Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Production Notes: The Disney Ride

“I grew up in San Diego and all five of us kids would load into the station wagon and my parents would drive us up to Anaheim,” says Verbinski. “Back then you could see the Matterhorn from the freeway, and the big thing would be who could see it first. The first ride we would always go on was Pirates of the Caribbean. Something in the song and in the images of the ride is ingrained in our collective psyche. It was very scary when I was young, yet we celebrate that macabre sensibility. We're trying to do a contemporary version of that while keeping the same spirit of the ride.”

The filmmakers are quick to point out that the film is an homage to the popular Disney ride, not a direct interpretation of the attraction itself, although they did rely on sketches and original concept drawings by Mark Davis, one of the ride's innovators, for reference points.

“Since we use the title of the ride, it's important to give an appreciative nod to the artistry of so many people who worked to put it together,” says Bruckheimer. “If the ride itself weren't as good as it is, it wouldn't have stood the test of time and captivated so many of us for over 35 years. It's the seed from where the idea for the movie began.”

“I remember being enthralled and completely buying the illusion of the sky and being outdoors as the ride begins,” says Ted Elliott. “But the minute the skull started talking, and for the rest of the ride, I felt a combination of utter dread and excitement. I just knew that the scariest thing I was ever going to see was going to pop out,” he recalls with a laugh. “It was frightening and fascinating at the same time; it's an amazing ride.

“And that's what we wanted to do with the script,” he explains. “We wanted to come up with a story that would affect people emotionally, so that audiences would feel something akin to what I felt as a kid the first time I experienced Pirates of the Caribbean, and we had to make it appeal to audiences across an entire age spectrum.”

“The ride provides a narrative,” Terry Rossio explains further. “It brings you in quietly, and then there's a dramatic turn and escalating conflict. Mark Davis and, of course, Walt Disney did an amazing job. Serious fans of the ride will look for and recognize similarities, even in small details, such as the crab in the sand next to the back-stabbed skeleton. I couldn't believe we actually had a crab wrangler on set, I was so pleased to see that attention to detail. So the movie offers plenty of vignettes and tributes to the ride. But more importantly, for us, we hope people will find the same spirit of excitement, fear and humor they experienced when they first plummeted down into those haunted caves.”

“I think this movie is for anyone who enjoys a sprawling adventure,” says Gore Verbinski. “It's got action, romance, intrigue. I think there's a child in all of us who enjoys these kinds of movies that are exciting, fun, with oddball characters, conflict and resolution.”

Funny as it may seem, the word `sprawling' was a big surprise to Johnny Depp. Despite his fondness for the script and his devotion to the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of his character, he was utterly unaware of the production's magnitude and the enthusiastic public response. “I actually never saw the project as particularly gigantic,” Depp admits. “Oddly, it wasn't until I saw some rough cuts for the trailer that I suddenly realized, `Oh my God, this is huge!' It felt like we were doing an intimate little pirate movie,” he laughs. “It was a friendly, easy set, very collaborative, and just didn't give the impression of being some enormous production.”

After Depp's four-year-old daughter saw the trailer, “She actually went around telling people what her father did for a living: `Yeah, my daddy's a pirate!' I was quite proud,” says Depp.

“The elements you need to produce a biggerthan-life adventure sometimes aren't all that sexy on their own,” says Jerry Bruckheimer. “It's our job to make the difficult, painstaking details appear effortless. We want to amaze the audience so that you can lose yourself and forget your troubles for just a little while.

And that's just what audiences will enjoy. “There's romance, there's adventure and there's a lot of humor in the film,” the producer raves. “You're in for a terrific, romantic ride.”