Jack Sparrow is definitely one of the characters Disney the most popular of this first quarter of the 21st century. Thought to be one of the supporting roles in the first film Pirates of the Caribbean, he very quickly became the main character. From his place in the saga to his role in the extended universe, here are X facts you didn't know about Jack Sparrow.
#8 Jack Sparrow had a brief life as an honest sailor before becoming captain of the Black Pearl.
It's in a book unfortunately only aimed at the English-speaking market and titled The Pirates’ Code Guidelines: A Book for Those Who Desire to Keep to the Code and Live a Pirate’s Life as we learn the full origins of Jack Sparrow's ship, the Black Pearl. Jack Sparrow obtained the Black Pearl after a series of extraordinary events. Originally known as the Wicked Wench, this merchant ship belonged to the East India Company, led by Cutler Beckett. Jack, then captain of this ship, revolted by freeing a cargo of slaves. In retaliation, Beckett caused the Wicked Wench to burn and sink, marking Jack as a pirate. Desperate, Jack made a pact with Davy Jones, the captain of the Flying Dutchman. In exchange for one hundred years of service, Davy Jones raised the ship from the depths and Jack renamed the ship Black Pearl. The Black Pearl then became a legend of piracy, but Jack eventually lost control of his ship after a mutiny led by his first master, Hector Barbossa.
#7 Steven Spielberg wanted to create a very different version of Jack Sparrow
Few fans of the saga know it, but one of the first directors to be interested in adaptation of attraction Pirates of the Caribbean was the prestigious multi-Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg. Although he had in his hands a screenplay well and truly written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who also wrote the final script, this Spielberg version a priori featured a very different Jack Sparrow. Indeed, here, Jack would not have been a clever and resourceful character, but rather a trio of somewhat clumsy characters who found themselves somewhat by chance in the adventure.
The idea was a priori to draw inspiration from the dynamics of the film The Three Amigos!and lhe Spielberg trio was made up of three prestigious specialists in American comedy. Thus, this Jack Sparrow trio would have been composed of Steve Martin (already present in The Three Amigos! by the way)Bill Murray and finally Robin Williams.Williams' presence was all the more interesting because it would have allowed the actor, who had previously played Peter Pan in Hook of Spielberg, to find himself this time in the pirate camp. In the end, this version did not convince Disney, who was at that time convinced that no pirate film would interest the public.
#6 Jack was a great hero long before he even sailed the Black Pearl.
Long before becoming the legendary captain of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow already had epic adventures in his youth. In any case, this is what the series of books allows us to discover Pirates of the Caribbean: The Adventures of Young Jack Sparrow by Rob Kidd, which explores the early years of the hero, well before the events of the film The Curse of the Black Pearl or even the introductory scene of Salazar's Vengeance. These novels therefore tell the story of Jack as a young boy dreaming of adventures, who boards pirate ships as a stowaway. Obviously, from the first volume, In the middle of a storm, Jack and his first gang arrive at foil the plans of a dangerous pirate who threatens the world with a sword capable of unleashing terrible storms.
#5 It was Johnny Depp who reinvented Jack Sparrow
After Steven Spielberg's version of the film was rejected by Disney, However, authors Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have not given up on the matter. Ultimately, their script ended up seducing producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who, after producing Michael Bay's first films, wanted to reinvent himself. The character of Jack Sparrow is then reimagined as a seductive crook inspired by the films of Errol Flynn. Jerry Bruckheimer therefore considers for a time actors with the profile of Hollywood hunks such as Matthew McConaughey and Hugh Jackman, who will be seriously considered for the role. However, the producer decides to bet against all odds and especially against Disney's opinion on Johnny Depp.
Johnny Depp, who at that time was above all a star of independent cinema, invested body and soul in the project, and his Jack Sparrow owes him a lot. Even though Depp's tattoos are covered by clothing and smut marks for the film, Depp gets the bird tattoo on his forearm seen in the film. Furthermore, and once again against the studio's advice, Depp asks his dentist to implant 4 real gold teeth for the film. Finally, it is he who creates Jack's very particular approach. The idea was to show that Jack is so used to being at sea that he is not stable once he is on land.
#4 There is an untold Jack Sparrow adventure that we will never see.
