Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a 2006
adventureAdventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
fantasy filmFantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
and the second film of the
Pirates of the Caribbean seriesPirates of the Caribbean is a series of fantasy-adventure films directed by Gore Verbinski and Rob Marshall , written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, following
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 adventure fantasy film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
(2003). It was directed by
Gore VerbinskiGregor "Gore" Verbinski is an American film director, writer and musician. He is best known for directing the films The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Rango.-Early life:...
, written by
Ted ElliottTed Elliott is an American screenwriter. Along with his writing partner Terry Rossio, Elliott has written some of the most successful American films of the past 15 years, including Aladdin, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild...
and
Terry RossioTerry Rossio is an American screenwriter.Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio,...
, and produced by
Jerry BruckheimerJerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...
. In the film, the marriage of
Will TurnerWilliam "Will" Turner, Jr. is a central character in the first three titles of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He is played by Orlando Bloom . Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal...
(
Orlando BloomOrlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...
) and
Elizabeth SwannElizabeth Swann is a major character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. She appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End...
(
Keira KnightleyKeira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...
) is interrupted by Lord
Cutler BeckettLord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character portrayed by Tom Hollander in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He appears as a main antagonist in Dead Man's Chest and in At World's End...
(
Tom HollanderThomas Anthony "Tom" Hollander is a British actor who has appeared in productions such as Enigma, Gosford Park, Cambridge Spies, Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean, In the Loop, Valkyrie and Hanna.-Early life:Tom Hollander was born in Bristol and raised in Oxford, Oxfordshire, the son...
), who wants Turner to acquire Sparrow's compass, and Captain Jack Sparrow (
Johnny DeppJohn Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
) discovers his debt to
Davy JonesDavy Jones is a fictional character and antagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Davy Jones is the captain of the Flying Dutchman , roaming the seas in search of souls to serve upon his vessel for a century...
(
Bill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
) is due.
Two sequels to
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl were conceived in 2004, with Elliott and Rossio developing a story arc that would span both films. Filming took place from February to September 2005 in
Palos VerdesPalos Verdes is a name often used to refer to a group of coastal cities in the Palos Verdes Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S...
, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, and The Bahamas, as well as on sets constructed at
Walt Disney StudiosThe Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serve as the international headquarters for media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Studio's house offices for each of the company's divisions along with creative spaces designed for movie production. The Walt Disney...
. It was shot back-to-back with the third film of the series,
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was released in the United States on July 7, 2006. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for its special effects and criticism for its plot and running time. Despite this, it set several records in its first three days, with an opening weekend of $136 million in the United States, and it was, at the time, the fastest film ever to gross over $1 billion in the worldwide box office. As of October 2011, it ranks as the
6th highest-grossing film of all time worldwide and the highest-grossing film by
Walt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
. The film received 4 Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and won the
Academy Award for Visual EffectsThe Academy Award for Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects.-History of the award:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects to movies at its inaugural dinner in 1928, presenting a...
.
Plot
The wedding for
Will TurnerWilliam "Will" Turner, Jr. is a central character in the first three titles of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He is played by Orlando Bloom . Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal...
and
Elizabeth SwannElizabeth Swann is a major character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. She appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End...
is disrupted with the arrival of Lord
Cutler BeckettLord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character portrayed by Tom Hollander in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He appears as a main antagonist in Dead Man's Chest and in At World's End...
of the
East India Trading Co.The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
who has warrants to arrest the two and former Commodore
James NorringtonJames Norrington, CB is a fictional character in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He is played by English actor Jack Davenport.-Character history:...
for helping Captain Jack Sparrow to evade his
hangingHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. Elizabeth is imprisoned while Beckett negotiates with Will to locate Jack and retrieve his compass which has the ability to point in the direction of what a person most desires. At the same time, Jack Sparrow reveals to his crew on the
Black Pearl that they are going to find a mysterious key. Jack is approached by Bootstrap Bill Turner, Will's long-deceased father, who reveals he is now part of the crew of
The Flying DutchmanThe legend of the Flying Dutchman concerns a ghost ship that can never make port, doomed to sail the oceans forever. It probably originates from 17th-century nautical folklore. The oldest extant version dates to the late 18th century....
captained by
Davy JonesDavy Jones is a fictional character and antagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Davy Jones is the captain of the Flying Dutchman , roaming the seas in search of souls to serve upon his vessel for a century...
