For all intents and purposes, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) is the protagonist of The Curse of The Black Pearl. It is her journey that we track throughout the film.
And by that hypothesis, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is the secondary protagonist since his character arc is intrinsically bound to that of Elizabeth’s.
But all those words are meaningless.
Elizabeth, Will, Captain Barbossa and the motley crew of colourful characters must stand aside.
Because at precisely 9 minutes and 2 seconds into the movie, a certain Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) saunters into the screen, perched regally over a submerging dinghy, and the film isn’t the same.
He is the crown jewel; the pièce de résistance; the showpiece; the ne plus ultra, take your pick.
17 years later, the name Jack Sparrow is synonymous with Johnny Depp. It’s jarring then to contemplate that they initially wrote the part for Hugh Jackman (hence the ‘Jack’).
The screenwriters originally envisaged Sparrow as a supporting character; he was almost an afterthought.
The first film was a movie, and then Jack was put into it, almost. He doesn’t have the obligations of the plot in the same ways that the other characters have. He meanders his way through, and he kind of affects everybody else.
Gore Verbinski, Director
But Depp took the unbridled essence of Sparrow and ran with it. He surprised everyone at the table read with his off-kilter take on the character.
He plated his teeth gold and decided that the closest proxy for an 18th Century pirate was Rolling Stones' guitarist and friend, Keith Richards.
His approach wasn’t to everyone’s liking. Depp’s performance initially confused Disney executives, who questioned whether the character was drunk or gay.
While watching the rushes, Disney CEO Michael Eisner proclaimed Depp was ruining the film.
Suffice to say, Depp did nothing of the sort. Quite the contrary, in fact. Jack Sparrow was the breakout character. He was the film’s horizon. Savvy?
Depp created something singular. It is a work of unadulterated brilliance. Make no mistake; Jack Sparrow is an inspired creation. That Academy Award nomination was thoroughly justified.
His performance in The Curse of The Black Pearl, all buckle and swash, changed everything.
It turned Depp from a somewhat nebbish character actor to a card-carrying leading man. And it made Jack Sparrow the undisputed lead of the Pirates franchise going forward.
Elizabeth and Will departed with 2007’s At World’s End. Cap’n Jack kept at it, raiding, pillaging, plundering and otherwise pilfering his weaselly black guts out for another 10 years.
And me hearties, that’s got to be the best pirate I’ve ever seen.