A star in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies defended actor Johnny Depp, saying producers couldn’t make the movie without Depp’s iconic portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow.
Kevin McNally has appeared alongside Captain Jack as his first mate for all five movies. He said despite Depp’s numerous legal issues, he should absolutely come back and play the character again.
“Definitely. I’ve never seen a hint of any dark side to Johnny. I see a great humanitarian and a beautiful human being,” the actor said. “I don’t see any impediment for him coming back and playing Jack Sparrow.”
McNally said he’d also be open to different roles for himself and Depp if producers wanted to make a spin-off. However, he said Depp was so essential to the franchise that it wouldn’t be the same without him.
“I think there was a general feeling that without Jack there is no Pirates franchise. And there’s probably a lot of truth in that. But now there have been questions about that, certainly why not have other Pirate films and certainly then why not have Jack back or Jack playing a different part. I mean I was musing about this the other day and you can easily think of stories in which maybe somebody is looking for Jack and come to Mr Gibbs and say, ‘How would I find Jack?’ And so have a whole bunch of people on a trek to find the legendary Jack Sparrow. You can certainly keep those names alive, even in a film that doesn’t necessarily contain the [original] characters too much.”
Depp’s career has been on halt lately following bad press from his difficult divorce with ex-wife Amber Heard.
He was dropped from both the Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts franchises and several other projects are sitting on the shelf, including the film Minamata. He recently spoke out about how he felt like he was boycotted in Hollywood.
We looked these people in the eyeballs and promised we would not be exploitative. That the film would be respectful. I believe that we’ve kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs. Some films touch people. And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything… For Hollywood’s boycott of me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?. But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that… To bring things to light.”
A sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie is currently in development.