, and Jack must pay his debt to him – Jack asking Jones to raise his ship from the depths and make him captain for thirteen years. In exchange, Jack must now serve aboard the
Dutchman for 100 years. Bootstrap further tells Jack that Jones' beast, the Kraken, will be sent after him unless he pays his debt. In panic, Jack sails the
Black Pearl to the nearest land.
Will searches for Jack, eventually finding the
Black Pearl on Pelegosto where a tribe of cannibals worship Jack as a god and plan to eat him. Jack, Will and surviving crew members escape the island, joined by
Pintel and RagettiPintel and Ragetti are recurring pirate characters in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series of films, primarily providing comic relief throughout each film...
, former members of the
Black Pearl crew who escaped execution. Elizabeth escapes jail with help from her father Weatherby Swann but he is captured while Elizabeth is sent off by Beckett to offer Letters of Marque to Jack in return for the compass. Jack and his crew visit voodoo priestess
Tia DalmaTia Dalma, played by Naomie Harris, is a fictional character from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and a primary character in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in which a significant amount of the plot revolves around her and her powers...
, who tells them that the key unlocks the Dead Man's Chest where Davy Jones' cut-out heart is hidden; the key is in possession of Jones. Tia also gives Jack a jar of dirt to protect him from Jones, since Jones is cursed to touch land only once every ten years.
Upon finding a damaged ship, Jack sends Will aboard to "settle" his debt with Jones. Will is captured by the fish-like crewmen of the
Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones reunites with Jack, forcing him to gather one-hundred souls in three days for his deal to be called off. Will is drafted onto the
Dutchman, where he meets his father, Bootstrap Bill. After tricking Jones into revealing the location of the key, Will manages to steal it from Jones while he is sleeping and escapes the ship with the promise to rescue Bootstrap. Jack and his crew stop in Tortuga, where Elizabeth and a drunken Norrington now a pirate himself join them.
Jack and his first mate
Joshamee GibbsJoshamee Gibbs, often referred to as Mr. Gibbs, Master Gibbs, or simply Gibbs, is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, played by Kevin McNally and voiced by Steven Jay Blum in video game adaptations .-Character overview:Gibbs is a generally...
realize that Beckett wants the compass to seek the chest and use Jones' heart to control him and destroy all piracy on the seas. Will finds refuge on a trading ship, but it is destroyed by the Kraken. The
Black Pearl sails to Isla Cruces where the chest is buried, and Jack, Elizabeth and Norrington recover it. Will arrives with the key, planning to stab the heart to free his father, unaware that whoever stabs the heart becomes the next captain of the
Flying Dutchman. Norrington wants the heart to regain his position in the Navy which he lost after losing his ship and crew through a hurricane while chasing Sparrow, while Jack is interested in using the heart to threaten Jones and call off his debt.
Quickly, the argument about the heart's fate flares tempers, and a three-way sword fight breaks out between Jack, Will and Norrington. While Pintel and Ragetti try to steal the chest, Jones' crew arrives on the island, forcing Elizabeth, Pintel and Ragetti to fight them together, causing the chest to be dropped. Jack unlocks the chest, finds the heart inside, and hides it in the jar of dirt Tia Dalma gave him. Norrington spirits away the heart and the Letters of Marque, while Jack believes the heart is still in the jar. Later, the
Flying Dutchman attacks the
Black Pearl which escapes the
Dutchman but is then attacked by the Kraken. Jack tries to sail back to the island to escape, but returns to help defeat the Kraken, wounding it with an explosion, but the ship is heavily damaged and most of the crew are dead, leaving only Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti, Cotton and Marty. Jack orders everyone to abandon ship, but Elizabeth, having realized that the Kraken is only after Jack and not the ship or crew, chains him to the mast to ensure the crew's survival.
