The history of the creation of “Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

At the end of the 20th century, the pirate theme came under a severe ban in Hollywood. A screenwriter or director who dared to come to the producers with a “brilliant” idea for a film about corsairs and filibusters would first be whipped, and then tied to a cannon and eaten alive. And all because the pirate theme in cinema was haunted by an infernal curse: any film on a similar theme failed miserably at the box office to the hooting of critics and the gallery. “Cutthroat Island” is just that. And “Waterworld,” about pirates from a post-apocalyptic future, almost ruined Kevin Costner’s career.

Not only did the viewer not feel any enthusiasm for the theme of sea robbery and pirate romance, but also the process of filming a movie with water scenes was extremely labor-intensive, dangerous and consumed money with double appetite. For this reason, analysts predicted modest success for Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and considered it an almost hopeless gamble. Moreover, the director is not God knows what eminent, and the main star - Johnny Depp - at that time was not at all listed as a box office actor. The fact that the film was based on an attraction at Disneyland certainly did not inspire optimism, quite the contrary. The film's phenomenal triumph lifted the ancient Hollywood curse: it grossed $650 million, which in 2003 was considered very decent money in the film business.

Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland

Second bottle

"Pirates" became the very first movie to premiere at Disneyland. Not to say that all critics were delighted. Some wrote nasty things like “If you think the title of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is too long, then you haven’t seen the movie yet!” Many reviewers found the movie not funny and not very entertaining - in general, they drowned it as best they could. But their efforts were in vain: the movie broke through, became the third highest-grossing film of 2003 (after The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Finding Nemo), and overtook the second Matrix.

Surprisingly, it was only thanks to this film that Johnny Depp earned his first Oscar nomination. Then he was also nominated for his roles in the films “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “Magic Land,” but he never received a single statuette. I wonder what would have happened if Johnny Depp had insisted on his own: he wanted Jack Sparrow to have no nose, but to have a set of idiotic phobias - fear of pepper and colds, in particular. A cross between Michael Jackson and Woody Allen! Disney management rejected these rationalization proposals.

Third bottle

Australian film and theater veteran Geoffrey Rush also had very strange ideas on the set. He somehow convinced himself that audiences looked at a film the same way they read a book, that is, from left to right. For this reason, in those shots where someone colorful was next to him, Jeffrey always wanted to be on the left to be noticed. This was especially true for scenes that featured a monkey or Keira Knightley.

Fourth bottle

It is common knowledge that Depp's character as Jack Sparrow was inspired by watching Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. However, the motivation to introduce such an image into the film was not at all a stupid desire to make faces; Depp simply believed that pirates in their golden era were something like rock stars for ordinary people, and therefore they should be portrayed in a rock and roll manner.

Fifth bottle

All the main characters of the film are present in it as birds: the screenwriters gave them all feathered surnames. Jack, of course, Sparrow. The surname Elizabeth translated as Swan. And the name of Orlando Bloom's character - William Turner - by a strange coincidence belongs to an important English ornithologist, who in the 16th century published the first ever printed book about birds. By the way, for some reason Keira Knightley was sure that she would be fired almost immediately after filming began. For this reason, she practically didn’t even take things from home. When the film was released, Kira was only 18 years old. If she had been fired, there's a good chance Jessica Alba would have replaced her: she was on the list of top candidates for the role.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" is a film with a clearly expressed pirate aesthetic, worked out to the smallest detail. History of the film, interesting facts, review

May 25, 2017 is the release date for the new part of the fantasy saga “Pirates of the Caribbean” - “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, film 2017!

When the screen with this picture opens, it seems to me that the living ocean is opening in its entire width, I breathe deeply in the salty sea wind and just can’t get enough of it, I squint from the bright sun and I’m a little sorry that my face will burn and I’ll have to smear it with sour cream, I look forward to a joyful meeting with countries and exotic islands and wonder: will I return from this campaign or will I die in a boarding battle with the entire crew of our galliot.

Oh, this pirate romance: the eternal pursuit of luck, a game on the edge of life and death, risk, freedom and untold riches hidden in treasured chests.

Creaking masts and the wind pushing against the sails!

We recall the history of the creation of this absolute masterpiece, as well as interesting facts that happened on the set.

Pirates of the Caribbean: the history of the film, interesting facts

Usually films are made based on books, some kind of oral legends or stories, or, at worst, comic books. “Pirates” was created based on... the attraction of the same name at Disneyland.

It was he who inspired Theodore Rossio and Ted Elliott to write the script.

The creative duo rustled their feathers together and in 1995 the script was “issued to the world.” And, I must say, he clearly arrived at the wrong time.

It would be difficult to imagine a worse moment for such a scenario: the pirate film “Cutthroat Island” had just failed with a roar, and this failure instilled in the producers a strong immunity to the pirate theme.

For 15 (!) years, tireless screenwriters knocked on the thresholds of production centers, receiving their invariable turnaround, until at the dawn of the two thousandth Jerry Bruckheimer took on the project. Little did he know then that he had found his gold mine!

