Johnny Depp Says He Was Almost Fired From ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’

Not everyone was initially impressed with Johnny Depp in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. According to the actor, the folks at Disney tried their best to fire him from the flick.

The actor’s performance as the lovable scalawag Captain Jack Sparrow is what made the franchise so popular. The film went on to spawn three sequels, and a fifth installment is said to be underway. However, the suits at Disney weren’t exactly impressed with Depp’s depiction of the pirate at first.

“I was probably as close to getting fired as anyone could be. They wanted to fire me so bad they could taste it. I spoke to one of the execs at the time and said, ‘You’re right, you should fire me – but you’ll have to pay me for my time,” the actor said during his chat with Metro.

He continued, “They couldn’t understand what I was doing. They didn’t understand the character. They were actually contemplating subtitling the film.”

It’s definitely a good thing Disney didn’t kick Johnny Depp off director Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film was a huge success in the United States; the picture generated a very healthy $305 million.

Once its trip around the world was finished, the film had scored $654 million from the global box office. Depp even managed to score an Oscar nomination for his performance. His turn in the flick definitely worked out for the best.

The actor’s relationship with Disney has certainly flourished over the years. Not only did Depp star in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, he also appeared in Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and, more recently, the box office bomb The Lone Ranger.

Are you surprised that Johnny Depp was almost fired from Pirates of the Caribbean?

[Image via Buena Vista / Walt Disney Pictures]