Jack frees himself, but the Kraken rises up behind him. In a final act of defiance, Jack goes down fighting, hurling himself at the Kraken as the monster drags the
Pearl and him to the depths, which Jones watches from his telescope. After he declares Jack's debt settled, Jones then opens the chest to find the heart missing, which is delivered to Beckett by Norrington who is then Appointed an Admiral of the EITC by Beckett. The surviving members of the
Black Pearl return to Tia Dalma, who suggests they retrieve Jack from the afterlife, but recommends a captain who knows those waters. Then, to everyone's surprise, a resurrected
Captain BarbossaHector Barbossa is a fictional character and pirate in the Disney film series Pirates of the Caribbean. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the main antagonist of the first film, and pirate captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack...
arrives, asking "what has become of my ship?".
In a humorous
post-credits sceneA post-credits scene is a short clip that appears after some or all of the closing credits of a film have run...
, it is shown that the prison guard dog from the first film has been made the new god of Pelegosto and is seen carrying a big bone.
Cast
- Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
as Captain Jack Sparrow:
- Captain of the Black Pearl. He is hunted by the Kraken because of his unpaid blood debt to Davy Jones. He is also searching for the Dead Man's Chest to free himself from Jones' servitude.
- Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...
as Will TurnerWilliam "Will" Turner, Jr. is a central character in the first three titles of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He is played by Orlando Bloom . Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal...
:
- A blacksmith-turned-pirate who strikes a deal with Cutler Beckett to find Jack Sparrow and his compass so he can save both himself and his fiancée Elizabeth from execution. Later he is reunited with, and seeks to free, his father, who owes a lifetime of servitude to Davy Jones. He is heartbroken when he sees Elizabeth kiss Jack, as he believes she loves Jack, unaware of the fact that the kiss was a trap so she could save herself, Will and the crew.
- Keira Knightley
Keira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...
as Elizabeth SwannElizabeth Swann is a major character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. She appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End...
:
- Governor Swann's daughter and Will's fiancée, who is arrested on her wedding day for helping Captain Jack Sparrow escape. Escaping jail with help from her father, she meets up with Jack in Tortuga and joins his crew to search for both Will and the chest. Her engagement to Will is broken after he sees her kiss Jack, though the kiss was a trap so she could save herself, Will and the crew. It is implied she still loves Will.
- Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
as Davy JonesDavy Jones is a fictional character and antagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Davy Jones is the captain of the Flying Dutchman , roaming the seas in search of souls to serve upon his vessel for a century...
:
- Captain of the Flying Dutchman. The main antagonist, Davy Jones was once a human being. Unable to bear the pain of losing his true love, he carved out his heart and put it into the Dead Man's Chest, then buried it in a secret location. He has become a bizarre creature – part octopus, part crab, part man – and collects the souls of dead or dying sailors to serve aboard his ship for one hundred years.
- Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport is an English actor, best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in many other Hollywood films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley...
as James NorringtonJames Norrington, CB is a fictional character in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He is played by English actor Jack Davenport.-Character history:...
:
- He resigned his commission as Commodore in the Royal Navy after losing his ship and crew in a hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...
in the pursuit of Jack Sparrow and his crew. Fallen on hard times and into alcoholism, he joins the Black Pearls crew and seeks to regain his honor and career.
- Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
as Bootstrap Bill Turner:
- A crewman aboard the Flying Dutchman who so happens to be Will Turner's father. He was once part of Hector Barbossa
Hector Barbossa is a fictional character and pirate in the Disney film series Pirates of the Caribbean. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the main antagonist of the first film, and pirate captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack...
