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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

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Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest
Directed byGore Verbinski
Written byCharacters:
Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Stuart Beattie
Jay Wolpert
Screenplay:
Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Produced byJerry Bruckheimer
StarringJohnny Depp
Orlando Bloom
Keira Knightley
Bill Nighy
Stellan Skarsgård
Jack Davenport
Tom Hollander
Naomie Harris
CinematographyDariusz Wolski
Edited byStephen E. Rivkin
Craig Wood
Music byHans Zimmer
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
July 7, 2006
Running time
150 min.
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,065,659,812

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a 2006 adventure film of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the sequel to the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film was directed by Gore Verbinski, writen by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) discovers his debt to the villainous Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is due, while Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are arrested by Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) for helping Jack Sparrow escape execution.

The film was shot back-to-back with the third film, and was released in Australia and the United Kingdom on July 6, 2006, and in the United States and Canada on July 7, 2006. The movie set several records in its first three days, with an opening weekend of $136 million. As of its date of close, December 7 2006, the film made $423 million in the U.S. and became the third film to reach the $1 billion worldwide mark. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End followed on May 24, 2007.

Plot

The East India Trading Company arrives in Port Royal, Jamaica to extend its monopoly in the Caribbean and eradicate piracy. Leading the expansion is Lord Cutler Beckett, a powerful and ruthless EITC agent who arrests Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner shortly before their wedding. Beckett threatens to execute them and the absent ex-Commodore James Norrington for aiding Captain Jack Sparrow's escape, but he offers clemency if Turner will agree to search for Sparrow and his magical compass.

An informant in Tortuga leads Will to the Black Pearl run aground on Pelegosto, a cannibal-inhabited island where Jack and his crew are captive.

File:JackPelegostos.jpg
Jack becomes a native god on Pelegosto

Jack hid there after he was visited by his former crewmate, "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, who is now an indentured sailor aboard Captain Davy Jones' ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman. Bootstrap delivered Jack the Black Spot, a mark that his debt to Jones is due. Thirteen years before, Jones raised the Black Pearl from the ocean depths and made Jack her captain. In exchange, Jack must now serve aboard the Dutchman for 100 years. Will, Jack, and the crew escape their native captors, unexpectedly recruiting Pintel and Ragetti as they are attempting to commandeer the Pearl, and head for sea. Jack has been searching for a key that leads to untold riches, but his magical compass has failed. He agrees to give Will the compass if he helps him find the key and what it unlocks. Seeking assistance from Tia Dalma, a voodoo priestess, Jack learns the compass will not work because he does not know what he truly wants—or he knows but is unable to claim it as his own. The key, Tia tells him, unlocks the Dead Man's Chest containing Davy Jones' beating heart. When the pain of lost love became too much to bear, Jones carved the heart from his chest, burying it in a secret location. Whoever possesses the heart controls Davy Jones, thereby controlling the world's oceans. Back at sea, the Flying Dutchman encounters Sparrow, who deviously attempts to barter Will in exchange for himself. But Jones demands 100 souls within three days for Jack’s freedom and keeps Will as a "good faith payment."

In Port Royal, Governor Weatherby Swann frees the jailed Elizabeth. Confronting Beckett at gunpoint, she forces him to validate a Letter of Marque—a royal document with which Beckett intends to recruit Sparrow as a privateer and that Elizabeth wants for Will. Stowing away on a merchant vessel, Elizabeth lands in Tortuga where she finds Jack and Gibbs desperately recruiting unsuspecting sailors in a pub. A fallen James Norrington also applies. Blaming Sparrow for his ruin, he tries to shoot the captain and ignites a brawl. Elizabeth knocks him out to save him from the angry mob. At the dock, Jack reveals the compass' secret to Elizabeth; it points to what the holder wants most in the world. When he convinces her that she can save Will by finding the chest, she gets a bearing. Once the ship is underway, tension arises between Jack and Elizabeth when each discovers the compass now points to the other.

File:Jack VS.. The Kraken.JPG
Jack battles the Kraken

On Isla Cruces, Jack, Norrington, and Elizabeth find the Dead Man's Chest. Will, who has escaped the Dutchman with help from his father, Bootstrap Bill, arrives with the key that he stole from Davy Jones. Will wants to stab the heart to free his father, but a three-way duel erupts between Jack, Norrington, and Will, each claiming it; the arrival of Jones' crew and Ragetti and Pintel trying to make off with the chest further complicate matters. It is Norrington who ultimately escapes with the heart and the Letters of Marque while Jones’ crewmen unknowingly retrieve the now-empty Dead Man's Chest.

