• Home
  • About Emmy-Winning Blog
  • ©2008-2022 Scott W. Smith (Contact Info)

Screenwriting from Iowa

…and Other Unlikely Places

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Movie Cloning (Juno)
“Dark, Bleak, and Cynical” »

Movie Cloning (Pirates)

January 20, 2011 by Scott W. Smith

“We didn’t intend to have sequels. The first [movie] is a story in and of itself, a sort of capital ‘r’ romance in The Prisoner of Zenda* sense that ends in an idealized love between Elizabeth and Will.”
Screenwriter Ted Elliot, co-writer on the first Pirates of Caribbean movie

Having grown up in Orlando and spending a chunk of my youth on the Disney World ride Pirates of the Caribbean I was not thrilled when I first heard that there was going to be a movie based on the ride. Just the whole concept seemed a step down from movies that became rides. Casting Johnny Depp at that time made it a little more interesting to think about the possibilities.

Depp’s three films before Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) were From Hell, Blow, and Chocolat. (Mix that around and it’s a pretty decent title: “Chocolat & Blow from Hell.”) Depp was also the actor who was in the off-beat roles Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands. He just wasn’t the kind of actor who you thought would pop up in a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.

A few Pirate film sequels & a gazillon box-office dollars later it was a fine move by several people. (Of course, I love the story kicking around that Disney executives didn’t care for Depp’s pirate interpretation when they saw the first dailies.)

“I think it was Michael Eisner, the head of Disney at the time, who was quoted as saying, ‘he’s ruining the movie.'”
Johnny Depp
BBC

Now, Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow has become one of the most memorable characters in modern blockbuster cinema.

The first Pirates of the Caribbean first script (which created the franchise that still has legs) was written by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, from a story that Stuart Beatie and Jay Wolpert. What DNA did they tap into for creating Johnny Depp’s iconic character?

“We wrote a very specific character and Johnny played that character but his performance was one neither of us could have imagined. We wanted to create this trickster. If you go all the way back to [Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel] Treasure Island, we kind of borrowed the moral ambiguity of that story. The whole thing comes down to [young boy] Jim Hawkins making the call as to whether [pirate] Long John Silver is a good man or a bad man—that’s the emotional crux of that story. Silver does kill people—he betrays everybody—and this moral ambiguity is inherent in the pirate/swashbuckler genre. To that regard, the trickster archetype seemed appropriate. That’s what we wanted to do with Jack Sparrow. Whether Johnny identified that consciously, he definitely found a perfect performance.”
Ted Elliot
Interview with Scott Holleran

I’ve also read on the DVD commentary that Elliot and/or Rossio say there was originally a little Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx influence in the concept stages of Jack Sparrow. Of course, Depp himself said his inspiration behind Captain Jack Sparrow was Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

* The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel written by Anthony Hope and published in 1894.  It has been made into a film several times: 1913, 1915, 1922, 1937, 1952, & 1979 as well as a couple TV movies, a play, and an operetta. The 1937 movie, produced by David O. Selznick, has been called by Halliwell’s Film Guide as, “One of the most entertaining films to come out of Hollywood.” The bulk of the script appears to have been written by John L. Balderston (with five others writers said to play a part).  So before they spent a lot of money, they new they had the bones of a story that worked. Toss in a very popular theme park ride, a the classic novel Treasure Island —that’s movie cloning.

Scott W. Smith

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in screenwriting | Tagged Anthony Hope, Blow, Bugs Bunny, Chocolat., David O. Selznick, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, From Hell, Groucho Marx, Halliwell's Film Guide, Jack Sparrow, Jay Wolpert, John L. Balderston, Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean, Stuart Beatie, Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, The Prisoner of Zenda | 2 Comments

2 Responses

  1. on January 20, 2011 at 4:43 pm elias

    No space left for mind blowing movie?

    who understands time


  2. on January 20, 2011 at 6:03 pm Screenwriting From Iowa » Movie Cloning (Pirates)

    […] “We didn’t intend to have sequels. The first [movie] is a story in and of itself, a sort of capital ‘r’ romance in The Prisoner of Zenda* sense that ends in an idealized love between Elizabeth and Will.” Screenwriter Ted Elliot on the first Pirates of Caribbean movie Having grown up in Orlando and spending […] Original Source… […]



Comments are closed.