's crew. When they went to give mutiny to Jack, he disagreed. Thrown overboard after refusing to take part in the mutiny against Jack led by Barbossa, he spent years bound to a cannon beneath the crushing ocean, though before this, he sent one peice of the Aztec Gold to his son, Will, saying they all deserved to be cursed. Found by Davy Jones, he swore to servitude aboard the Flying Dutchman crew and escaped death. This story was told by Pintel to Will and Jack's crew in the first movie.
- Kevin McNally
Kevin McNally is an English actor who has worked in theatre and radio extensively as well as in film and television.-Life and career:...
as Joshamee GibbsJoshamee Gibbs, often referred to as Mr. Gibbs, Master Gibbs, or simply Gibbs, is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, played by Kevin McNally and voiced by Steven Jay Blum in video game adaptations .-Character overview:Gibbs is a generally...
:
- The Black Pearl's first mate and Jack Sparrow's loyal friend, he once served in the Royal Navy under Lieutenant James Norrington
James Norrington, CB is a fictional character in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He is played by English actor Jack Davenport.-Character history:...
.
- Tom Hollander
Thomas Anthony "Tom" Hollander is a British actor who has appeared in productions such as Enigma, Gosford Park, Cambridge Spies, Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean, In the Loop, Valkyrie and Hanna.-Early life:Tom Hollander was born in Bristol and raised in Oxford, Oxfordshire, the son...
as Lord Cutler BeckettLord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character portrayed by Tom Hollander in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He appears as a main antagonist in Dead Man's Chest and in At World's End...
:
- Sarcastic chairman of the East India Trading Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, he travels to Port Royal to capture and recruit Jack Sparrow as a privateer. What he really desires is Davy Jones' heart, with which he can rule the seas with Jones' commanded servitude. He takes the position as secondary antagonist which Norrington held in the first movie.
- Lee Arenberg
Lee Arenberg is an American actor, best known for his role as Pintel, one of Captain Barbossa's crew of miscreants, in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.-Career:...
as PintelPintel and Ragetti are recurring pirate characters in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series of films, primarily providing comic relief throughout each film...
:
- A pirate and former Black Pearl crewmember under Captain Barbossa
Hector Barbossa is a fictional character and pirate in the Disney film series Pirates of the Caribbean. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the main antagonist of the first film, and pirate captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack...
, he was imprisoned after the Aztec curse was broken, but escaped to rejoin Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl crew.
- Mackenzie Crook
Paul Mackenzie Crook is a British actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Gareth Keenan in The Office and Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.-Life and career:...
as RagettiPintel and Ragetti are recurring pirate characters in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series of films, primarily providing comic relief throughout each film...
:
- Pintel's inseparable crewmate. He has a wooden eye, and despite being illiterate, has begun "reading" the Bible, with the excuse that "you get credit for trying."
- Naomie Harris
Naomie Melanie Harris is an English screen actress. She is best known for her starring role as Selena in 28 Days Later, as well as her supporting turn as Tia Dalma/Calypso in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films...
as Tia DalmaTia Dalma, played by Naomie Harris, is a fictional character from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and a primary character in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in which a significant amount of the plot revolves around her and her powers...
:
- An obeah
Obeah is a term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices derived from West African, and specifically Igbo origin. Obeah is similar to other African derived religions including Palo, Voodoo, Santería, rootwork, and most of all hoodoo...
priestess who Jack Sparrow bartered with for his magic compass. She explains the legendA legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
of Davy Jones, in addition to owning a similar locket to his.
- David Bailie
David Bailie is a British actor, known for his performances on stage, television and film. In the '60s and '70s he worked for both the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he was an associate artist. On TV he played "Dask" in the 1977 Doctor Who serial The Robots of Death, and...
as Cotton:
- A sailor who lost his tongue and trained his parrot to talk for him.
- Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
as Governor Weatherby Swann:
- Elizabeth's father and governor of Port Royal
Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...
. He adores his daughter but puts little faith in Will – not considering him the best match for Elizabeth.
- Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
as Captain Hector BarbossaHector Barbossa is a fictional character and pirate in the Disney film series Pirates of the Caribbean. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the main antagonist of the first film, and pirate captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack...
:
- The ex-captain of the Black Pearl is resurrected during this film; however, he does not appear until the final scene. Having met his demise in the previous installment, Barbossa is resurrected by the character Tia Dalma and agrees to rescue Jack Sparrow in order to save the Black Pearl. For this role, Rush was uncredited to keep his return a surprise.
Development
Following the success of
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 adventure fantasy film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
(2003), the cast and crew signed on for two more sequels to be shot back-to-back, a practical decision on Disney's part to allow more time with the same cast and crew. Writer Ted ElliottTed Elliott is an American screenwriter. Along with his writing partner Terry Rossio, Elliott has written some of the most successful American films of the past 15 years, including Aladdin, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild...
and Terry RossioTerry Rossio is an American screenwriter.Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio,...
decided not to make the sequels new adventures featuring the same characters, as with the Indiana Jones
and James BondThe James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
series, but to retroactively turn The Curse of the Black Pearl
into the first of a trilogy. They wanted to explore the reality of what would happen after Will TurnerWilliam "Will" Turner, Jr. is a central character in the first three titles of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He is played by Orlando Bloom . Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal...
and Elizabeth SwannElizabeth Swann is a major character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. She appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End...
's embrace at the end of the first film, and initially considered the Fountain of YouthThe Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted across the world for thousands of years, appearing in writings by Herodotus, the Alexander romance, and the stories of Prester John...
as the plot device. They settled on introducing Davy JonesDavy Jones is a fictional character and antagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Davy Jones is the captain of the Flying Dutchman , roaming the seas in search of souls to serve upon his vessel for a century...
, the Flying Dutchman
and the Kraken. They also introduced the historical East India Trading CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, who for them represented a counterpoint to the themes of personal freedom represented by pirates.
Planning on the film began in June 2004, and production was much larger than The Curse of the Black Pearl
, which was only shot on location in St. VincentSaint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
. This time, the sequels would require fully working ships, with a working Black PearlThe Black Pearl, originally Wicked Wench, is a fictional ship in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. In the screenplay, the Black Pearl is easily recognized by her distinctive black hull and sails. The ship was originally named Wicked Wench before she was ordered burned and sunk by Lord Beckett...
built over the body of an oil tanker in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. By November, the script was still unfinished as the writers did not want director
Gore VerbinskiGregor "Gore" Verbinski is an American film director, writer and musician. He is best known for directing the films The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Rango.-Early life:...
and producer
Jerry BruckheimerJerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...
to compromise what they had written, so Verbinski worked with James Byrkit to storyboard major sequences without need of a script, while Elliott and Rossio wrote a "preparatory" script for the crew to use before they finished the script they were happy with. By January 2005, with rising costs and no script, Disney threatened to cancel the film, but changed their minds. The writers would accompany the crew on location, feeling that the lateness of their rewrites would improve the spontaneity of the cast's performances.
Filming
Filming for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
began on February 28, 2005, in Palos VerdesPalos Verdes is a name often used to refer to a group of coastal cities in the Palos Verdes Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S...
, beginning with Elizabeth's ruined wedding day. The crew spent the first shooting days at Walt Disney StudiosThe Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serve as the international headquarters for media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Studio's house offices for each of the company's divisions along with creative spaces designed for movie production. The Walt Disney...
in Los Angeles, including the interiors of the Black Pearl
and the Edinburgh Trader which Elizabeth stows away on, before moving to St. Vincent to shoot the scenes in
Port RoyalPort Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...
and Tortuga. Sets from the previous film were reused, having survived three hurricanes, although the main pier had to be rebuilt as it had collapsed in November. The crew had four tall ships at their disposal to populate the backgrounds, which were painted differently on each side for economy. One of the ships used was the replica of the
HMS BountyHMS Bounty , famous as the scene of the Mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April 1789, was originally a three-masted cargo ship, the Bethia, purchased by the British Admiralty, then modified and commissioned as His Majesty's Armed Vessel the...
used in the 1962
film adaptationFilm adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of
Mutiny on the BountyMutiny on the Bounty is a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard based on the novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The film retells the 1789 real-life mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty led by Fletcher Christian against the ship's captain, William Bligh...
