Pirates of the Caribbean Guide

The Curse of the Black Pearl

• Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: An eccentric pirate noted for a slightly drunken swagger, accompanied by slurred speech and awkwardly flailing hand gestures. His obsession for rum is only matched by his obsession with regaining the Black Pearl, which he captained ten years before. Jack uses his wits rather than weapons, and has gained a reputation with made up stories of how he escaped from the deserted island he was put on. The actor 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. 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. After researching 18th century pirates, Depp compared them to modern rock stars and decided to base his performance on Keith Richards. Although Verbinski and Bruckheimer had confidence in Depp, partly because it would be Bloom who was playing the traditional Errol Flynn-type, 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!” Depp answered back, “Look, these are the choices I made. You know my work. So either trust me or give me the boot.”
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 walk the Earth forever. He has a love of green apples and his monkey Jack, which never leaves his side. Robert De Niro turned down the role because he felt the film would flop as all pirate films before did. He regretted the decision later, voting for Curse of the Black Pearl for Best Picture at the Academy Awards ballot, and accepting the role of Captain Shakespeare in Stardust out of his regret for turning down Pirates of the Caribbean. 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.
• Jack Davenport as Commodore Norrington: An officer in the Royal Navy who is in love with Elizabeth, and also has a deep-seated dislike for pirates. He considers Jack Sparrow to be, “the worst pirate I have ever heard of”.
• Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann: Governor of Port Royal, Jamaica and father of Elizabeth Swann. Tom Wilkinson was negotiated with to play the part, but the role went to Pryce, whom Depp idolized.
• 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.
• 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.
• Zoë Saldaña as Anamaria: A female pirate furious with Jack Sparrow for stealing her boat. He promises her the Interceptor in an attempt to assuage her anger.

Dead Man’s Chest

• Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: Captain of the Black Pearl. He is hunted by the Kraken because of his unpaid blood debt to Davy Jones. He is also searching for the Dead Man’s Chest to free himself from Jones’ servitude.
• Orlando Bloom as Will Turner: A blacksmith-turned-pirate who strikes a deal with Cutler Beckett to find Jack Sparrow and his compass so he can save both himself and his fiancée Elizabeth from execution. Later he is reunited with, and seeks to free, his father, who owes a lifetime of servitude to Davy Jones.
• Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann: Governor Swann’s daughter and Will’s fiancée, who is arrested on her wedding day for helping Jack Sparrow escape. Escaping jail with help from her father, she meets up with Jack in Tortuga and joins his crew to search for both Will and the chest.
• Bill Nighy as Davy Jones: Captain of the Flying Dutchman. The main antagonist, Davy Jones was once a human being. Unable to bear the pain of losing his true love, he carved out his heart and put it into the Dead Man’s Chest, then buried it in a secret location. He has become a bizarre creature – part octopus, part crab, part man – and collects the souls of dead or dying sailors to serve aboard his ship for one hundred years.
• Jack Davenport as James Norrington: He resigned his commission as Commodore in the Royal Navy after losing his ship and crew in a hurricane in the pursuit of Jack Sparrow and his crew. Fallen on hard times and into alcoholism, he joins the Black Pearl’s crew and seeks to regain his honor and career.
• Stellan Skarsgård as “Bootstrap Bill” Turner: A crewman aboard the Flying Dutchman who so happens to be Will Turner’s father. He was cursed by the Aztec gold on Isla de Muerta (along with Hector Barbossa’s crew). Thrown overboard after refusing to take part in the mutiny against Jack led by Barbossa, he spent years bound to a cannon beneath the crushing ocean. Found by Davy Jones, he swore to servitude aboard the Flying Dutchman crew and escaped death.
• Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs: The Black Pearl’s first mate and Jack Sparrow’s loyal friend, he once served in the Royal Navy under Lieutenant James Norrington.
• Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett: Chairman of the East India Trading Company, he travels to Port Royal to capture and recruit Jack Sparrow as a privateer. What he really desires is Davy Jones’ heart, with which he can rule the seas with Jones’ commanded servitude.
• Lee Arenberg as Pintel: A pirate and former Black Pearl crewmember under Captain Barbossa, he was imprisoned after the Aztec curse was broken, but escaped to rejoin Jack Sparrow’s Black Pearl crew.
• Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti: Pintel’s inseparable crewmate. He has a wooden eye, and despite being illiterate, has begun “reading” the Bible, with the excuse that “you get credit for trying.”
• Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma: An obeah priestess who Jack Sparrow bartered with for his magic compass. She explains the legend of Davy Jones, in addition to owning a similar locket to his.
• Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann. Elizabeth’s father and governor of Port Royal. He adores his daughter but puts little faith in Will - not considering him the best match for Elizabeth.
• Geoffrey Rush as Hector Barbossa: Barbossa’s character is resurrected during this film, however, he does not appear until the final scene. Having met his demise in the previous installment, Barbossa is resurrected by the character Tia Dalma in order to save Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ locker, therefore allowing a Brethren Court conclave in order to “release” Calypso from her Human Bonds. For this role, Rush was uncredited.

At World’s End

• Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: Pirate Lord of the Caribbean Sea. After being tricked by Elizabeth Swann to save the crew, Sparrow and the Black Pearl were dragged to Davy Jones’ Locker by the Kraken. Sparrow is trapped there until his former crew mounts a rescue party, whereupon he returns to the living world to battle his nemesis, Davy Jones. While in the Locker, he suffers hallucinations, seeing multiple versions of himself, each representing a different facet of his personality.
• Orlando Bloom as William “Will” Turner Jr.: A blacksmith turned pirate, and the son of the pirate “Bootstrap Bill” Turner, a crewman on the Flying Dutchman, commanded by Davy Jones. Will becomes the “Flying Dutchman” captain after killing Davy Jones. Will hopes to free his father and marry Elizabeth Swann.
• Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann: Governor Swann’s daughter and engaged to Will. She tricked Jack Sparrow into being swallowed by the Kraken to save herself and the Black Pearl crew. Jack is at first unable to forgive her for sending him to his doom and uses the event against her, but eventually relents.
• Chow Yun-Fat as Captain Sao Feng: Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, he captains the Chinese ship The Empress. He has a bad history with Sparrow and is reluctant to aid in his rescue from Davy Jones’ Locker. “Sao Feng” means “Howling Wind” in Chinese. Chow was confirmed to be playing Feng in July 2005 while production of the second film was on hiatus. Chow relished playing the role, even helping out crew members with props.
• Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa: Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea, he was the first mate of the Black Pearl under Jack’s command before leading a mutiny. Although he was killed by Sparrow a year before, he was brought back by Tia Dalma. Barbossa returns to lead Elizabeth, Will and the others to the World’s End in a bid to free Jack and the Pearl from Davy Jones’ Locker. Rush said that in the film, Barbossa becomes more of a cunning politician. Depp said he was pleased he got more screentime with Rush than in the first film. “We’re like a couple of old ladies fighting over their knitting needles”, he said.
• Bill Nighy provides motion capture and voice acting for Davy Jones: Ghostly ruler of the ocean realm, captain of The Flying Dutchman, and to whom Jack owed a blood debt. James Norrington captured his heart, and as a result, he is now trapped into service to Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company, who forces him to kill the Kraken. During a brief reunion, Tia Dalma shortly restores his former human form.
• Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett: Chairman of the East India Trading Company and the main villain of the film. Beckett possesses Davy Jones’ heart, thus controlling the world’s oceans and seven seas.
• Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma/Calypso: An obeah witch who travels with the Black Pearl crew to rescue Jack, she also raised Hector Barbossa from the dead at the conclusion of Dead Man’s Chest and is the woman Davy Jones loved. She is actually the sea goddess, Calypso, who was bound in human form by the first Brethren Court, because they believed the power of the seas should belong to man and not to her. She has the ability to raise the dead, implement curses, voodoo and witchcraft, and is in touch with the elements while in human form. When released from her human form, she transforms into numerous crabs to return to the sea and unleashes a violent maelstrom.
• Stellan Skarsgård as William “Bootstrap Bill” Turner Sr.: Will’s father, he is cursed to serve an eternity aboard The Flying Dutchman. As he slowly loses his humanity to the sea, he becomes mentally confused, barely recognizing his own son.
• Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs: Jack’s loyal and superstitious first mate.
• Jack Davenport as James Norrington: Promoted to the rank of admiral, he has an alliance with Lord Beckett and the East India Trading Company after stealing the heart of Davy Jones and bargaining it to Cutler Beckett in exchange for his career. He is also Elizabeth’s former fiancé and still loves her. Bootstrap Bill kills him after he allows Elizabeth and her crew to escape the Dutchman.
• Lee Arenberg as Pintel: A slightly mischievous, stolid member of Jack’s crew.
• Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti: A Black Pearl crewman and Pintel’s eccentric companion who wears a wooden eye.
• Jonathan Pryce as Weatherby Swann: Governor of Port Royal, Jamaica. He is Elizabeth’s father and is trapped in Beckett’s service. Beckett has him murdered due to his learning of the heart now belonging to the East India Trading Company.
• Keith Richards as Captain Teague: A pirate and the Keeper of the Pirata Codex for the Brethren Court. He is Jack Sparrow’s father, and keeps Jack’s dead mother’s shrunken head with him. Richards, who partially inspired Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Sparrow, was meant to appear in Dead Man’s Chest, but there was no room for him in the story, and he almost missed filming a scene in At World’s End following injuries sustained by falling out of a palm tree. In June 2006, Verbinski finally managed to make room in Richards’ schedule to shoot that September.