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,338 other followers

  • Screenwriting from Iowa…and Other Unlikely Places

    Screenwriting from Iowa…and Other Unlikely Places
  • @scottwsmith_com

    • "#TopGun" (1986) Revisited ...and the Midwest Roots of the #Screenplay #TomCruise (And my dog totally engaged watc… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 month ago
    Follow @scottwsmith_com
  • Top Posts

    • The Major or Central Dramatic Question (Tip #101)
    • Why Movie Stars Have Big Heads
    • 'Study the old masters.'—Martin Scorsese
    • How an Oscar-winning Screenwriter Uses Index Cards
    • Writing ‘The Fisher King’ (After Two Failed Starts) and the Influence of Howard Stern
    • Nostalgia: The Pain from an Old Wound
    • Breakdown of the 1956 Movie version of ’Moby Dick’
    • How to Write a Screenplay in One Day
    • "Star Wars"—The Logline
    • Tarantino on Leonard
  • Recent Posts

    • Tony Siragusa (1967-2022)
    • What James Cameron Thinks About the Rules of Screenwriting & Books on Screenwriting
    • Tom Cruise/Maverick vs. Casey Neistat/MrBeast
    • The Iowa Roots of ’Top Gun: Maverick’ Director Joseph Kosinski
    • ’Top Gun’ (1986) Revisited …and the Midwest Roots of the Screenplay
  • Pages

    • About Emmy-Winning Blog
    • ©2008-2022 Scott W. Smith (Contact Info)
  • Categories

    • Book Reviews
    • Film History
    • filmmaking
    • Filmmaking Quote of the Day
    • Miscellaneous
    • Most Viewed Posts
    • Movies
    • Off Screen Quotes
    • podcasting
    • Postcards
    • Quotes from the Road
    • Screenwriters
    • screenwriting
    • Screenwriting & Life
    • Screenwriting Biz
    • Screenwriting Quotes
    • Screenwriting Road Trips
    • screenwriting tips
    • Television
    • Video Blog
    • writing
    • Writing Quotes
  • Add to Technorati Favorites
  • Digg!
  • Archives

    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.com
  • RSS Screenwriting from Iowa

    • Tony Siragusa (1967-2022)
      “Life is shortEven in its longest days”—John Mellencamp/Longest Days Ten year ago I was hired to field produce and shoot a spot with Super Bowl winner and on-air personality Tony Siragusa. When we were setting up in his New Jersey home, he came into the kitchen and joked, “What are all these people doing in […]
      Scott W. Smith
  • Blogroll—Favorite Posts from Others

    • ASPIRING TO ACT, WRITE, DIRECT—TomCruise.com
    • BURN IT DOWN—John August
    • CASE STUDIES IN FILM EDITING—Oliver Peters
    • DAVID MAMET'S MEMO— Movieline
    • EVERY SALE HAS A STORY—Blake Snyder
    • FILM FINACE OVERWHELM—Stacy Parks
    • IT'S THE CONCEPT STUPID—Max Adams
    • LISTEN TO A MOVIE—Scott Myers
    • MISHA GREEN INTERVIEW—Scriptshadow
    • QUERY LETTER SAMPLE — Michele Wallerstein
    • RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK—Scriptsnotes, Ep 73:
    • THE 'RAIDERS' STORY CONFERENCE—Mystery Man on Film
    • THE "A" LIST—Christopher Lockhart
    • THE SCREENWRITER'S GUIDE TO MOVIE VILLAINS—Screenwriting Spark
    • THE TOTAL FILM-MAKER BY JERRY LEWIS—Cinephilla and Beyond
    • VINCENT LAFORET—chasejarvisLIVE

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Screenwriting from Iowa
    • Join 1,338 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Screenwriting from Iowa
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: