There's a lot of different players in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, but perhaps the most perplexing is Paul McCartney's cameo. The return of Captain Jack Sparrow brings with it most of the previous leads - naturally, Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa is back to chew up the scenery like it's a bushel of apples but so is original trilogy icon Will Turner - and some fresh faces of significant importance - villains with scores to settle and children of said icons on an adventure. Within that cast, though, is the former Beatle.
McCartney was announced for the film back in May 2016 and as the movie's Memorial Day release reared into view took an odd position in the marketing, with the musician sharing a poster featuring his barely recognizable character that seemed to suggest he was going to have a semi-substantial role.
Of course, he isn't the first music revolutionary to appear in the series. Johnny Depp famously based Jack's flamboyant approach to privateering on The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards, leading to the guitarist appearing in At World's End and later On Stranger Tides as Captain Teague, Sparrow's father. In both films his scenes were brief, tongue-in-cheek nods to the behind-the-scenes inspiration, but became fan-favorite moments in the series regardless. Getting a member of the rival band seemed to be some sort of extension of the joke, although if that's the case the punchline is a bit odd.
In the end, McCartney gets a single scene - and a very short one at that. Early on in the film Jack finds himself in prison and during his inevitable escape comes across his Uncle Jack in another cell - yes, he's Sparrow's nakesake. Paul's character is thus presumably Teague's brother and seems more than at home in jail, happily playing cards and joking (his gag of choice involves a skeleton walking into a bar and asking for a beer and a mop) while his nephew escapes; he flippantly discusses a routine beating from soft-handing Victor. After that, though, Jackie isn't seen again and the audience is left wondering what was all the fuss about. All that hype for a nothing bit part?
It's possible that changes were actually made to the cameo. As first reported, the cameo was part of a big action set piece added during reshoots that featured McCartney prominently. The sequence those stories were talking about is presumably the jail break and subsequent guillotine escape and thus the reports of a key role were an exaggeration, but on the flipside it may be that a punchline to the appearance was planned but ditched for whatever reason.
The backstory of the scene that since been revealed may provide a bit more of an answer. It turns out that the brief moment wasn't originally intended for McCartney but as a second reprise for Richards. Speaking to USA Today, the film's co-producer Espen Sandberg said those plans fell through due to "touring commitments" and the Beatle was settled upon almost as a joke gone wrong:
"So we needed another rocker and on top of our list was Paul McCartney. And Johnny said, 'Well, I have his number.' And of course Johnny has Paul McCartney's number. So he started texting him. And it went back and forth. And then [Paul] said yes. So we were super happy."
When you imagine Paul's scene with Keith in his place is suddenly makes a lot more sense; all it's doing is extending a three movie in-joke and so the brevity is less perplexing. But that doesn't explain the weirdness of his marketing placement - or address the Kraken they've unleashed.
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The Marketing Concern
Part of the reason the cameo wound up feeling so odd may lie in the marketing, or rather the fact that film was sold on the character at all. There's been a rather conspicuous quirk in Pirates 5's trailers where Captain Jack, the series' icon who's powered it to box office dominance, had limited presence; he was entirely absent from the first teaser and only appeared briefly at the end of the second. It's possible that, as the film is positioning itself as a leagcy-quel, that this was an attempt to tease out the character a la Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, given how poor Depp's films have performed at the box office since On Stranger Tides in 2011 - you just need to say the names The Lone Ranger, Mortdecai and Dark Shadows to send studio execs running a mile - and the further mars to the actor's name from his divorce and stories of his antics on set, it seems that Disney aren't too sure on his ability to carry the film.
Paul comes into this theory as he's an organic draw. When the marketing needed a boost a couple of weeks before release, one that could be used to create alternate hype; what was originally written as a cheeky wink to one of the franchise's previous cheeky winks suddenly became a front-and-center tactic. This isn't definitely what's happened, but taking in everything we know about Dead Men seems the logical conclusion.
Will More Musicians Get Pirates of the Caribbean Cameos?
At this point it's clear that Disney's plan is for Pirates of the Caribbean to run and run. Each movie always ended with a tease for the future but none more pointed that Dead Men - after rounding off Will Turner's journey it looks like the next film will bring back Davy Jones - which possibly means there's a greater future for Paul, as there was for Keith. And here's where it gets interesting. Jack's Dad is a Rolling Stone. His Uncle is a Beatle. Surely this is a thread that can be pulled. Like how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 introduced the older original team, perhaps Pirates will likewise give us the generation of captains before Jack. Maybe his entire family is made up of famous musicians who'll keep popping up in various eccentric guises.
With that in mind, who's next? The dream inclusions would have been the late Lou Reed or David Bowie, who sadly passed in 2013 and 2016 respectively. Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys would be fitting given the idea of competition, although is American, and any of The Who, Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd would be good value. Although perhaps we should stay in the family and bring in the likes of Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood or Ringo Star. It's playing to an audience completely apart from those who typically gravitate towards Jack, but would be nirvana for fans of the late-1960s/early-1970s music scene (and sure to create some goodwill to bump up the mixed reviews).
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Paul McCartney's Pirates of the Caribbean cameo is weird ultimately for being entirely unremarkable. There's nothing of real worth to it, which goes directly against the point of casting such a big name and having him on posters. When you consider it's all something of an accident it's a bit more acceptable, but now the question is whether Disney will take advantage of the Pandora's Box they've opened.
