Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales lead actor Brenton Thwaites has reflected on his experience, acting opposite Johnny Depp in the film. The original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl premiered over 14 years ago and spawned three sequels — soon to be four. Its hard to believe that a film based on a live-action theme ride at Disneyland and starring offbeat actor Depp in a performance that made Disney execs nervous, could turn into such a large moneymaker. Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow has now become iconic and was welcomed into the pop culture psyche upon the film's premiere.
However, by the time the fourth movie premiered in 2011, the franchise felt tired and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was panned by both critics and audiences. It focuses on Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow while Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley's characters, Will and Elizabeth Turner, were retired. That didn't stop people from watching it, however, as the film pulled in a cool $1.045 billion at the box office. Disney decided to return to what made the first movie work with the fifth outing, Dead Men Tell No Tales, hiring Thwaites to play Will and Elizabeth's son Henry Turner, who seems to be following the same path his father took.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Thwaites described the first scene he acted opposite Depp. Here's what he told the news outlet:
My first scene with [Johnny], if I’m remembering correctly, was the scene where Henry is trying to convince Jack Sparrow to team up with him and find this ancient treasure that could one, help Henry, and two, ultimately save Jack — so, a lot of things going on. I just remember being absolutely terrified, like I’d never acted in my life before doing this scene. I just remember thinking, ‘How am I going to stand there and talk to Johnny Depp for three minutes, opposite a character that I’d grown up with in my teenage years? It’s not going to be possible.
Dead Men Tell No Tales has a lot riding on it. It needs to juggle all the returning characters, including Bloom's buzzed-about return to the franchise, with two all-new lead characters in Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario - while at the same time, serving as a soft reboot to the Pirates of the Caribbean series. That's quite a lot to balance out.
It is also possible that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is now past its prime. The fourth film's creative underperformance put a pause on the film franchise to retool and decide where to go next. Because of that, there's been a six-year hiatus between On Stranger Tides and the upcoming fifth film, giving audiences a chance to move on from the movie series. However, there's always the possibility that co-directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg have made a movie that not only honors the past, but elevates Dead Men Tell No Tales to the next level and revitalizes the franchise.
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Source: Entertainment Weekly