The Flying Dutchman pursues the Black Pearl, but with the wind behind them, the Pearl outruns her. Jones ends the pursuit and instead summons the Kraken. In a moment of cowardice, Jack abandons the Pearl in a longboat, but unable to desert his crew, he returns in time to save them. He gives the order to abandon ship before the Kraken makes its final assault. ‎Realizing the Kraken is only hunting Jack, a deceptive Elizabeth passionately kisses him while handcuffing him to the mast. Racked with guilt over her deceit, she tells the others Jack chose to remain behind, unaware Will witnessed the scene and now believes she loves Sparrow. Freeing himself from the shackles, Jack bravely charges the Kraken, but the colossal beast drags him and the Pearl to a watery grave. Watching from his ship, Davy Jones declares their debt settled, although he soon discovers the chest is empty. Norrington, meanwhile, makes his way to Port Royal and delivers the heart and the Letters of Marque to Cutler Beckett in a bid to regain his career. Elizabeth, Will, and the surviving Black Pearl crew arrive at Tia Dalma's shack. She reveals that the formerly dead Barbossa has been resurrected and can lead them to World's End to fetch back Jack and the Black Pearl.

Cast

  • Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: Captain of the Black Pearl. He is hunted by the Kraken because he owes a blood debt to Davy Jones. He is searching for the Dead Man's Chest to free himself from Jones' servitude.
  • Orlando Bloom as Will Turner: A blacksmith turned pirate who must find Jack Sparrow and his compass so he can free himself and his fiancé Elizabeth from execution.
  • Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann: The governor's daughter and Will's fiancé who is arrested on her wedding day for helping Jack escape. Escaping jail, she meets up with Jack Sparrow in Tortuga and joins his crew to search for Will.
  • Bill Nighy as Davy Jones: Captain of the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones was human long ago. Unable to live with the pain of losing the woman he loved, 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 bizzare creature, part-octopus, part-crab, part-man, and collects the souls of dead or dying sailors to serve for one hundred years aboard his ship.
  • Jack Davenport as James Norrington: He resigned his commission as a Commodore in the Royal Navy after losing his ship in a hurricane and failing to capture Jack Sparrow. Falling on hard times and into alcoholism, he joins the Black Pearl crew and seeks to regain his honor and his career.
  • Stellan Skarsgård as "Bootstrap Bill" Turner: A pirate and Will Turner's father. He was cursed by the Aztec gold on Isla de Murta. Thrown overboard by Barbossa, he spent years bound to a cannon beneath the crushing ocean. Found by Captain Davy Jones, he joined the Flying Dutchman crew to escape his watery fate.
  • Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs: The Black Pearl's first mate and Jack's loyal friend.
  • Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett: Chairman of the East India Trading Company, he has been sent to Port Royal to capture Jack Sparrow. What he really desires is Davy Jones' heart, with which he can rule the seas with Jones' commanded servitude.
  • Lee Arenberg as Pintel: A pirate and former Black Pearl crew member under Captain Barbossa. He was imprisoned after the Aztec curse was broken, but escapes to rejoin Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl crew.
  • Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti: Pintel's inseperable crewmate. He has a wooden eye, and despite being illiterate, has begun "reading" the Bible.
  • Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma: A voodoo priestess who bartered Jack Sparrow his magic compass. She also explains the legend of Davy Jones and owns a similar locket to his.
  • Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann. Elizabeth's father and governor of Port Royal.

Production

Following the success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), the cast and crew signed on for two more sequels to be shot back-to-back,[1] a practical decision on Disney's part to allow more time with the same cast and crew.[2] Writer Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio decided not to make the sequels new adventures featuring the same characters, as with the Indiana Jones and James Bond series, but to retroactively turn The Curse of the Black Pearl into the first of a trilogy.[3] They wanted to explore the reality of what would happen after Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann's embrace at the end of the first film, and initially considered the Fountain of Youth as the plot device.[4] They settled on introducing Davy Jones, the Flying Dutchman and the Kraken, a mythology only mentioned once in the first film. They also introduced the historical East India Trading Company, who for them represented a counterpoint to the themes of personal freedom represented by pirates.[5]

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. Vincent.[6] This time, the sequels would require fully working ships, with a working Black Pearl built over the body of an oil tanker in Bayou la Balse, Alabama. By November, the script was still unfinished as the writers did not want director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer 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 "preparory" 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.[4]

Filming

See also: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End § Production

Filming for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest began on February 28 2005,[7] in Palos Verdes, beginning with Elizabeth's ruined wedding day.[4] The crew spent the first shooting days at Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles, including the interiors of the Black Pearl and the Edinburgh Trader which Elizabeth stows away on.[7] before moving to St. Vincent to shoot the scenes in Port Royal. The sets used in the previous film were reused, having survived three hurricanes, although the main pier had to 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.[2]

On April 18 2005,[8] the crew began shooting at Dominica, a location Verbinski had selected as he felt it fitted the sense of remoteness he was looking for.[4] That was exactly the problem during production: the undeveloped Dominican government were completely unprepared for the scale of a Hollywood production, with the 500-strong crew occupied around 90% of the roads on the island and having trouble moving around on the undeveloped 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.[2] Dominica was also used for the exterior of Tia Dalma's shack, and filming on the island concluded on May 26 2005.[9] The crew moved to a small island called White Cay in the Bahamas for the beginning and end of the Isla Cruces battle,[2] before production took a break until August, where in Los Angeles the interiors of the Flying Dutchman were shot.[10]

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 tumultuos period, starting with the fact that the tank had not actually been finished. The hurricane season caused many pauses in shooting, and Hurricane Wilma damaged many of the accessways and pumps, though no one was hurt nor were any of the ships destroyed.[2] Filming finished of the second film was completed on February 7 2006.[11]

Special effects

From reel to reality: Davy Jones is brought to life.

The Flying Dutchman's crew were originally concieved by writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio as ghosts, but Gore Verbinski disliked this and designed them as physical creatures.[12] Their hierarchy is reflected by how mutated they were: newcomers had low level infections which resemble rosacea, while the most mutated had full-blown undersea creature attributes. Verbinski wanted to keep them realistic, rejecting a character with a turtle shell, and the animators watched various David Attenborough documentaries to study the movement of sea anemones and mussels.[13] All of the crew are computer-generated, with the exception of Stellan Skarsgaard, who played "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, who wore so much make-up that he was dubbed "Bouillabaisse" on set.[14]

Captain Davy Jones himself had originally been designed with chin growths, before the designers made the move to full-blown tentacles,[15]; 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 Nighy wore a motion capture tracksuit that meant the animators at Industrial Light & Magic did not have 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-generated shots, but they were never used, and Nighy only ever wore a prosthetic once, with blue-coloured tentacles for when Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) 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 time they were hand-animated when they act as limbs for the character.[16]

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. Godzilla which had a real octopus (Oodako) crawling over miniatures.[17] On 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 gunge thrown at Johnny Depp.[18]

Reception

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest premiered at Disneyland in Anaheim, California on June 24 2006. It was the first Disney film to use the new computer-generated Disney production logo.

Box office

The film grossed $55.8 million in North America on its opening day, setting a new record for the largest opening day gross for a film, beating the previous year's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith by 11%. The opening day record would be surpassed by the following year's Spider-Man 3. The film grossed $135.6 million over its opening weekend, also a record, this time beating 2002's Spider-Man. This record was also eclipsed later by Spider-Man 3 which had an opening weekend gross of $151.1 million. The film set 15 other box office records, including fastest film to reach $200 and $300 million, the highest ten-day gross, and the fastest film to reach $1 billion worldwide.

The film ended with $423.0 million domestically and just over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the 6th highest grossing film domestically and the third highest worldwide. Adjusted for inflation, the film is the 44th highest grossing domestically.[19]

Critical reaction

After months of anticipation and industry hype, reviews for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest were mixed, as the film scored a 54% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[20] 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."[21] On the other hand, critic Michael Medved gave the film two stars out of four, calling the plot "sloppy, ...convoluted and insipid."[22]

The completely computer-generated Davy Jones turned out to be so realistic that many reviewers mistakenly identified Nighy as wearing prosthetic makeup.[23][24][25][26]

Controversy

Walt Disney Pictures has been questioned by the National Garifuna Council, a representative body of the Garifuna people, for what they feel is a racist portrayal of the Calinago, or Caribs, as cannibals in Dead Man's Chest. The Council called for what they considered to be a fair and accurate representation, and Disney responded that the script could not be altered. No known changes were made to the film.[27][28]

Awards

At the 79th annual Academy Awards, visual effects supervisors John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. 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.[29] The film also won six awards from the Visual Effects Society.[30] Template:List to prose (section) 2006 Teen Choice Awards

People's Choice Awards

  • Winner, Favorite movie
  • Winner, Favorite dramatic movie
  • Winner, Favorite male star (Johnny Depp)
  • Winner, Favorite on-screen couple (Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley)

2007 Kids Choice Awards

  • Winner, Favorite Movie

Home video & iTunes release

The film became available on DVD on December 5 2006 for Region 1 and sold 10.5 million copies in its first week of sales, thus becoming the biggest home video debut of 2006.[31] The versions for Regions 2 and 4 had already been released on November 15 2006 and November 20 2006, respectively.[32] The Region 3 two-disc collector's edition disc has been wrongly labeled. The 2-disc special edition boasts almost four hours of additional features.

The film was presented in its 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio.[33] The region 2 and 4 release included a DTS soundtrack. ARccOS Protection was used on the Region 1 disc and is incompatible with some Region 1 hardware DVD Players.

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on May 22 2007.[34]

Dead Man's Chest was also made available as a download from the iTunes Store in the U.S.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

References

  1. ^ Brian Linder (2003-10-21). "Back-to-Back Pirates". IGN. Retrieved 2007-05-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e According to Plan: The Harrowing and True Story of Dead Man's Chest. Buena Vista. 2006. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio (2006). Audio Commentary. Buena Vista. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ a b c d Charting the Return. Buena Vista. 2006. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ "Everything Relates Back to What Started Everything Off in the First". Production Notes. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  6. ^ "2005 (and `06): A Pirate Odyssey". Production Notes. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  7. ^ a b "Los Angeles: The Voyage Begins". Production Notes. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  8. ^ "Shooting in Isle of Beauty, Isle of Splendor". Production Notes. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  9. ^ "Beware of Falling Coconuts: Adventures in Dominica". Production Notes. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  10. ^ ""Please Do Not Feed the Iguanas": The Exumas, and an L.A. Sojourn". Production Notes. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  11. ^ Ted Elliott. "MOVIES Message Board - ARCHIVE 7". Wordplay Forums. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
  12. ^ Iain Blair (2006-07-01). "COVER STORY: 'PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST'". Post. Retrieved 2007-05-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Rebecca Murray. "John Knoll Talks About the Visual Effects in the Pirates Movies". About.com. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  14. ^ Sam Ashurst (2007-05-14). "Orlando and Keira: Uncut!". Total Film. Retrieved 2007-05-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Edward Douglas (2006-06-12). "Exclusive: Pirates' Bill "Davy Jones" Nighy". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved 2007-05-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend. Buena Vista. 2006. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ Rebecca Murray (2006-11-03). "Behind the Scenes of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" Movies". About.com. Retrieved 2007-05-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Creating the Kraken. Buena Vista. 2006. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  19. ^ "All Time Box Office>Single Day Records". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
  20. ^ "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  21. ^ "Aye, mates: "Pirates" sequel is worth the doubloons". Retrieved 2006-07-23.
  22. ^ "Michael Medved's Eye On Entertainment" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  23. ^ "Review by Rich Cline". Real Movie News.
  24. ^ "Review by Russ Breimeier". ChristianityToday.com.
  25. ^ "A review by Iloz Zoc". BlogCritics.org.
  26. ^ "A review by Ryan Gilbey". NewStatesman.com.
  27. ^ "Film row over Pirates 'cannibals'". BBC. February 14 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Michael Polonio. "Letter from Michael Polonio to Walt Disney Company-Must Read". Seine Bight.
  29. ^ "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Awards". All Movie Guide. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
  30. ^ "Visual Effects Society Fifth Annual V.E.S. Awards Announced" (PDF). Visual Effects Society. 2007-02-11. Retrieved 2007-05-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "Pirates' sequel sets DVD record for 2006 - Pirates of the Caribbean 2 News at FilmSpot". Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  32. ^ "Amazon.co.uk: Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest". Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  33. ^ http://adisney.go.com/disneyvideos/liveaction/pirates2/main.html
  34. ^ "Disney Sets 'Pirates,' 'Cars' Blu-ray Dates". Retrieved 2007-01-27.
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