Interesting Facts:

1. "Pirates of the Caribbean" is the first film in history with an age limit of 13+.
2. The word “do you dare?”, often uttered by Jack Sparrow, is pure improvisation by Johnny Depp. It wasn't in the handwritten script.
3. The role of Will Turner could be played by Tobey Maguire, Jude Law, Christian Bale, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Masterson. They all passed screen tests. But the hero, according to the authors' plans, should have had softer and more romantic manners, and at the same time a more daring character. All these qualities were found in Orlando Bloom.
4. The mark on Sparrow’s hand in the form of the letter “P” is a real artifact: it was used in the seas and meant “pirate”, however, it was applied to the forehead of a captured filibuster. And after filming, Depp got Jack’s artificial tattoo of a sparrow against a sunset background for real: his son asked him about it.
5. Jim Carrey, Michael Keaton and Christopher Walken auditioned for the role of Jack Sparrow. True, the directors and screenwriters were able to discern the magical charm, spice and unique facial expressions only in Depp.
6. Johnny took over Jack Sparrow's mannerisms and his entire image from rocker Keith Richards. In the film he played the role of Father Sparrow.
7. Most of the location filming took place at sea. At the same time, there was no rest for the medical team on duty. The participants in the filming process were seasick, and they swallowed pills in batches.
8. The bright sun blinded the film crew. However, many of its participants were addicted to sunglasses, including Knightley and Depp.

For all such “lovers” of glasses, special contact lenses were invented.

1. Jack Sparrow's gold teeth are real. That is, real implants. Taking this opportunity, Depp made several teeth precious and wanted to “gild” the entire jaw, but the director cooled his ardor, saying that the shine could “extend the film.”
2. Penelope Cruz filmed while pregnant. In some scenes, her sister Monica replaces her.
3. The generous Depp bought overalls for the workers on the set: often the weather at sea was too fresh, and the crew was not prepared for it. 60 thousand dollars came out of Johnny's pocket for this matter.
4. Attentive viewers may have noticed that Captain Barbossa tends to appear on the left side of the frame. The answer is simple - actor Geoffrey Rush shares the theory that viewers, like readers, look first at the bottom left corner.
5. Johnny Depp had stunt doubles, but he performed some of the dangerous stunts himself.

The actor is confident that in difficult scenes the viewer needs to see the hero’s face, otherwise authenticity disappears. Moreover, no double is capable of conveying the original body language inherent in the actor.

1. The “On Stranger Tides” series took place in sunny Hawaii. In their free time, the actors went to the beach, including the girls playing mermaids. Members of the film crew had to literally raid them and place them under visors and umbrellas so as not to get sunburned.

Mermaids must have white skin.

15. Almost all the weapons that appear on the screen are real. And Sparrow’s pistol and sword are completely unique - they are authentic, pirated.

1. To date, the latest installment of On Stranger Tides has grossed over a billion dollars at the box office. Huge money even for Hollywood.

USA

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"(English) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl ) is an adventure film about pirates, set in the Caribbean in the first half of the 18th century. The idea to create the film was inspired by the attraction of the same name at Disneyland - the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park. Pirates was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. This is the first Walt Disney Pictures film to be rated PG-13 by the MPAA (Some material may be slightly inappropriate for children under 13).

Worldwide, Pirates grossed nearly $654 million, becoming the twenty-second highest-grossing film in the United States. Due to the success of the film, Walt Disney Pictures announced two sequels at once: “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End”. Later in 2011, the third sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, was released. In January 2012, it became known about Johnny Depp's contract for the fifth and sixth parts of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Plot

17th century A Royal Navy ship from Port Royal spots a pirate ship in the Caribbean. A girl named Elizabeth Swann - the governor's daughter - finds a boy her age - Will Turner - next to a ship in the ocean. When he is pulled on board, Elizabeth finds a pirate medallion on him, and takes it away so that the adults will not think that he is a pirate.

A few years later. Elizabeth and William grew up. Elizabeth still keeps the medallion and now decides to wear it. Will works as a blacksmith and has a passion for the governor's daughter, but at this time Commander James Norrington has already proposed to Elizabeth. Meanwhile, a young pirate, a charismatic adventurer, Captain Jack Sparrow arrives in Port Royal. When meeting with the guards, he explains that he intends to requisition the ship and recruit a crew in order to regain his old ship with black sails - the Black Pearl. He manages to board the Interceptor fast ship. But at this time, Elizabeth, who was walking with the commander, under the influence of her new dress, falls from the cliffs into the ocean from lack of air. Jack Sparrow notices this and rushes after her, pulling her on board and tearing her dress. The pirate medallion still on her turns out to be familiar to Jack. But at this time the commander finds him and orders his execution. While Elizabeth stands up for the pirate, he manages to escape.

