Random Behind-The-Scenes Stories From The ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean' Movies (16 items)

• 

  (#10) The Second And Third Movies Were Filmed Simultaneously, And Neither Had A Finished Script

  On the heels of Black Pearl's whirlwind success, Disney greenlit a second and third film. However, they knew they were in a race against time to secure the same cast. Writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio created a story around the East India Trading Company and Davy Jones to span two movies.

  Despite the two movies’ massive collective budget - which reached nearly half a billion dollars - production began on both films without finished scripts.
• 

  (#14) Rob Marshall Nearly Perished While Directing ‘On Stranger Tides’

  Due to budget constraints, the fourth Pirates film, On Stranger Tides, was filmed not in the Caribbean but in Los Angeles, London, and Hawaii. Some scenes were even filmed in the same jungle as Jurassic Park. 

  Between scenes, director Rob Marshall stood near the edge of a cliff while talking to Depp and Penelope Cruz. He once slipped off the precipice and was mere moments away from plummeting to serious harm - or worse. Luckily, he managed to grab a vine and save himself.
• 

  (#13) Geoffrey Rush Always Tried To Stand On The Left So Viewers Would See Him First

  Just as you read a book from left to right, you process images on a screen the same way - at least, that’s what one source claims Captain Barbossa's actor, Geoffrey Rush, said.

  For that reason, Rush is seen on the left side of the screen in many of his scenes. Jack the monkey is to his left, and the rest of the crew tends to be on his right.
• 

  (#6) Keira Knightley And Her Mother Got Stranded On An Uncharted Reef While Filming ‘The Curse Of The Black Pearl’

  The Curse of the Black Pearl, which kicked off the franchise, was filmed primarily on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. The film’s commentary track reveals a shocking situation that arose when Knightley and her mother got stuck on a reef while filming at night.

  Although locals warned the film crew of the potentially dangerous conditions, the crew insisted that their GPS equipment would ensure their safety. Unfortunately, the equipment failed them while they were filming one nighttime scene, and Knightley and her mother were separated from the rest of the crew. For safety's sake, the remainder of the night scenes were filmed in a studio.
• 

  (#11) The Crew Lost Hundreds Of Cell Phones At Sea

  The crew purchased approximately 700 cell phones during filming on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

  Unfortunately, 240 of those phones were lost at sea during the course of production, according to Jack Davenport, who played Commodore Norrington.
• 

  (#12) Depp's Lines Were Fed To Him Via An Earpiece In The Fifth Film

  In 2017, Johnny Depp sued his managers, Joel and Robert Mandel, for fraud. Depp claimed they swindled him of millions of dollars, while the Mandels claimed Depp demanded they fund his shockingly lavish lifestyle.

  Among the managers’ claims were that Depp paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep a sound engineer on yearly retainer to feed him movie lines in an earpiece, including during the filming of the fifth Pirates film, Dead Men Tell No Tales.

  While Depp admitted to using an earpiece, he claimed it was merely to feed him background sounds for the scene so he could better emote on screen.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking