The Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise has been in a difficult place over the last few years. After lead star Johnny Depp lost his role as Jack Sparrow, Disney has seemingly looked for alternative ways to carry on the Pirates of the Caribbean brand. Now a fellow actor from the Pirates franchise has opened up about Johnny Depp, calling him “irreplaceable” as Jack Sparrow.
Geoffrey Rush, the actor responsible for playing Captain Hector Barbossa alongside Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, has shared his thoughts on the matter while speaking in a new interview. According to Rush, he shares the same sentiments about many Pirates fans, emphasizing that no one else could handle the role of Jack Sparrow like Johnny Depp.
Here’s what he shared with Collider:
“Whoever takes over from Johnny, I don’t know what’s gonna happen there,” Rush said. “He’s irreplaceable. Jack Sparrow is the new Robert Newton… Early on, we had a chat between Orlando [Bloom] and Johnny and myself, and he was already talking about pop stars like Keith Richards having that kind of visceral identity that you knew. He said, ‘I’m just fascinated that this character, Jack, spends half his life on land and half his life on water. What if he never really gets his sea legs?’ And that’s where that whole war came from.”
He further discussed Depp his connection to the Jack Sparrow role:
“Michael Chekhov, who was a Russian actor, wrote books about the defining moments of creating characters, and people studied that for decades… but I know people like Anthony Hopkins and Jack Nicholson always said, ‘Oh, we all read about Michael Chekhov.’ I went, ‘That was Johnny’s brilliant instinct.’ It’s a whole picture… [Depp] just made the essence of the character.”
It certainly is difficult to imagine anyone else as Jack Sparrow, or any character other than Sparrow leading the Pirates franchise. Nevertheless, Disney seems to be exploring their possibilities with two different scripts, and we could see which one takes flight sooner than later. And that includes whether or not Depp will ultimately end up involved with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise once again.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any further news on the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise as we have it. Fans no doubt want to have Johnny Depp back as Jack Sparrow. For the time being, however, we’ll just have to see if Disney and Depp can come to a deal. Otherwise, we’ll have to see if Depp will be replaced one way or another.