.
On April 18, 2005, the crew began shooting at Dominica, a location Verbinski had selected as he felt it fitted the sense of remoteness he was looking for. That was exactly the problem during production: the Dominican government were completely unprepared for the scale of a Hollywood production, with the 500-strong crew occupying around 90% of the roads on the island and having trouble moving around on the underdeveloped roads. The weather also alternated between torrential rainstorms and hot temperatures, the latter of which was made worse for the cast who had to wear period clothing. At Dominica, the sequences involving the Pelegosto and the forest segment of the battle on Isla Cruces were shot. Verbinski preferred to use practical props for the giant wheel and bone cage sequences, feeling long close-up shots would help further suspend the audience's disbelief. Dominica was also used for
Tia DalmaTia Dalma, played by Naomie Harris, is a fictional character from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and a primary character in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in which a significant amount of the plot revolves around her and her powers...
's shack. Filming on the island concluded on May 26, 2005.
The crew moved to a small island called White Cay in the Bahamas for the beginning and end of the Isla Cruces battle, before production took a break until August, where in Los Angeles the interiors of the Flying Dutchman
were shot. On September 18, 2005, the crew moved to Grand Bahama Island to shoot ship exteriors, including the working Black Pearl
and Flying Dutchman. Filming there was a tumultuous period, starting with the fact that the tank had not actually been finished. The hurricane season caused many pauses in shooting, and
Hurricane WilmaHurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the twenty-second storm , thirteenth hurricane, sixth major hurricane, and fourth Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season...
damaged many of the accessways and pumps, though no one was hurt nor were any of the ships destroyed. Filming completed on September 10, 2005.
Special effects
The
Flying DutchmanThe Flying Dutchman, or simply referred to as the Dutchman, is a powerful ship of the Caribbean seas in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. The ship made its first appearance in Dead Man's Chest under the command of the fictional captain, Davy Jones...
s crew members were originally conceived by writers
Ted ElliottTed Elliott is an American screenwriter. Along with his writing partner Terry Rossio, Elliott has written some of the most successful American films of the past 15 years, including Aladdin, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild...
and
Terry RossioTerry Rossio is an American screenwriter.Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio,...
as ghosts, but
Gore VerbinskiGregor "Gore" Verbinski is an American film director, writer and musician. He is best known for directing the films The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Rango.-Early life:...
disliked this and designed them as physical creatures. Their hierarchy is reflected by how mutated they were: newcomers had low level infections which resemble
rosaceaRosacea is a chronic condition characterized by facial erythema . Pimples are sometimes included as part of the definition. Unless it affects the eyes, it is typically a harmless cosmetic condition...
, while the most mutated had full-blown undersea creature attributes. Verbinski wanted to keep them realistic, rejecting a character with a
turtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
shell, and the animators watched various
David AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
documentaries to study the movement of sea anemones and mussels. All of the crew are computer-generated, with the exception of
Stellan SkarsgårdStellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
, who played "Bootstrap" Bill Turner. Initially his prosthetics would be augmented with CGI but that was abandoned. Skarsgård spent four hours in the make-up chair and was dubbed "
BouillabaisseBouillabaisse is a seafood soup made with various kinds of cooked fish and shellfish and vegetables, flavored with a variety of herbs and spices such as garlic, orange peel, basil, bay leaf, fennel and saffron. Bouillabaisse is a traditional Provençal fish stew originating from the port city of...
" on set.
