The Box Office Juggernaut That Almost Made Zoe Saldana Quit Acting

(by Devin Meenan slashfilm.com 12-28-24)

Zoe Saldaña is one of our best blockbuster actresses — and she's got the receipts to prove it. In the last decade plus, she's played Uhura in the rebooted "Star Trek" films, Neytiri in James Cameron's "Avatar," and Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No matter how natural or made-up her character appears, she brings her A-game. (No wonder she was disappointed that her "Avatar" part felt overlooked.)

Her first blockbuster was "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which unexpectedly turned one of Disney's most famous theme park rides into a successful movie. Saldaña plays Anamaria, a supporting character and a member of the pirate crew recruited by Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) on Tortuga. Anamaria introduces herself by slapping Captain Sparrow and yelling that he previously stole her ship, which he amends to "borrowed without permission." (For all we know, Anamaria's boat could be the sinking one we first saw Jack ride into Port Royal on.) 

Despite that, Anamaria is the one who pronounces Jack as captain of the Black Pearl in the film's final scene — and that's the last we saw of her. Sequel "Dead Man's Chest" got most of the original cast back (Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa even returned from the dead), but not Saldaña. Why?

Saldaña has said several times that she did not enjoy making "Pirates of the Caribbean" and so she was uninterested in going through that experience again. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter in 2014, she explained: 

"Those weren't the right people for me [on the 'Pirates' set]. I'm not talking about the cast. The cast was great. I'm talking about the political stuff that went on behind closed doors. It was a lot of above-the-line versus below-the-line, extras versus actors, producers versus PAs. It was very elitist. I almost quit the business. I was 23 years old, and I was like, "F— this!" I am never putting myself in this situation again. People disrespecting me because they look at my number on a call sheet and they think I'm not important.

She recently credited her next movie, Steven Spielberg's 2004 comedy "The Terminal," as the experience that convinced her not to quit Hollywood. "If the studio and the producers and the director, they're not leading with kindness and awareness and consideration, then that big of a production can become a really bad experience and you may tip overboard. And I kind of did," Saldaña explained to Variety. "I worked with Steven Spielberg eight months later, and he restored my faith that big can also be great."

Saldaña hasn't changed her opinion in the 10 years since that Hollywood Reporter interview, but in more recent ones, she seems a little more measured talking about "Pirates." In a 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she put less emphasis on the "elitist" atmosphere and more on it being a set with lots of moving pieces, where an inexperienced actor like her struggled to keep up.

"It was my first exposure to a major Hollywood mega movie, where there were just so many actors and so many producers and so many crew members. We were shooting in different locations, and the environments were not that agreeable, sometimes, to our shoot days. I was very young, and it was just a little too big for me, and the pace of it was a little too fast."

One reason for Saldaña's anger cooling might be because "Pirates" producer Jerry Bruckheimer reached out to her and apologized for her negative experience. Saldaña said (in a BBC interview) that Bruckheimer's apology "felt really quite honorable" to her. In a Buzzfeed UK interview, she spoke even more fondly about "Curse of the Black Pearl" — "What a great movie. It was all around such a diverse cast as well, all ages, all walks of life, but a hard production. It was just so big! It was too big of a machine for me, and it was too out of control."

Saldaña was, again, the only "Pirates" star so put off by the shoot that she didn't return. That said, other accounts support her claims that it was a chaotic set. The film was shot over five months (October 2002 to March 2003) between sets in Los Angeles and on location in the Caribbean island country Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Michael Eisner, the then CEO of Disney, did not have faith in the project either, so that meant inconsistent support from up top.

Speaking to Collider in 2021, "Pirates" director Gore Verbinski indicated that the chaos only increased during the simultaneous shoots of "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End."

"After ['Curse of the Black Pearl'] was successful, 'Pirates 2' and '3 start' to fall into the 'release date-driven experience'. There's a calendar and dates and "we need two more of these babies. How soon can you do it?" So you don't have scripts and you're making a movie to a release date."

If Saldaña couldn't stand how "big" the first "Pirates" shoot was, I can't imagine she would've been happy shooting the second and third. I am happy, though, that she stuck around in Hollywood despite the bad first impression.

https://www.slashfilm.com/1744909/zoe-saldana-almost-quit-acting-box-office-hit-pirates-of-the-caribbean/

Sparrow artwork

 

Lucky guy

 

Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is in development !

Well, it would look as if Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is in the works, or early development at least. I started to see things pop up about it on Instagram a few days ago, buzz if you will. 

