Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Directed by	Gore Verbinski
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenplay by	Ted Elliott Terry Rossio
Story by	Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Stuart Beattie Jay Wolpert
Starring	Johnny Depp Orlando Bloom Keira Knightley Geoffrey Rush Jack Davenport Jonathan Pryce
Music by	Klaus Badelt
Cinematography	Dariusz Wolski
Editing by	Stephen E. Rivkin Arthur Schmidt Craig Wood
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s)	July 9, 2003 (2003-07-09)
Running time	143 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$140 million
Gross revenue	$654,264,015[1]
Followed by	Dead Man's Chest

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 adventure fantasy film, based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. The story follows blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as they rescue the kidnapped Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from 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 is the first Walt Disney Pictures film to be rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Jay Wolpert developed a script based on the theme park ride in 2001 and Stuart Beattie rewrote it in early 2002. Around that time, producer Jerry Bruckheimer became involved in the project; he had Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio work on the script, adding the supernatural curse to the storyline. Filming took place from October 2002 to March 2003 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and on sets constructed around Los Angeles, California.

The world premiere was held at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, on June 28, 2003. The Curse of the Black Pearl was an unexpected success, with positive reviews and grossing over $653 million worldwide. The film became the first in a series, with two back-to-back sequels, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, released in 2006 and 2007. There is an upcoming sequel, On Stranger Tides, set for release in 2011. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Depp.

Plot

As Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce) and his 12-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, sail to Port Royal, Jamaica, their vessel encounters a shipwreck with a sole survivor, the young Will Turner. Elizabeth hides a gold medallion that the unconscious Will is wearing, fearing he would be accused of piracy. She glimpses a ghostly pirate ship, the Black Pearl.

Eight years later, Captain James Norrington (Jack Davenport) of the Royal Navy is promoted to Commodore. He proposes to Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). Before she can answer, her over-tightened corset causes her to faint and fall into the bay. The medallion she is wearing emits a pulse.

Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) arrives in Port Royal to commandeer a ship. He rescues Elizabeth, but Norrington recognizes Jack as a pirate and arrests him. Jack threatens Elizabeth in order to escape and ducks into a blacksmith shop, encountering Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), now a blacksmith's apprentice. Jack is knocked unconscious and jailed, to be hanged the next day. That night Port Royal is besieged by the Pearl, answering the medallion's pulse. Elizabeth is captured and invokes parley. Not wishing to reveal that she is the governor's daughter, Elizabeth tells Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) her surname is Turner. She negotiates for the pirates to stop attacking Port Royal in exchange for the medallion. Barbossa agrees but exploits a loophole to keep Elizabeth prisoner, believing she is the key to breaking a curse they are under.

When Norrington refuses to take immediate action, Will, who loves Elizabeth, persuades Jack to help him rescue her in exchange for freeing him. Jack agrees after learning Will's surname is Turner, believing he can use Will to reclaim the Pearl. Will and Jack commandeer the HMS Interceptor and recruit a crew in Tortuga with help from Jack's old friend, Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally). They set sail for Isla de Muerta, as Jack knows the pirates will go there to break the curse.

Will learns Jack was once captain of the Pearl, but when he shared the bearings to a chest of Aztec gold, First Mate Barbossa mutinied and marooned him. Jack escaped three days later. The pirates spent the treasure but learned it was cursed—turning them into skeletal beings whose true forms are revealed in moonlight. The curse can be lifted if the coins and each pirate's blood is returned to the chest. William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, Jack's only supporter, sent a coin to his son, Will, believing the crew should remain cursed. Barbossa had Bootstrap tied to a cannon and thrown overboard only to learn his blood was needed to break the curse; a Turner relative must take his place.

At Isla de Muerta, Barbossa, believing Elizabeth is Bootstrap's child, anoints the last coin with her blood and drops it into the chest— the curse remains unbroken. After reaching the island, Will suspects Sparrow may betray him and knocks him out. He rescues Elizabeth and they escape to the Interceptor leaving Jack behind. Jack barters with Barbossa—he will reveal Bootstrap Bill's child in exchange for the Pearl. Jack's negotiations come to naught when the Pearl pursues the Interceptor, and a battle ensues. Barbossa's crew is victorious, sinking the Interceptor and imprisoning the crew. Will reveals he is Bootstrap Bill's son and demands that Elizabeth and the crew be freed, or he will shoot himself and fall overboard, foiling Barbossa's plan to break the curse. Barbossa agrees but applies another loophole, marooning Elizabeth and Jack on the island Jack was on ten years earlier. Will is taken to Isla de Muerta, where Barbossa plans to kill him to break the curse. On the remote island, Elizabeth discovers how Jack escaped: the island was used as a cache by rum runners.