Captain
Davy JonesDavy Jones is a fictional character and antagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Davy Jones is the captain of the Flying Dutchman , roaming the seas in search of souls to serve upon his vessel for a century...
had originally been designed with chin growths, before the designers made the move to full-blown tentacles; the skin of the character is based on a blurred version of the texture of a coffee-stained Styrofoam cup. To portray Jones on set,
Bill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
wore a
motion captureMotion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
tracksuit that meant the animators at Industrial Light & Magic did not have to reshoot the scene in the studio without him or on the motion capture stage. Nighy wore make-up around his eyes and mouth to splice into the
computer-generatedThe term computer-generated most often refers to a sound or visual that has been created in whole or in part with the aid of computer software...
shots, but the images of his eyes and mouth were not used. Nighy only wore a prosthetic once, with blue-colored tentacles for when
Will TurnerWilliam "Will" Turner, Jr. is a central character in the first three titles of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He is played by Orlando Bloom . Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal...
(
Orlando BloomOrlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...
) steals the key to the Dead Man's Chest from under his "beard" as he sleeps. To create the CG version of the character, the model was closely based on a full-body scan of Nighy, with Jones reflecting his high cheekbones. Animators studied every frame of Nighy's performance: the actor himself had blessed them by making his performance more quirky than expected, providing endless fun for them. His performance also meant new controls had to be stored. Finally, Jones' tentacles are mostly a simulation, though at times they were hand-animated when they act as limbs for the character.
The Kraken was difficult to animate as it had no real-life reference, until animation director Hal Hickel instructed the crew to watch
King Kong vs. Godzillais a 1962 Japanese science fiction kaiju film produced by Toho Studios. Directed by Ishirō Honda with visual effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, and Mie Hama. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of films featuring the monster Godzilla...
which had a real octopus crawling over miniatures. On the set, two pipes filled with 30,000 pounds of cement were used to crash and split the
Edinburgh Trader: Completing the illusion are miniature masts and falling stuntmen shot on a bluescreen stage. The scene where the Kraken spits at Jack Sparrow does not use computer-generated spit: it was real
gungeGunge as it is known in the British Isles, or slime as it is known in America and other parts of the world is a thick, gooey, runny substance similar in consistency to paint. It has been a feature on many children's programmes for many years around the world and has made appearances in game shows...
thrown at
Johnny DeppJohn Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
.
Reception
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest premiered at Disneyland in California on June 24, 2006. It was the first Disney film to use the new computer-generated Disney
production logoA production logo, vanity card, vanity plate, vanity logo or vogo is a logo used by movie studios and television production companies to brand what they produce. Vanity logos are usually seen at the beginning of a theatrical movie , or at the end of a television program or TV movie...
, which took a year for the studio to design, although the film trailer and television advertisements for the film did use one of the two previous logos.
Box-office performance
Dead Man's Chest earned $423,315,812 in the
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and $642,863,913 in other territories, summing up to $1,066,179,725 worldwide. It ranks as the sixth highest-grossing film worldwide, the highest-grossing
DisneyWalt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
film worldwide. In North America, it achieved the largest opening and single-day gross with $55.8 million, beating the record of
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and biggest opening weekend gross with $135.6 million, beating 2002's
Spider-ManSpider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...
, before being topped by
Spider-Man 3Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. It is the third film in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man...
. It closed in theaters on December 7, 2006, with $415.3 million. Overseas, it set opening weekend records in several countries.
Critical reception
After months of anticipation and industry hype, reviews for
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest were mixed to positive, as the film scored a 54% rating on
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
with an average rating of 6/10. Among the positive critics were Michael Booth of the Denver Post, who awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, praising it as "two hours and 20 minutes of escapism that once again makes the movies safe for guilt-free fun."
Drew McWeenyDrew McWeeny , also known by his pseudonym Moriarty, is a film critic, screenwriter, and the former west coast editor of the Ain't It Cool News website...
was highly positive, comparing the film to
The Empire Strikes Back, and also acclaimed its darkness in its depiction of the crew of the
Flying DutchmanThe Flying Dutchman, or simply referred to as the Dutchman, is a powerful ship of the Caribbean seas in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. The ship made its first appearance in Dead Man's Chest under the command of the fictional captain, Davy Jones...
and its cliffhanger. The completely
computer-generatedComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
Davy Jones turned out to be so realistic that some reviewers mistakenly identified Nighy as wearing
prosthetic makeupProsthetic makeup is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects...