Now, of course it could be just rumors, all of our wishful thinking. But I will entertain the idea without a problem, I'm starving for another good pirate movie. The more the better.

Here are a few posts from Instagram I copied, along with some fan made posters below. Let's hope we get more official news later.

-----

OFFICIAL: It's confirmed that 'PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 6' is in development and apparently Disney has come to an agreement with actor Johnny Depp to return as Jack Sparrow and not only that, actor Bill Nighy would also return as Davy Jones.

The movie would be coming in 2028 and would also have names like Margot Robbie, Jenna Ortega & Kaya Scodelario.

Keira Knightley & Orlando Bloom could also be returning, but nothing is confirmed yet.

There are no plot details yet, but an important part of the story would focus on an undisclosed female character, who would be Jack Sparrow's daughter.

-----

Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is officially in development, with producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirming that two distinct scripts one of which is a full reboot are currently competing in a horse race to lead the series forward. This high stakes revival is being shaped by screenwriter Craig Mazin, the acclaimed creator of The Last of Us.

Alternate movie poster for Dead Man's Chest

 artwork by Han S. on ArtStation

Everything we know about the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot

(ew.com March 26, 2024)

This is the day you'll always remember as the day you still haven't seen Jack Sparrow in a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. There will be a sixth movie in the film franchise inspired by the Disney parks rides, producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed.

"We're gonna reboot Pirates," he told ComicBook.com. However, plans for a reboot were in place since at least 2019. Still, Bruckheimer's words may mean that there's wind in those sails.

It's now seven years since Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the franchise's fifth installment. Here's what we know so far about a new Pirates adventure.

Who will star in the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot?

Official announcements haven't been made, but Bruckheimer indicated that Pirates 6 will genuinely be a reboot with a new cast. Speaking to ComicBook.com, he said, "We're gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together [than the next Top Gun] because you don't have to wait for certain actors."

He doesn't come out and say anything definitive, but it does corroborate other evidence that the new film won't bring back — or at least won't star – the franchise's pillars, including Johnny Depp, Geffrey Rush, Keira Knightley, or Orlando Bloom.

That echoes what Depp revealed during the defamation trial between the actor and ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp testified that Disney cut ties with him following Heard's 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post, where she wrote that she had been a victim of domestic abuse but did not mention Depp by name.

Even if Disney and Bruckheimer changed their minds on Depp, the actor said in court that he wouldn't come back, even if he was offered "$300 million and a million alpacas," as Heard's lawyer put it. 

"That is true," Depp responded. "There was a deep and distinct sense of feeling betrayed by the people that I've worked hard for. People that I delivered a character to that they initially despised, but I stuck to my guns with the character, and it seemed to work."

Who is writing the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot?

Craig Mazin, creator of The Last of Us and Chernobyl, earlier revealed he is working with original screenwriter Ted Elliot on a new Pirates movie. They were reportedly brought into the project in 2019 when Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick dropped out, per Deadline. However, the 2023 WGA strike put the process on hold.

“We pitched it and thought there’s no way they’re buying it, it’s too weird. And they did!” Mazin told the Los Angeles Times in August 2023. “And then he wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone’s waiting around.”

Previously, Christina Hodson, who worked on Birds of Prey with Robbie, was attached as a writer for the Robbie version, EW confirmed at the time. That appears to be a thing of the past as well.

During his trial, Depp said that before Heard's op-ed, Disney approached him "to take part in writing in Pirates 6." He later added, "Having added much of myself, much of my own rewriting, the dialogue, the scenes, the jokes, I didn't quite understand how after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship with Disney that… suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent."

At one point, there were plans for Margot Robbie to star in a female-fronted version of Pirates. This wasn't the reboot or a formal spinoff, but a separate story with new characters. 

However, Robbie says that film isn't moving forward. "We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led — not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story — which we thought would've been really cool, but I guess they don't want to do it," Robbie told Vanity Fair in 2022.

When will Pirates of the Caribbean 6 be released?

No other details have been revealed as far as a timeline, title, plot, or director.

Asked which would come first between a new Top Gun or Pirates movie, Bruckheimer told ComicBook.com, "It's hard to tell. You don't know, you really don't know...Because with Top Gun you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies he does before he does Top Gun, I can't tell you. But we're gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don't have to wait for certain actors." All he's revealed is that it's moving along in some early stage of production.

Reps for Disney did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

https://ew.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-6-reboot-everything-we-know-8620606

But why is the rum gone?