Elizabeth burns the cache of rum to create a signal fire that Norrington's ship spots. She convinces Norrington to rescue Will by accepting his marriage proposal. Returning to Isla de Muerta, Norrington sets an ambush while Jack persuades Barbossa to form an alliance. He tells him to delay breaking the curse until they have taken the Dauntless. Jack's plan goes awry when Barbossa orders his crew to infiltrate the Dauntless from underwater. Elizabeth infiltrates the Pearl and frees Jack's crew. She tries enlisting the crew's help, but they make off with the Pearl while Elizabeth heads to the island to aid Will. Elizabeth saves Will while Jack battles Barbossa.

Norrington spots his ship under attack and orders his men to return. They make it to the ship in time, while Jack and Will return the last two medallions to the chest, breaking the curse. When Barbossa attempts to kill Elizabeth, Jack shoots Barbossa. No longer immortal, the wounded Barbossa dies. The now-mortal pirates surrender.

At Port Royal, Jack is to be executed. Believing Jack deserves to live, Will attempts a rescue. Both are captured, but Elizabeth lends her support and declares her love for Will. Will is pardoned and allowed to marry Elizabeth. Jack escapes by leaping into the bay. Norrington allows Jack one day's head start before giving pursuit. His crew, who escaped with the Pearl, rescue him and make him captain.

After the end credits, Captain Barbossa's body is seen and his monkey, Jack, found him. After seeing the chest, Jack goes into it and picks up the coins which had blood on them. The monkey becomes a skeleton again and looks at the screen smiling and screaming as he jumps towards it.

Cast

• Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: An eccentric pirate noted for a slightly drunken swagger, accompanied by slurred speech and awkwardly flailing hand gestures. He has gained a reputation with made-up stories of how he escaped from the deserted island he was put on. He is determined to regain the Black Pearl, which he captained ten years before. Depp found the script quirky: rather than trying to find treasure, the crew of the Black Pearl were trying to return it in order to lift their curse; also, the traditional mutiny had already taken place.^[2] Initially 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.^[3] After researching 18th century pirates, Depp compared them to modern rock stars and decided to base his performance on Keith Richards.^[4] Although Verbinski and Bruckheimer had confidence in Depp, partly because it would be Bloom who was playing the traditional Errol Flynn-type,^[2] 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!"^[3] Depp answered back, "Look, these are the choices I made. You know my work. So either trust me or give me the boot."^[4]

• Orlando Bloom as Will Turner: A blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal, he is in love with Elizabeth Swann. Will struggles with the fact his father, "Bootstrap" Bill, was a pirate, unable to reconcile that he was a good man too. Bloom read the script after Geoffrey Rush, whom he was working with on Ned Kelly, suggested it to him.^[5]

• 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. Elizabeth abandons the "damsel in distress" image and in time her personality changes to that of a noble pirate. Knightley came as a surprise to Verbinski; he had not seen her performance in Bend It Like Beckham and was impressed by her audition.^[2]

• Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa: The captain of the Black Pearl, he was Captain Jack Sparrow's first mate before he led a mutiny ten years before. He and his crew stole cursed Aztec gold, for which they are cursed to walk the earth forever. Verbinski approached Rush for the role of Barbossa, as he knew he would not play it with attempts at complexity, but with a simple villainy that would suit the story's tone.^[2]

• Jack Davenport as Commodore Norrington: An officer in the Royal Navy who is in love with Elizabeth and has a deep-seated dislike for pirates. Early in the film, he remarks that Jack Sparrow is "the worst pirate I have ever heard of."

• Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann: Governor of Jamaica, based in Port Royal, and father of Elizabeth Swann. Tom Wilkinson was negotiated with to play the part,^[6] but the role went to Pryce, whom Depp idolized.^[2]

• Lee Arenberg as Pintel: A pirate aboard the Black Pearl. He and Ragetti dress up as women to provide the distraction that allows the cursed pirates to board the Dauntless near the end of the movie. He and Ragetti provide the majority of the comic relief for the pirate side of the story.

• Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti: A pirate aboard the Black Pearl, Pintel's buddy, with a wooden eye that never seems to stay in place.

• Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs: Jack Sparrow's friend and first mate, he was once a sailor for the Royal Navy. He is usually the one who tells the legends of Jack Sparrow.