Jack Sparrow is hiding at the blacksmith Will Turner. Will has been planning to stab some pirate for a long time and starts a fight with him. As a result, the pirate is taken to prison, and the death penalty is announced for him at dawn along with other pirates. At night, the Black Pearl sails into the port. On it are pirates led by Captain Hector Barbossa, who ten years ago rebelled against Jack Sparrow on this ship. Jack was resettled on a desert island with a sword and a pistol loaded with one cartridge. According to legend, he got out of there on sea turtles, and now intends to return the ship and teach Barbossa a lesson. Pirates, who have been visiting this port for a long time, attack the city. An accidental strike on the prison frees the prisoners - all except Jack, who senses his ship approaching. It turns out that the pirates arrived at the port for the medallion, but Elizabeth thought that they wanted to kidnap her. Therefore, she said that according to the pirate “code” she must be taken to the captain. Under Barbossa, she declares herself Elizabeth Turner. The pirates, having learned her surname, kidnap her and sail away.

The next morning, William notices his beloved has been kidnapped, but the commander refuses to go after her. Then William turns to Jack Sparrow and frees him. Jack, hearing his name, realizes that he is the son of William Turner, known as Bootstrap. Together they quietly move to the Interceptor and sail in pursuit of the Pearl - to the island of Isle de Muerte. Along the way, Jack reveals that Will's father is a pirate. Turner is indignant, but nothing can be done, you need to get to Tortuga proposed by Jack. In Tortuga, Jack meets his former boatswain, Joshamee Gibbs, and tells him that with the help of Will Turner they can return the ship and take revenge on Barbossa.

At this time, Barbossa is having dinner with Elizabeth. Meanwhile, he tells her the legend of Aztec gold, which was cursed by the gods many years ago. Among them is a medallion, one of the 663 gold plaques stolen by Barbossa's team from the chest. After that, they became immortal ghosts, and in the light of the moon, Elizabeth notices their appearance, even Barbossa's monkey became a ghost. They can't feel anything, they can't die. To regain life and death, they must return all the gold stolen from the chest and wash it with blood - the blood of every damned pirate. There wasn't enough blood from Bootstrap Turner. And since Elizabeth called herself under his last name, they took her with them.

Mr. Gibbs dialed the command to the Interceptor. Anna-Maria, from whom Jack had previously taken her brig without asking, becomes her captain. On the way, Gibbs tells Will the legend of Jack's imprisonment on the island. After being rescued, he keeps the pistol given to him with one bullet for Barbossa. At this time, the Black Pearl reached the designated location. And Jack too. He asks Will not to go ahead and wait for the right moment, but he disobeys. At the moment of Jack and Will's arrival, the pirates were performing a ceremony to return the stolen medallion - they sprinkled it with Elizabeth's blood and threw it into the chest along with the 662 plaques already there.

Due to Elizabeth's origin (she is not Bootstrap's daughter), the ritual has no force and does not free the pirates from the curse. Realizing this, Barbossa throws Elizabeth down the slide towards the water. Will swims out of the water and takes Elizabeth along with the “bloody” medallion. Barbossa notices the loss, and his team goes in search. At this time, Jack appears, having not fully recovered from the stun, and he is taken prisoner.

Elizabeth, already on the Interceptor, gave the medallion to Will. According to the law of the pirate code: “Do not wait for those who are lagging behind,” they sail away, but the Pearl, known as the fastest ship, catches up with them along with Jack in captivity. A battle ensues. Barbossa takes the medallion and takes the team prisoner. William demands that everyone be released, threatening suicide. If this happens, the pirates will remain damned forever. But Barbossa locks the team, and Elizabeth and Jack land on the island, the same one from which Jack got out last time, also giving one pistol with one bullet. On the island, Jack admits that he got out not with the help of the turtles, but with the smugglers on the ship. They had a stash of food and rum here, and by evening Jack and Elizabeth were having a lot of fun. But in the morning, Elizabeth burns all the rum in order to attract the attention of the royal fleet. Jack is angry with her, but soon notices the ship "Striking" from the Royal Navy. “Striking” saves Jack and Elizabeth, but Jack is still sentenced to execution. At Elizabeth's request, Jack is offered a deal - to show the way to Isla de Muerte.

Two ships sail to the island. Jack Sparrow proposes a plan to the commander: he will lure the opponents into the sea, and the Striking One will shoot them. No matter how Elizabeth tried to explain that they could not be killed, the governor’s people did not listen to her. Jack Sparrow sails to the island where Will's blood is about to be sacrificed to the gods and warns Barbossa about the approaching fleet, and that it is better to remove the spell later. Barbossa's team goes to the Striking to fight, and Jack fights Barbossa. Elizabeth, meanwhile, sails from the ship to the island and fights with the remaining people of Barbossa. Jack, using one of the plaques, himself became immortal. He throws the plaque to Will, who throws it and the blood into the chest. And Jack hits Barbossa with the treasured pistol. Barbossa's entire team on the Slashing notices that they have lost immortality and surrender to the authorities.

Everyone returns to Port Royal. Jack Sparrow, despite his help, is sentenced to hang again. When Jack is hanged, Will throws a sword at his feet, and Jack is saved. Elizabeth also goes over to Sparrow's side. Then Jack runs away, and the commander doesn’t particularly mind, giving him a day’s head start. Jack, having said goodbye to the young couple, sails to the docked Pearl. Anna Maria declares Jack her captain, and Barbossa's team returns to Jack Sparrow.