 

Artwork by Steve Jung

 Concept art for the Pirates of the Caribbean film "Dead Men Tell no Tales"

Johnny Depp / Captain Jack Sparrow's tattoo

A craftsman is always proud to hear his work is appreciated

I think it'd be rather exciting to meet a pirate

The Pirate Code



Another copy of Pirates 1 official poster

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

(by Roger Ebert rogerebert.com 7-9-03)

There's a nice little 90-minute B movie trapped inside the 143 minutes of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," a movie that charms the audience and then outstays its welcome. Although the ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel, the movie feels like it already includes the sequel; maybe that explains the double-barreled title. It's a good thing that Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp are on hand to jack up the acting department. Their characters, two world-class goofballs, keep us interested even during entirely pointless swordfights.

Pointless? See if you can follow me here. Capt. Jack Sparrow (Depp) has a deep hatred for Capt. Barbossa (Rush), who led a mutiny aboard Sparrow's pirate ship, the Black Pearl, and left Capt. Jack stranded on a deserted island. Barbossa and his crew then ran afoul of an ancient curse that turned them into the Undead. By day they look like normal if dissolute humans, but by the light of the moon, they're revealed as skeletal cadavers. Now here's the important part: Because they're already dead, they cannot be killed. Excuse me for supplying logic where it is manifestly not wanted, but doesn't that mean there's no point in fighting them? There's a violent battle at one point between the Black Pearl crew and sailors of the Royal Navy, and unless I am mistaken the sailors would all eventually have to be dead because the skeletons could just keep on fighting forever, until they won. Yes? The only reason I bring this up is that the battle scenes actually feel as if they go on forever. It's fun at first to see a pirate swordfight, but eventually it gets to the point where the sword-clashing, yardarm-swinging and timber-shivering get repetitious. I also lost count of how many times Jack Sparrow is the helpless captive of both the British and the pirates, and escapes from the chains/brig/noose/island.

And yet the movie made me grin at times, and savor the daffy plot, and enjoy the way Depp and Rush fearlessly provide performances that seem nourished by deep wells of nuttiness. Depp in particular seems to be channeling a drunken drag queen, with his eyeliner and the way he minces ashore and slurs his dialogue ever so insouciantly. Don't mistake me: This is not a criticism, but admiration for his work. It can be said that his 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. There's some talk about how he got too much sun while he was stranded on that island, but his behavior shows a lifetime of rehearsal. He is a peacock in full display.

Consider how boring it would have been if Depp had played the role straight, as an Errol Flynn or Douglas Fairbanks (Sr. or Jr.) might have. To take this material seriously would make it unbearable. Capt. Sparrow's behavior is so rococo that other members of the cast actually comment on it. And yet because it is consistent and because you can never catch Depp making fun of the character, it rises to a kind of cockamamie sincerity.

Geoffrey Rush is relatively subdued--but only by contrast. His Barbossa, whose teeth alone would intimidate a congregation of dentists, brings gnashing to an art form.

Only the film's PG-13 rating prevents him from doing unthinkable things to the heroine, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), whose blood, it is thought, can free the captain and his crew from the Curse of the Black Pearl.

Elizabeth is the daughter of Weatherby Swann, the governor (Jonathan Pryce) of Port Royal, a British base in the Caribbean, and seems destined to marry Cmdr. Norrington (Jack Davenport), a fate which we intuit would lead to a lifetime of conversations about his constipation.

She truly loves the handsome young swordsmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), whom she met when they were both children, after spotting him adrift on a raft with a golden pirate medallion around his neck, which turns out to hold the key to the curse. Jack Sparrow takes a fatherly interest in young Turner, especially when he discovers who his father was ... and that is quite enough of the plot.

Bloom is well cast in a severely limited role as the heroic straight-arrow. He has the classic profile of a silent-film star. Knightley you will recall as the best friend of the heroine in "Bend It Like Beckham," where she had a sparkle altogether lacking here.

Truth be told, she doesn't generate enough fire to explain why these swashbucklers would risk their lives for her, and in closeup, seems composed when she should smolder. Parminder K. Nagra, the star of "Beckham," might have been a more spirited choice.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" is "based on" the theme park ride at Disney World, which I have taken many times. It is also inspired (as the ride no doubt was) by the rich tradition of pirate movies, and excels in such departments as buried treasure, pirates' caves, pet parrots and walking the plank, although there is a shortage of eye patches and hooks.

The author Dave Eggers reportedly plans to open a Pirates' Store, complete with planks measured and made to order, and "The Curse of the Black Pearl" plays like his daydreams.

--------------------

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pirates-of-the-caribbean-the-curse-of-the-black-pearl-2003