Jim Carrey Almost Played Captain Jack Sparrow in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
When Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl hit theaters in 2003, I didn’t expect it to become one of Disney’s biggest franchises.
But before Johnny Depp swaggered onto the screen as the rum-soaked Captain Jack Sparrow, producer Jerry Bruckheimer had another big star in mind, Jim Carrey.
At the time, Disney wasn’t exactly confident about turning theme park rides into blockbuster movies. The studio had already stumbled with Brian De Palma’s Mission to Mars and The Country Bears, and the failures were enough to make then-CEO Michael Eisner rethink the entire strategy.
Bruckheimer, however, saw something special in the script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. He believed that The Curse of the Black Pearl had real potential, and he thought Carrey was the perfect actor to bring that potential to life.
According to Vulture, the producer “strongly felt that he’d found a star who could swashbuckle ebulliently as Captain Jack Sparrow in Jim Carrey.”
At the time, casting Carrey meant near-guaranteed box office gold. The comedy icon was fresh off a string of major hits and was one of the most bankable names in Hollywood.
A version of Pirates of the Caribbean led by Carrey sounds wild to imagine now, but it could’ve easily happened if not for a scheduling conflict.
Carrey was already set to star in Bruce Almighty, another 2003 mega-hit that would go on to earn $485 million worldwide. That project kept him from donning Sparrow’s tricorn hat, and the rest is movie history.
Still, imagining Carrey as Captain Jack is fascinating. The actor’s manic physicality and gift for slapstick likely would’ve given the film a completely different energy.
“Carrey is a gifted physical performer, but he probably would’ve done a broad variation on a classic swashbuckler like Errol Flynn. He’s never had the athleticism of Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas, so it’s safe to say that his Jack Sparrow would’ve given Verbinski’s film a very different tone — more ‘Looney Tunes’ than ‘Captain Blood.’”
Carrey wasn’t the only one up for the role, either. Gore Verbinski and Bruckheimer also considered Michael Keaton and Christopher Walken. A Walken-led Pirates might’ve been unforgettable for all sorts of reasons, but the filmmakers were after something a bit edgier.
They found that spark in Depp, who shocked everyone when he arrived at the first table read channeling Keith Richards.
Depp’s offbeat take turned out to be movie magic, helping The Curse of the Black Pearl launch one of the biggest movie franchises of the 2000s. Meanwhile, Carrey went on to score huge success with Bruce Almighty before earning critical acclaim a year later with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
In the end, things worked out perfectly for everyone involved. Depp became a cinematic icon, and Carrey got to follow up a blockbuster comedy with one of the most beloved films of his career.
Still, imagining Carrey mugging his way through the Caribbean seas is a fun “what if” that makes movie history just a little more interesting.