Post-credits scene

After the credits there is a short scene in which the action takes place in a cave on the Isle of the Dead. Barbossa's monkey, who remained on Isla de Muerte, sneaks up to a chest with golden plaques and steals one. In a ray of moonlight we see that the monkey again becomes cursed and immortal. For this reason, she is invulnerable in the following parts.

Cast

• Johnny Depp - Capt. Jack Sparrow- the main character, a pirate without a ship,
• Orlando Bloom - Will (William) Turner- son of Bill (Will, William) "Bootstrap" Turner, blacksmith's apprentice, childhood friend of Elizabeth Swann,
• Keira Knightley - Elizabeth Swann- daughter of Governor Swann, lover of Will Turner,
• Geoffrey Rush - Captain Barbossa- leader of the pirates on the Black Pearl, former comrade-in-arms and current enemy of Jack,
• Kevin McNally - Joshamee Gibbs, Jack's friend and first mate,
• Jack Davenport - Commander Norrington, a Royal Navy officer in love with Elizabeth, obsessed with the desire to destroy all pirates,
• Jonathan Price - Governor Swann, Governor of Port Royal, father of Elizabeth Swann,
• Mackenzie Crook - Ragetti, one-eyed pirate from Barbossa's gang,
• Lee Arenberg - Pintel, a bald pirate from Barbossa's gang,
• Martin Klebba - Marty, a midget sailor from Jack's crew,
• David Bailey - Cotton, Jack's helmsman, a mute pirate, it is unknown how he taught a parrot to speak coherently instead of himself,
• Zoe Saldana - Anna Maria, Jack's ex-girlfriend, whom Jack convinced to set sail by promising her a ship,
• Ralph P. Martin - Mr Brown, drunkard blacksmith, Will's master.

Criticism

Despite all the critics' assumptions, the film turned out to be very successful. Grossing $300 million in North America and $600 million in the rest of the world, the film became the 26th most successful film in the world. Critics admired Johnny Depp most for his role as Jack Sparrow.

The film received five Oscar nominations: Best Makeup, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Actor (Johnny Depp).

Data

• According to the DVD commentary by Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski, Governor Swann's name is Witherby, Commander Norrington's name is James, and Barbossa's name is Hector.
• According to the writers' commentary on the DVD, Will Turner is the best swordsman of all the characters in the film, followed by Barbossa and Commander Norrington. Jack Sparrow is the worst swordsman of the main characters.
• According to the DVD commentary, Geoffrey Rush developed a theory that people look at a screen from left to right in the same way as reading a book. Therefore, he tried to be on the left side of the screen as often as possible, especially in the episodes with the monkey and Keira Knightley, since otherwise, according to him, no one in the audience would have noticed him in these scenes.

Inaccuracies in the film

see also

• List of films about pirates

Notes

Links

• (English) on Rotten Tomatoes
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (English) on Metacritic
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki

Stories about the adventures of pirates captured the imagination of people in the 17th and 18th centuries. Even 300 years later, the stories of John Silver, Captain Hook and Jack Sparrow are still as popular as ever. But are these fictional characters really like real pirates?

Was the buried treasure actually marked with an "X" on the map, with a black flag with a skull and crossbones fluttering in the wind? Did Royal Navy officers and pirate leaders actually fight each other in mortal combat?

It turns out yes.

But in reality, the life of pirates was even more amazing than what you saw on the big screen.

I am a gentleman of luck and I will certainly catch it

Henry Avery was a sailor aboard a merchant ship and knew firsthand the hardships of life for ordinary sailors. The captains and owners of merchant ships treated the sailors very poorly. They were given meager rations, were deceived in the payment of their salaries, and were often fed spoiled food.

It couldn't go on like this. In 1694, Avery rallied other sailors around him, promising them freedom, wealth and glory. Having landed the captain and several of his supporters on a boat, the crew captured the ship and set out to sea under a pirate flag.

Soon they met a ship at sea belonging to the Indian emperor. On the ship the crew found a lot of gold, silver, jewelry and ivory. Avery caught his luck by the tail, and each member of his crew received at one time as much money as they would have received in 20 years of service on board a merchant ship.

Navies around the world were hunting for pirates, but Avery bribed the governor of the Bahamas, left him his ship and returned to Europe on a smaller ship.

Upon landing in Ireland, he said goodbye to the crew. Then his traces are lost in history, but there are many rumors and myths about his future fate.

The fate of pirates and the pirate flag

The authorities fought piracy in every possible way and spread news everywhere about the terrible fate that befell many pirates. The stories of the capture and execution of the pirates were full of grisly details. This was done specifically to intimidate people so that they would be discouraged from becoming pirates. It was also necessary to destroy the aura of romanticism that surrounded pirates. But some of these horror stories were far from exaggerated.

"Black Sam" Bellamy, for example, was a rising star in the world of Golden Age pirates. He called himself the "Robin Hood of the seas" and earned a reputation for invincibility. Already at the age of 26, he was the captain of his own ship and the most terrible man who terrified everyone who sailed in the waters washing North and South America.