• Zoe Saldana as Anamaria: A female pirate who signs up to join Will Turner and Mr. Gibbs for a chance to confront Jack Sparrow for stealing her ship. He promises her the Interceptor in an attempt to assuage her.

• David Bailie as Cotton: A sailor who cut out his own tongue, is now mute and has a parrot to talk for him. He lived in Tortuga until Jack and Will hired him to help rescue Elizabeth.

• Greg Ellis as Theadore Groves: A Royal Navy officer that works under Commodore James Norrington.

Production

Development

During the early 1990s, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio began to think of a supernatural spin on the pirate genre.^[7] Disney had Jay Wolpert write a script based on the ride in 2001, which was based on a story created by the executives Brigham Taylor, Michael Haynes, and Josh Harmon. This story featured Will Turner as a prison guard who releases Sparrow to rescue Elizabeth, who is being held for ransom money by Captain Blackheart. The studio was unsure whether to release the film in theaters or direct-to-video. The studio was interested in Matthew McConaughey as Sparrow because of his resemblance to Burt Lancaster, who had inspired that script's interpretation of the character. If they chose to release it direct-to-video, Christopher Walken or Cary Elwes would have been their first choices.^[8] Stuart Beattie was brought in to rewrite the script in March 2002, because of his knowledge of piracy.^[6]

When Dick Cook managed to convince producer Jerry Bruckheimer to join the project,^[8] he rejected the script because it was "a straight pirate movie."^[4] Later in March 2002, he brought Elliott and Rossio,^[4] who suggested making a supernatural curse – as described in the opening narration of the ride – the film's plot.^[9] In May 2002, Gore Verbinski signed on to direct Pirates of the Caribbean.^[6] He 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 pay tribute to the "scary and funny" tone of it.^[2]

Although Cook had been a strong proponent of adapting Disney's rides into films, the box office failure of The Country Bears made Michael Eisner attempt to shut down production of Pirates of the Caribbean. However, Verbinski told his concept artists to keep working on the picture, and when Eisner came to visit, the executive was astonished by what had been created. As recalled in the book DisneyWar, Eisner pondered "Why does it have to cost so much?" Bruckheimer replied, "Your competition is spending $150 million," referring to franchises like The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. Eisner concurred, but with the stigma attached to theme park adaptations, Eisner requested Verbinski and Bruckheimer remove some of the more overt references to the ride in the script, such as a scene where Sparrow and Turner enter the cave via a waterfall.^[10]

Filming and design

Verbinski did not want an 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,^[11] although Depp did have gold teeth added, which he forgot to remove after filming.^[12] Depp also used a genuine pistol which was made in 1760 in London, which the crew bought from a dealer in Connecticut.^[11] The crew spent five months creating the cavern in which Barbossa and the Black Pearl crew attempt to reverse their curse,^[7] filling it with five feet of water, 882 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.^[11] A fire broke in September 2002, causing $525,000 worth of damage, though no one was injured.^[13]

The barge used for the Dauntless

The filmmakers chose St. Vincent as their primary shooting location, as it contained the quietest beach they could find, and built three piers and a backlot for Port Royal and Tortuga.^[11] 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.^[14] 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.^[11] The Interceptor was a re-dressed Lady Washington, a full-scale replica sailing ship from Aberdeen, Washington, fully repainted before going on a 40-day voyage beginning December 2, 2002, arriving on location on January 12, 2003.^[15] A miniature was also built for the storm sequence.^[11]

Shooting began on October 9, 2002 and wrapped by March 2003.^[6] 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 they 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 humorous accident was when the boat Sparrow was supposed to arrive in at Port Royal sank.^[2] In October, the crew was shooting scenes at Rancho Palos Verdes, by December they were shooting at Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and in January they were at the cavern set at Los Angeles.^[16] The script often changed with Elliott and Rossio on set, with additions such as Gibbs (Kevin McNally) telling Will how Sparrow allegedly 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 some empathy for the audience.^[2]

Because of the quick schedule of the shoot, Industrial Light & Magic immediately began visual effects work. While 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 transition 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,^[7] an aesthetic complicated by Verbinski's decision to shoot the battles with handheld cameras.^[2] The actors also had to perform their scenes again on the motion capture stage.^[11] With the shoot only wrapping up four months before release, Verbinski spent 18-hour days on the edit,^[2] while at the same time spending time on 600 effects shots, 250 of which were merely removing modern sailboats from shots.^[17]

