Johnny Depp brought Captain Jack Sparrow to life in Pirates of the Caribbean using a number of physical traits, including a collection of headbands, jewellery, and a slew of tattoos across his arms and body. Depp’s desire to make the character stand out didn’t stop at adding things, though, as the topic of chopping off the character’s nose apparently came up, to give the role some more “comedic value”. Disney weren’t happy with a few of the Hollywood star’s suggestions for the character, including his flamboyance.
According to a new report regarding the production of The Curse of the Black Pearl, Depp fought for Sparrow to be “missing his nose, with just a bloody wound in its place”.
This subtraction to the character was going to give Sparrow a new fear of the common cold, as well as becoming afraid of other extremely common things.
Sparrow also would have avoided pepper, and the water – which would have posed a massive problem for the sea-faring character.
As with a number of Depp’s ideas, Disney turned down the idea, instead choosing to keep his nose on-screen at all times.
READ MORE: Pirates of the Caribbean: Petition for Johnny Depp’s return hits 400k
Sparrow isn’t the only character who had his noseless-ness removed from live-action filming in the past decade.
The Game of Thrones books include fan-favourite character Tyrion Lannister getting his nose chopped off with a battle axe during a war.
However, when the show was brought to the screen by HBO, this scene was removed, and Tyrion actor, Peter Dinklage, kept his nose as well.
Depp’s portrayal of Sparrow was brought into question a few times during the production of the franchise’s first movie.
According to Depp, Disney execs apparently questioned a number of things about Sparrow, and himself.
The actor said he was asked: “‘Is he drunk? By the way, is he gay?’ And so I actually told this woman who was the Disney-ite: ‘But didn’t you know that all my characters are gay?’ Which really made her nervous.”
The actor thought a lot about the character of Jack Sparrow when he was crafting the character.
In interviews Depp described Sparrow as “irreverent”, and pointed out the inspirations behind his odd mannerisms.
Depp explained that, at first, he based Sparrow’s style and quirks on a mix between Pepe le Pew and Keith Richards – famed Rolling Stones guitarist.
This connection was made even more obvious in the third Pirates film, At World’s End, when Richards played Sparrow’s father, Captain Teague.
It was recently rumoured that Depp will be reprising his role as Jack Sparrow in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean 6, following reports that Disney had dropped him from the project.
The Pirates of the Caribbean films are available to watch on Disney Plus now.
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