In 1717, Bellamy was caught in a storm near Cape Cod. His ship drifted towards the shore and, hitting a sandbank, it capsized and sank with all the treasures on board. About 160 people died, including the captain. The newspaper of those days claimed that God was punishing him for becoming a pirate.

There is also the infamous story of Jack Rackham. As a pirate, Jack was quite unsuccessful. He was captured easily enough in 1720 and hanged. But a different fate awaited his flag. It is this flag with a skull and crossbones, the Jolly Roger, that everyone still knows as a symbol of piracy. The black flag with the attributes of death inspired horror, and many ships surrendered without a fight to the mercy of the pirates.

Female pirates

Rackham was also famous for having two women in his crew - Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the only known female pirates of that era.

Women on sailing ships of that time could simply be passengers, but female sailors were extremely rare, as there was a belief that a woman on a ship meant trouble.

Reed and Bonnie were also convicted of piracy and would, of course, be hanged. But knowing that pregnant women are not sent to the gallows, both women seduced the guards while they were in captivity and became pregnant, escaping the common fate of the crew.

Blackbeard

Edward Teach, nicknamed Blackbeard, was an English pirate who carried out robbery in the Caribbean in 1713-1718.

Blackbeard was not at all the most successful pirate, but he knew how to inspire terror with his menacing appearance alone. He wove wicks into his beard and during the battle he burst aboard the captured ship, literally in fire and smoke. At the sight of such a monster, many sailors gave up immediately.

Blackbeard died in a brutal duel with English naval lieutenant Robert Maynard.

There is a mystery associated with the name of Blackbeard - the disappearance of his ship's log, where the captain recorded all the important events - the names of the robbed ships and information about the captured treasures.

Who knows, maybe there was even a map in the magazine with an “X” marking it, indicating the place where the treasure was hidden.

But those who secretly took possession of the magazine are long dead, and dead men tell no tales.

Pirate films flourished in Hollywood throughout the first half of the 20th century. However, in the second half of the 1950s, this genre in the United States faded away and actually died. All serious attempts to revive him have turned out to be costly fiascos. Until finally, in 2003, the Walt Disney studio released a blockbuster, which became an international hit and the beginning of a popular film cycle. This exciting film was called “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.”

Pirates occupy an interesting place in European culture. On the one hand, these are obvious criminals. No one would want to sail on a ship that was attacked by sea bandits. On the other hand, during the heyday of piracy in America, pirates were often “privateers” - legal sea robbers who, under the auspices of Britain and other European states, robbed Spanish ships and colonies. Thus, for Britain, pirates were both villains and heroes, and among the English pirates there were both those who ended their lives on the gallows and those who were fully legalized and gained official honor and respect. At the same time, pirates were also a symbol of sea freedom - that complete freedom that many migrants were looking for in the New World. It's hard to find more controversial real-life characters!

In the 19th century, pirates, long disappeared from European and American everyday life, were even more romanticized than before, and such successful books as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and the novels of Rafael Sabatini made pirates the most popular literary characters. Cinema was quick to take advantage of this, and the first films about pirates began to appear in the early era of silent cinema. The genre's heyday came from the 1930s to the 1950s, when, for example, Australian-Hollywood actor Errol Flynn was primarily known for playing the roles of noble and romantic pirates.

It seemed that nothing would stop pirates from sharing the laurels of their adored characters with the heroes of westerns. But in the 1960s, Hollywood switched from historical narratives to stories about modern America, and pirate movies quickly died—much faster than the Westerns, which were more firmly integrated into American culture. Both genres have become stale, and their reliance on story has left them lacking the innovation to appeal to a new generation of viewers. From romantic robbers, pirates have turned into an old-fashioned joke.

Later, when Hollywood became less politicized and more entertaining in the 1980s, attempts were made to revive pirate films more than once. Thus, in 1986, Roman Polanski directed the $40 million blockbuster “Pirates,” and in 1995, Renny Harlin released the $98 million “Cutthroat Island.” These films, however, turned out to be artistically weak, and their distribution was simply disastrous. There were other similar fiascoes, and each of them convinced the major studios that only a madman would get involved with pirated movies. Or someone who is not afraid of losing money.

This, however, did not stop screenwriters who loved pirate films, wanted to revive the genre and came up with their own ways out of the situation. In 1992, Aladdin co-writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio proposed to Walt Disney Studios to make a pirate film that would be both an adventure film and a mystical story. The idea was based on a Disneyland attraction called Pirates of the Caribbean, where visitors were greeted at the start of the show by a talking skull and where "underground caves" were filled with animated skeletons of pirates. "Pirates" was the last part of Disneyland created with the personal participation of Walt Disney. Note that the 1929 short “Skeleton Dance” was Disney’s first musical cartoon, so the comical macabre was “native” for the studio.