In the early 2000s, the immense success of the franchise Pirates of the Caribbean is a success as enormous as it is unexpected. It's quite simple, no one really believed in it, starting with Disney, which initially removed its logo from the first posters. Faced with the success that the film represents, the studio executives are quite disconcerted. While they are delighted to see the money coming in and to have the seeds of a successful new franchise, they don't really seem to know how to make this unexpected profit grow. The simultaneous shooting of the two sequels was launched with a huge budget, but a priori without a finished script, and we begin to think about the simplest way to implement the universe of the film in Disney theme parks. It is also in this period of uncertainty that the production of an animated series Pirates of the Caribbean is launched.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Swashbucklers was the name of the television series that was to be broadcast around the same time period as the film's first two sequels. Unfortunately, given the fairly negative reviews that accompanied the release of the first sequel (56% on Rotten Tomatoes), Disney decides to scale back and cancels the series, which was already well advanced. Numerous agreements had already been concluded for derivative products with McDonald's, Mega Bloks and the Zizzle brand. It is also because some of these derivative products were indeed released that we were able to discover the existence of the project. Mobile video games Cursed Cave Crusade et Depths of the Dutchmanfrom the series' soundtrack, were distributed in Walmart supermarkets, and different elements of the packaging of the various toys even taught us some elements of the plot.
#3 Skyrim developers released a game dedicated to Jack Sparrow
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow is an action-adventure game developed by 7 Studios, but ultimately published by the prestigious studio Bethesda Softworks, notably known for the title Skyrim. Launched in 2006, this game immerses us in a series of new adventures experienced by Jack Sparrow. Although this title has not become a great classic, it has the nice advantage of counting on the participation of Johnny Depp, who lends his voice to his famous character.
The game begins as Jack and Will Turner attempt to steal the skull of Teoxuacata from Panama, but are betrayed and captured. To escape the gallows, Jack entertains the crowd with epic tales: how he ransacked Nassau Harbor without firing a shot, escaped from a desert island on sea turtles, faced off against a Chinese witch and frozen warriors of the North. The story continues in Spanish mines, in the Arctic, then finally on Isla de Muerta. The climax of the play is of course Jack's escape from hanging, thanks to Elizabeth Swann. The final scene features an open ending, where the skull coveted by Jack creates an army of zombie pirates, but, unfortunately, the game was a commercial failure, and the rest of the story was never told.
#2 Jack Sparrow's mother remains a mystery
Jack Sparrow's mother remains an enigmatic figure in the universe of Pirates of the Caribbean. Little information about his life is available, except for one notable event : she gave birth to Jack during a storm at sea. Although Jack often asked his father for details about his mother, he never learned the truth about her fate. After his death, his head was decapitated and shrunk. Her husband, Captain Teague, keeps her head on his belt.. Many clues suggest that Jack's mother may have been part of Edward Teague's crew, although this has never been confirmed.
Jack's father then passed his mother's head to him after the Fourth Court of the Brothers. His mother's shrunken head then becomes an object that Jack seems to care deeply about. He also wears it on his belt during the quest for the Fountain of Youth. Finally, in all likelihood, Jack's mother's head is now endowed with supernatural powers. So, in the game To the end of the worldand, lhis head can absorb the souls of Jack's enemies, and certain visuals of products derived from the (cancelled) series Swashbucklers suggest that she could speak and guide Jack on his missions.
#1 Jack Sparrow's story is different in Kingdom Hearts 2
The games Kingdom Hearts are one of the most popular J-RPG sagas. They combine the universes of Disney and Final Fantasy with original characters, revisiting many iconic Disney stories. Throughout their journey through these classics, the heroes and sometimes their adversaries modify the original plots, proposing “What if” type scenarios which also serve to advance the overall plot of the games. Thus, In Kingdom Hearts IIthe protagonist Sora and his friends visit the world of Pirates of the Caribbean, and this meeting changes the destiny of Jack Sparrow.
Although the story begins by following the broad outlines of the film The Curse of the Black Pearl, events quickly take a different turn. Indeed, while Jack should normally be freed from the curse of Aztec gold with the death of Barbossa, his skeleton state continues due to the intervention of Organization XIII, the antagonists of the game. A member of the Organization, Luxord, steals Aztec gold and summons a boss inspired by Aztec imagery, wielding an imposing weapon reminiscent of a mix of ax and scythe. The player must then fight alongside Jack to defeat this formidable enemy and finally lift the curse.
And if you are passionate about the worlds of Disneyyou can also discover our files, such as These 10 films Disney must have been much darker or 8 facts you didn't know about The Incredibles and 6 facts you didn't know about Timon and Pumbaa.
