appears as controversial monarch King Louis XV. Meanwhile, Heard just launched her new film Into the Fire (2023) at the Taormina Film Fest and will reprise her role as Mera in the Aquaman (2018) sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) from director James Wan.

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean

While it feels like Depp may never return to Pirates even if Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer offered him a chance, there was once a time when he may never have starred as Captain Jack Sparrow at all.

Back in the 1990s, a script based on a popular Disneyland and Disney World attraction began gaining attention. From the creative minds of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the story caught the attention of famed director Steven Spielberg. The Jaws (1975) and Indiana Jones franchise director, however, wanted a far different version of Jack Sparrow than Disney wanted.

According to reports via FandomWire, Spielberg wanted someone like Robin Williams, Bill Murray, or Steve Martin to play the role. Ultimately, Disney would not buy into Spielberg’s vision, and the project was shelved. Then in the early 2000s, Jerry Bruckheimer resurrected the project and hired Gore Verbinski to direct. As options for the actor to play Jack Sparrow, including Michael Keaton, Christopher Walken, and Matthew McConaughey, floated around, Verbinski eventually suggested Johnny Depp.

As we know, the rest is history. Disney may have been cautious over Depp’s take on the character, but in the end, Jack Sparrow would go on to become one of the most celebrated fictional characters in film. It’s the reason so much discussion and debate has sprouted about his removal from the Pirates franchise in recent years.

After the potential Margot Robbie-led sixth movie ended up a non-starter, recent reports claim the door is still open for Depp, but only time will tell if the actor and studio can repair the damage done over the last few years.

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