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The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise may have taken shore leave for the past six years but Captain Jack Sparrow remains as iconic as ever. Johnny Depp’s swashbuckling, suave buccaneer returns to our screens in May’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – but he’s no longer the Jack we’re used to.
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Speaking to SFX Magazine, co-director Joachim Ronning says of Jack’s predicament: “He’s lost his luck. And luck was a big part of his lifestyle. He’s lost his way. He’s lost his horizon.”
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Captain Jack’s downturns mirrors the Pirates franchise itself, and the fifth instalment wants to reclaim the “lightning in a bottle” as Ronning calls it, of the first movie. Jack Sparrow’s rejuvenation is a major part of that: “He’s not on the ocean anymore when we find him. He’s a land pirate and he’s miserable. He’s alone. He’s not Captain Jack anymore, he’s just Jack.”
Things will soon turn around though, as he crosses paths (and probably swords) with Javier Bardem’s Captain Salazar, and he’s more than ready to go toe-to-toe with Johnny Depp’s wisecracking pirate, “He [Depp] owns [Captain Jack] so well that he can do whatever the fuck he wants, at any time.” says Bardem.
It sounds like Jack Sparrow will regain his lost mojo sooner rather than later…
Read more about Captain Jack’s latest journey on the seven seas in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in the latest issue of SFX magazine, on sale now. Buy future issues here.