.
On the other hand, critic Paul Arendt of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
negatively compared it to
The Matrix ReloadedThe Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science fiction film and the second installment in The Matrix trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowskis. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and went on general release by Warner Bros. in North American theaters on May 15,...
, as a complex film that merely led onto the next film. Richard George felt a "better construct of
Dead Man's Chest and
At World's End would have been to take 90 minutes of Chest, mix it with all of End and then cut that film in two." Alex Billington felt the third film "almost makes the second film in the series obsolete or dulls it down enough that we can accept it in our trilogy DVD collections without ever watching it."
Accolades
At the
79th Academy AwardsThe 79th Academy Awards ceremony , honored the best films of 2006 and took place on February 25, 2007 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC. Ellen DeGeneres hosted the ceremony for the first time. The producer was Laura Ziskin. The announcers were Don LaFontaine and Gina Tuttle.The nominees were...
, visual effects supervisors
John KnollJohn Knoll is a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic . One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop , he is recently best known for his work as Visual Effects Supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special editions of the original trilogy...
,
Hal HickelHal T. Hickel is a visual effects animator for Industrial Light & Magic.At the age of 12, Hickel wrote a letter to Lucasfilm outlining his ideas for a sequel to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and received a polite rejection letter from producer Gary Kurtz. The letter now hangs on the wall of...
, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, which was also the first time since 1994's
Forrest GumpForrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
that Industrial Light and Magic had received that particular Academy Award. The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
The film also won a BAFTA and Satellite award for Best Visual Effects, and six awards from the Visual Effects Society.
Other awards won by the film include Choice Movie: Action Adventure, Choice Drama/Action Adventure Movie, Actor for Johnny Depp at the 2006
Teen Choice AwardsThe Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...
; Favorite Movie, Movie Drama, Male Actor for Depp and On-Screen Couple for Depp and Keira Knightley at the
33rd People's Choice AwardsThe 33rd People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2006, were held on January 9, 2007 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California...
; Best Movie and Performance for Depp at the
2007 MTV Movie AwardsThe 2007 MTV Movie Awards took place on June 3, 2007 at Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California and were hosted by Sarah Silverman. The ceremony featured performances by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z, who performed "Umbrella", and Amy Winehouse, who performed "Rehab"...
and Best Special Effects at the
Saturn AwardThe Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
s, and Favorite Movie at the
2007 Kids' Choice AwardsThe 20th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards were held on March 31, 2007, hosted by Justin Timberlake.It was the highest rated show in the history of the Kids Choice Awards.The show was held at Pauley Pavilion at the University of California, Los Angeles....
.
Home media
The film became available on DVD on December 5, 2006 for Region 1 and sold 9,498,304 units in its first week of sales (equivalent to $174,039,324). In total it sold 16,694,937 units, earning $320,871,909. It was the best-selling DVD of 2006 in terms of units sold and second in terms of sales revenue behind
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Andrew Adamson and based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's children's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of...
.
The versions for Regions 2 and 4 had already been released on November 15, 2006 and November 20, 2006, respectively. The DVD, incompatible with some Region 1 hardware DVD Players due to the use of
ARccOS ProtectionARccOS is a copy-protection system made by Sony that is used on some DVDs. Designed as an additional layer to be used in conjunction with Content Scramble System , the system deliberately creates corrupted sectors on the DVD, which cause copying software to produce errors .Despite being promoted...
, came in single and two-disc versions. Both contained a commentary track with the screenwriters and a
gag reelAn outtake is a portion of a work that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DVD reissues of many albums and films as bonus tracks or features, in film often, but not...
, with the double-disc featuring a video of the film premiere and a number of documentaries, including a full-length documentary entitled "According to the Plan" and eight featurettes. The film was released on
Blu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on May 22, 2007.
External links