pirates of the caribbean - Cannes International Film Festival

around,” Depp says. “If something sparks, it
sparks, and if they accept it, they accept it.
And luckily, thankfully, they did, hopefully for
the better. They were very receptive to make
the film different and to keep it very fresh as
opposed to just, well, here comes another
sequel.”
“We had a fairly short development period
on the script, so we wanted to get Johnny’s
input as quickly as possible,” says Executive Producer Mike Stenson. “He came up with
some great ideas, including the one of making Philip a missionary. He has a lot of great
instincts about what works and what doesn’t.”
JOINING JOHNNY…THE CAST ASSEMBLES
Jerry Bruckheimer, Rob Marshall, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio all knew the great benefits
of developing new characters and continuing the arcs of pre-existing ones, but what was
clear from the get-go was that Captain Jack Sparrow would remain, as ever, the once
and future Captain Jack Sparrow.
“Well you know,” adds Rossio, “Jack Sparrow is one of those characters who doesn’t
change; the audience doesn’t want him to change and I don’t want him to change.
Instead, he affects change in the characters around him.”
“This whole thing about character arcs,
and finding themselves and this and
that… But I honestly think ole Captain
Jack found himself a long time ago.”
—Johnny Depp
Indeed, that aspect of the film was just one of
the lures for Penélope Cruz, an Academy
Award®–winning star of international repute, as
well as the notion of reuniting with Johnny
Depp, with whom she had previously appeared
in “Blow” some years ago. And it didn’t hurt that
Cruz was already an admirer of the entire
franchise. “I’m a very big fan of the first three
movies,” she confesses, “and of what Johnny did
in those movies. This is a great adventure for any actor to be a part of. It’s an adventure
every day; you can never be bored.”
Marshall had worked with Penélope Cruz before, on “Nine” in 2009, and they have
become close friends. He admits that when he first mentioned the idea to Cruz of taking
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