Surprise! Johnny Depp actually plays Young Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”
This Memorial Day weekend, see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales for Jack Sparrow, but stay for the scene-stealing Young Jack Sparrow who is, yes, still sporting his trademark eyeliner. While obviously they are the same person — both are Jack Sparrow, after all — it turns out that the two Jack Sparrows are actually the same Jack Sparrows. Your eyes certainly deceive you, because Young Jack is actually Johnny Depp.
Or, half Johnny Depp.
Dead Men Tell No Tales flashes back to the *exact* moment Jack Sparrow becomes Captain Jack Sparrow. Ahoy, some minor spoilers ahead. Like, the fact that Jack is able to successfully outrun Captain Salazar (before he’s undead) and escape. Salazar and his crew, not so lucky. When all is said and done, Jack is then made captain of his ship — the Black Pearl!! — and we see the crew leave tributes for their new captain, like a hat, a red and white scarf, and some cool beads. The Captain Jack starter kit, basically.
While an actor Anthony De La Torre is credited as Young Jack Sparrow, the character is actually secretly Depp. Know that magic CGI wizardry Disney is really big into using, like when they made Iron Man young and recreated the late Carrie Fisher for Rogue One? That’s what’s going on here with Jack.
Talking with Producer Jeremy Bruckheimer during a press day for Pirates, he explained that the process might sound complicated, but for VFX pros, it’s very simple.
“We found a young actor who looked similar, not quite like Johnny, and was a pretty good actor,” Bruckheimer told the group. “You take Johnny through the same scene [that De La Torre filmed], and then you kind of mesh them together. A company called Lola does this.”
Just for reference, here’s Depp with De La Torre. They certainly look alike, but Disney wants to make them the same person.
As for what Depp thought of Young Jack, Bruckheimer says, “He loved it. He said, ‘I don’t [have] to work now.'”
And seeing as how the Pirates movies don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon, could we ever get a Young Jack Sparrow movie?
“You never know,” Bruckheimer continues. “If you had told me 15 years ago that ‘you’re going to make a movie about a theme park ride,’ I would have told you you’re nuts. You never know.”