Elliott and Rossio believed that audiences would be interested in an unpredictable pirate movie, in which supernatural events would provide an additional degree of plot freedom. For example, a traditional treasure for the genre can be made into a cursed Indian treasure that does something terrible and amazing to those who try to steal it. For example, it will turn pirates into living skeletons. The cursed gold was part of Pirates, and the writers wanted to develop this theme.

Then the Disney bosses refused to co-authors. “To film the attraction?! You're crazy! - they told the writers. But years passed, and in the early 2000s the studio decided that the attraction (or rather, based on its general concept and visual ideas) was really worth making a movie. Not to make a lot of money, but to cement the Pirates of the Caribbean brand in the movie and prevent anyone else from taking advantage of it. Nobody was going to spend huge sums of money at that time, and even the option of releasing a video film was explored.

Once Disney executives figured out what kind of story they wanted to tell, they brought in writer-producer Jay Wolpert, who wrote the 2002 Hollywood adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. Then we were talking about an ordinary, traditional pirate movie, which it was decided to shoot in the spirit of a “buddy movie” (that is, a comedy thriller about forced cooperating partners).

The script, which Wolpert wrote, was about a prison guard in love with the governor's daughter. When the famous pirate captain kidnapped a girl and demanded a ransom, the jailer released the villain's former comrade-in-arms to help find the pirates and save the beauty. Further events developed along the lines of such films as the 1982 thriller 48 Hours, where a policeman temporarily pulled a criminal out of prison to help him find the killer. Let us remember that this picture made Eddie Murphy a movie star.

Why was the pirate made the second main character, and not the first? Because the protagonist in this kind of Hollywood storytelling is usually a virtuous bore who serves as the moral compass of the film. On the contrary, the second main character does as he pleases and says whatever comes into his head. Let’s remember the duet from the same “48 Hours” or from “Rush Hour”. And since no one needs a boring pirate, the hero-pirate was assigned a second main role, in which he could show all his pirate habits and be as colorful and cynical as studio censorship and script imagination allowed.

After Wolpert, the Australian Stuart Beattie, the future screenwriter of Collateral and G.I., had a hand in the script. Joe: Rise of Cobra." Beatty was considered an expert on the pirate theme in Hollywood, although he had no screenplays about pirates. Among other things, Beatty came up with the idea of ​​naming the main characters after birds - the pirate Jack Sparrow, the governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann (swan means "swan") and the guard Will Turner (the surname comes from the French etourneau, "starling").

It was assumed that Sparrow would be played by Matthew McConaughey, who, on the set of the 2002 science fiction film “The Reign of Fire,” established himself as a capricious, patient and hardworking star, perfect for filming technically complex films. “Power” had not yet been released, but there were already rumors about working with McConaughey that were pleasant for the actor. However, other options were also explored, depending on the budget that the studio was willing to allocate. One of the candidates was Hugh Jackman, and it is said that it was in his honor that the pirate was named Jack.

When the studio began to lean towards the idea that the film was worth making not only for copyright reasons and that it was worth investing heavily in the expectation of impressive box office receipts, Disney asked for the help of a blockbuster expert - producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who had already produced such hits as like Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, The Rock, Armageddon and others. Bruckheimer knew a lot about masculine stories, but he also knew how pirate blockbusters consistently failed. Therefore, the producer refused to work on the film.

Luckily for the project, Disney had an ace up their sleeve. Remembering Elliott and Rossio's long-standing "pirate" script proposal, the studio turned to co-writers who had worked on The Mask of Zorro and Shrek since Aladdin, and invited them to submit their ideas for improving Wolpert and Beatty's script. Elliot and Rossio figured out how to incorporate an ancient curse and skeleton pirates into the script. What they proposed impressed both Disney and Bruckheimer, who continued to monitor the project. Supernatural events made it possible to make the picture more spectacular than previous, “realistic” pirate productions, and to distinguish it from other attempts to revive the genre. So Bruckheimer decided to try to succeed where his colleagues had failed.

The producer, however, had one condition. He wanted Jack Sparrow to be played not by the “obvious” McConaughey for such a role, but by someone whom the public does not imagine in such a movie and whose participation would intrigue viewers and journalists. Bruckheimer clearly understood that if the genre of a film is more of a commercial disadvantage than a commercial advantage, then it is necessary to lure the audience with unexpected casting.

Disney had an answer to this request as well. A year earlier, the eccentric and talented handsome Johnny Depp, the hero of Tim Burton's films and other famous films, often arthouse ones, asked the studio if it had a cartoon script that he could voice. Depp was then a young father (his daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp was born in 1999), and he wanted to give his daughter a gift - a full-length Disney cartoon with her father's voice. Disney didn’t have anything suitable in mind, but contact was established with the actor, and when Bruckheimer set his condition, Disney asked Depp if he wanted to play a pirate in a teen blockbuster.

Depp wanted it. I really wanted to. This was no longer for his daughter - it was for himself. He loved the old pirate movies so much that he agreed to act as soon as he heard that he could play a pirate and wave a sword. He didn't even read the script! However, when Depp read the script, his determination only strengthened, because he realized that he was being offered a multifaceted role in which he could really have a blast. While the main character, although he turned from a security guard into a blacksmith as the script was reworked, he remained a bore.