Music

Verbinski managed the score with Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer, who headed 15 composers to finish the score quickly.^[2] Alan Silvestri, who had collaborated with Verbinski on Mouse Hunt and The Mexican, was set to compose the score, but Bruckheimer decided to go with Zimmer's team as he felt more comfortable with them, and Silvestri respectfully left the production before he recorded anything.^[18]

Reception

Box office

The film was a commercial success. But before its release, many journalists expected Pirates of the Caribbean to be a flop. The pirate genre had not been successful for years, with Cutthroat Island (1995) a notable flop. The film was also based on a theme park ride, and Johnny Depp, known mostly for starring in cult films, had little track record as a box office leading man.^[19] 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.^[4] Nonetheless, the studio was confident enough to add The Curse of the Black Pearl subtitle to the film in case sequels were made,^[6] and to attract older children. Verbinski disliked the new title because it is the Aztec gold rather than the ship that is cursed, so he requested the title to be unreadable on the poster.^[10] Their confidence paid off: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl opened at #1, grossing $46,630,690 in its opening weekend and $70,625,971 since its Wednesday launch. It eventually made its way to $654,264,015 worldwide ($305,413,918 domestically and $348,850,097 overseas), becoming the fourth highest grossing film of 2003.^[1]

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes reported that 78% of 195 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it got a rating average of 7.1/10.^[20] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 64 based on 40 reviews.^[21] Alan Morrison of Empire felt it was "the best blockbuster of the summer", acclaiming all the comic performances despite his disappointment with the swashbuckling sequences.^[22] Roger Ebert acclaimed Depp and Rush's performances, with "It can be said that [Depp's] performance is 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." However, he felt the film went for too long,^[23] a criticism shared by Kenneth Turan's negative review, feeling it "spends far too much time on its huge supporting cast of pirates (nowhere near as entertaining as everyone assumes) and on bloated adventure set pieces", despite having also enjoyed Depp's performance.^[24]

Accolades

For his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp won Best Actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the MTV Movie Awards, and the Empire Awards, and was also nominated but did not win at the Golden Globes, the BAFTA Awards, and the 76th Academy Awards, in which The Curse of the Black Pearl was also nominated for Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. Awards won by Curse of the Black Pearl include Best Make-Up/Hair at the BAFTA Awards, a Saturn Award for Best Costumes, a Golden Reel Award for Sound Editing, two VES Awards for visual effects, and the People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture.^[25]

Home media

The DVD and VHS editions of the film were released five months after the theatrical release, December 2, 2003,^[26] with 11 million copies sold in the first week, a record for live action video.^[27] The DVD featured two discs, featuring three commentary tracks (Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski; Jerry Bruckheimer, Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport; and the screenwriter team), various deleted scenes and documentaries, and a 1968 Disneyland episode about the theme park ride.^[26] A special three-disc edition was released in November 2004.^[28]

A UMD release of the film followed on April 19, 2005.^[29] The high-definition Blu-ray Disc version of the film was released on May 22, 2007.^[30] This movie was also among the first to be sold at the iTunes music store.^[31]

References

External links

• Official website
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at the Internet Movie Database
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at Allmovie
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at Metacritic
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at the Pirates of the Caribbean wiki

Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black PearlGame • Soundtrack • Remix EP Dead Man's ChestGame • Soundtrack At World's EndGame • Soundtrack • Remix EP On Stranger Tides Theme park attractions Pirates of the Caribbean • Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island • Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland Characters Jack Sparrow • Will Turner • Elizabeth Swann • Hector Barbossa • Davy Jones • James Norrington • Cutler Beckett • Tia Dalma • Sao Feng • Blackbeard • Joshamee Gibbs • Weatherby Swann • Pintel and Ragetti • Bootstrap Bill Turner • The Kraken • Captain Teague • Minor characters • Prequel characters Universe Black Pearl • Flying Dutchman • Queen Anne's Revenge • Minor ships • Ships in prequel series • East India Trading Co. • Locations Music "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" • "Dead Man's Chest" • "Hoist the Colours" • Theme park soundtrack • Soundtrack Treasures Collection Video games Pirates of the Caribbean • The Legend of Jack Sparrow • PotC Online • PotC Multiplayer Mobile • Armada of the Damned • Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game Other merchandise Film series • Jack Sparrow (Prequel novels) • Legends of the Brethren Court (Prequel novels) • Trading Card Game • Pinball machine Book:Pirates of the Caribbean • Category:Pirates of the Caribbean