Why Pirates Of The Caribbean Felt Like 'Infiltrating The Enemy Camp' To Johnny Depp

Early in his career, Johnny Depp was largely known for his offbeat roles in director Tim Burton's films, including "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood." As such, it initially seemed like an odd choice for Depp to play Captain Jack Sparrow in 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," especially since the source material was a Disney theme park ride.

In a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone (via The Johnny Depp Zone), Depp said while he felt a bit strange breaking new ground in his career by doing a family-friendly Disney film, he didn't sign on to star in "Pirates" for the sake of being in what may or may not become a commercial hit.

"I've never been the guy who can predict, 'This f***er's going to go through the roof' or 'This one will take a giant dump.' And up until halfway through round nine, everyone, including Disney, was thinking, 'This is going to be a huge flop,'" Depp admitted.

One thing was for certain: Depp told Rolling Stone that he believed that he never felt compromised during filming, even as the studio was asking him to approve his images on cereal boxes. "It wasn't like selling out to me," Depp said. "It was like I had infiltrated the enemy camp and stuck my flag in, and now it's taken root and you're on the ride, so let's see where it goes.' Friends of mine were going, 'Jesus, man, isn't that a little mortifying?' And I said, 'F**k, no! I think it's great. It's funny to me.'"

And the actor's instincts were right, as Captain Jack is easily among Depp's best movie and TV roles to date.

In the Rolling Stone interview, Johnny Depp revealed that his opportunity to star in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" came about as he was turning down another Disney film offer. Depp told the publication that since he was very familiar with Disney's family fare after watching a number of Disney animated projects with his then-3-year-old daughter, he was first open to exploring a role in the animated realm. "I'd gotten quite close to these movies and enjoyed the fact that these cartoon characters were without limits," the actor said. "So, I was telling them how much I'd like to do a voice for a kiddie film, and they said, 'Are you familiar with the theme park and rides? Well, we're thinking of doing Pirates of the Caribbean as a film.' And I said, 'I'm in.' Just like that, immediately. My agent was sitting there, and she was really shocked. I was a little shocked myself."

Depp, naturally, researched the life of pirates once he boarded "The Black Pearl," and given his findings it's easy to see why he played Captain Jack Sparrow as a rum-drinking, stumbling, bumbling scallywag. "The nutrition onboard those ships, that was a real eye-opener," Depp recalled for Rolling Stone. "They'd eat by candlelight, below deck, and be so sickened by the food that they'd blow out the candles, so they didn't have to see the maggots. Pirate ships were kind of floating prisons, really."

"Pirates" earned the performer his first best actor Oscar nomination and its 2006 sequel "Dead Man's Chest" became Depp's highest-grossing film. Depp played Captain Jack in five "Pirates" films, with the last being "Dead Men Tell No Tales" in 2017.