Jack Sparrow was originally conceived as a colorful pirate, but Depp squared his eccentricity, if not cubed it. The actor reasoned that during the pirate era in the Caribbean, famous pirates behaved much like modern rock stars, and he based his interpretation on the character of Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones. Richards later played Jack's father in the second sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Jack turned out to be so unique that Disney bosses were shocked by what they saw during rehearsals. “Is he gay or always drunk?” – the producers asked indignantly about the character. Depp, however, insisted on his vision, and Bruckheimer supported him. Depp was invited to make the film unusual and intriguing, and Jack turned out to be a fascinating character. Besides, he didn't have to be "normal" since that was Will's job.

Meanwhile, the film acquired a director. The director of “Pirates of the Caribbean” was Gore Verbinski, whom Bruckheimer looked closely at even when he was shooting video clips and commercials. The producer liked Verbinski's visual ideas. Then Bruckheimer did not find a suitable project for the aspiring director, but he was able to come to an agreement with him when Verbinski completed filming the horror film “The Ring,” a remake of the Japanese film of the same name. Like Depp, the director was a big fan of old pirate movies, and after The Ring, he also knew a lot about supernatural stories. Therefore, he was fascinated by the opportunity to make a mystical pirate movie and use all the power of the latest special effects in it.

Verbinski cast Australian Geoffrey Rush, an Oscar winner for the 1996 biopic Glitter, to play the film's main villain, pirate captain Hector Barbossa, who kidnaps Elizabeth in the hopes that she will help break the treasure curse placed on Barbossa and his crew. The director felt that this was a role for not only a charismatic, but also a talented performer who would make Barbossa a controversial and interesting villain.

Rush did not come to the project empty-handed. He brought with him the actor who plays Will Turner. Rush was simultaneously filming the Australian historical film “The Kelly Gang,” and he offered to read the “Pirates” script to his on-screen partner Orlando Bloom, who became famous as Legolas in “The Lord of the Rings.” The Englishman was not happy that all his Pirates colleagues had brighter images than him, but he consoled himself with the fact that he was playing the actual protagonist.

Bloom's compatriot Keira Knightley received the role of the governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann thanks to casting. Verbinski had not seen the English film Bend It Like Beckham, which made Knightley a star in her homeland, but he still saw in the 17-year-old a superb modern heroine - both attractive and athletic. Unlike traditional pirate movie heroines, Elizabeth was not a helpless damsel in distress, and the film needed a beauty who would look convincing in both a dress and a gun.

The film also stars the Englishmen Jack Davenport and Kevin McNally, the Welsh actor Jonathan Price and the future “ethnic” science fiction film star Zoe Saldana, a US native with Latin American and Lebanese roots. They played, respectively, the British naval officer and official fiancé of the heroine James Norrington, Jack Sparrow's first mate Joshamee Gibbs, Governor Weatherby Swann (Elizabeth's father) and the pirate Anamaria. Unlike her colleagues, Saldana refused to appear in the sequels of the film because she did not like how she was treated on the set of “Pirates.”

The actors of the film did not just follow the director’s instructions. They actively participated in developing their characters and coming up with their own lines and jokes. Rush was especially zealous, enjoying unquestioned authority and proving more than once that he could reduce an unnecessarily long script line to one expressive gesture or eyebrow movement.

While the Pirates crew was preparing for filming, in July 2002, the children's musical film Country Bears, based on a Disneyland park attraction called Country Bear Jamboree, was released and completely failed. This put Pirates in jeopardy, as Disney's top brass doubted they would spend the $140 million allocated for the film. However, they were impressed by the design work Verbinski already had, and Bruckheimer convinced Disney that the studio had to spend heavily to keep up with the competition. In any case, comparing "Bears" with "Pirates" was incorrect, since they were completely different films for different audiences.

Although "Pirates" was a fantasy with little connection to actual historical events, the filmmakers consulted experts on the history of piracy, navigation and the Caribbean to give the film a touch of verisimilitude. However, as usual in such cases, a significant part of the consultations consisted of experts explaining why what is described and shown in the film is completely impossible.

Among the film's consultants were experts on classic pirate films. In particular, the legendary Bob Anderson, a British fencer who represented his country at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, participated in the training of those actors who were to fence in the frame. Anderson then became a prominent Hollywood fencing coach and stage director. At the beginning of his career, he trained the master of the pirate genre Errol Flynn, and later worked on Star Wars, Highlander, The Princess Bride, The Lord of the Rings and many other films.

Filming for “Pirates” began in October 2002 and ended in March 2003. Studio filming took place at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, where, among other things, a giant underground cave set containing pirate treasure was built. By the way, as consultants explained to the filmmakers, in reality there were no such storage facilities - the pirates quickly spent everything they managed to loot, since their lives were too short and dangerous to save for retirement. So pirate treasures are just idle myths. But myths are myths, and the “bank” cave was needed according to the scenario, and 100 builders worked on it for five months. For another three weeks, the scenery was filled with imitations of treasures, among which was a million “Spanish doubloons.” The decorators had to contract a company that specialized in producing imitations of ancient coins.

Early location shooting of the film took place on the California coast, where the producers managed to find places from where signs of modern civilization, such as high-rise buildings and power lines, were not visible. The scenery of the fortress of Port Royal (the largest city in the Caribbean during the heyday of piracy) and the palace of Governor Swann were built there.

When, during preparation for filming, the creators of the film thought about where they would film the Caribbean tropics, they looked first at California, and then at Australia and Thailand. However, in the end they decided that the Caribbean should be filmed in the Caribbean, since each tropical region has its own unique appearance and the imitation will be visible to the audience who happened to travel. So, after closely studying about 20 Caribbean islands, the group chose the island of St. Vincent, part of the state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Historically, this is a banana land, not a tourist one, and the producers found enough coastal space to build sets of the ancient piers and towns of Port Royal and Tortuga (Tortuga Island was the unofficial pirate capital of the Caribbean islands).

Filming of sea scenes took place off the coast of St. Vincent and off the coast of California. Basically, three ships took part in them. According to the scenario, this is the pirate galleon "Black Pearl" (Jack Sparrow's former ship and Barbossa's current ship), the powerful British warship "Dauntless" and the high-speed clipper "Interceptor", which the heroes steal to go on the trail of the pirates who kidnapped Elizabeth. The Black Pearl and the Undaunted were ship sets built on modern barges. They were moved using tugboats, which were then cut out of the frame using computer graphics. The same technology was used to turn floating sets into full-fledged vessels.

The Interceptor was a slightly modified real-life sailing ship, the Lady Washington, for the filmmakers' needs - a copy of the first American ship that reached the northwest coast of what is now the United States, and then reached Hawaii, Hong Kong and Japan. Lady Washington serves as an open-air museum and is based in Washington State. The brig arrived in the Caribbean under its own power with an intermediate stop for repairs in Colombia (the ship was damaged by a strong storm). Navigating such a ship requires special training and skill, so the crew of the Lady Washington starred in Pirates as extras. Since there were women on the ship’s crew, and they were not supposed to be on the screen, the “sea wolves” had to disguise themselves as men and wear fake beards and mustaches.

In general, a lot of attention was paid to the makeup and costumes of the pirates. Verbinski deliberately abandoned pirates with eye patches and hooks instead of hands, since this cliche of pirate cinema had long ago become comical and “childish”. The costume designers were inspired by real-life outfits that pirates might wear, and the makeup artists were responsible for making the pirates look like they had never brushed their teeth or washed themselves. The director wanted the characters in the film to have an air of “rebellion” against social norms. Depp put four crowns made of precious metals on his teeth to emphasize his character's former high status in the pirate hierarchy. All the leading actors, except Orlando Bloom, wore wigs typical of European fashion of the pirate era. The weapons they carried were partly fake and partly genuine, bought at auctions. So, Jack Sparrow's sword was a real weapon of the 18th century.

Contrary to Hollywood's current love of computer graphics, there was relatively little of it in Pirates. It was mainly used to remove signs of the modern world from the screen and visually complement the scenery. The film's main CGI effect was the skeleton pirates. The ILM studio involved in creating the corresponding scenes completely scanned each of the actors who were to turn into a skeleton, and based on these scans created computer “skeletal” models, each of which was unique and recognizable. It was important for Verbinski that the pirates, after turning into skeletons, did not merge into a homogeneous crowd.

Filming fight scenes involving skeletons was particularly difficult, as the actors had to chop the air and do it the same way in every take so that editors and computer technicians could then assemble the scene from separately filmed and drawn components. Since filming wrapped just four months before its scheduled release, post-production was done almost around the clock, with Verbinski spending 18 hours a day in the studio.

For the same reason, 15 composers worked on the film. They were led by Germans working in Hollywood, Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt. Verbinski hoped to be able to work with his regular collaborator Alan Silvestri, but Bruckheimer decided that the team of Zimmer and Badelt, with whom he had already collaborated, would cope faster and with a better result. Time was running out - the film had to be released during the summer blockbuster season.

The resulting movie became the first Disney release to be rated PG-13. The studio had hoped for a PG rating, but felt it was better to attract older audiences to the movie than to focus on the safety of the film for children and release a toothless "semolina" that would attract only young children. To demonstrate their confidence in the project, Disney added the words “Curse of the Black Pearl” to the title “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Like, this is only the first episode of the planned cycle. Verbinski was unhappy with this decision, since the treasure in the film is cursed, not the pirate ship. Therefore, the director insisted that the additional title be printed on the posters in small, barely readable font.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released on July 9, 2003. The release was accompanied by a strong advertising campaign, and many observers wondered how much the studio would lose on the “doomed pirate movie.” However, "Pirates" exceeded all expectations. The film debuted in first place at the weekend box office and ultimately grossed $654 million against a budget of $140 million. This made it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2003 worldwide and the third highest-grossing film in the United States. Only The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo and The Matrix Reloaded showed the best results, while, for example, X-Men 2 and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines lost the race to Pirates.