Disney Facts! Volume 2

Facts 391-420: Pirates - Dead Men Tell No Tales

This one is by far one of my all time favourite films of the series! I felt that it redeemed itself after critics apparently didn't take too kindly to Stranger Tides and it's just as well done as the first movie. I had a lot of fun watching this, so here's some facts about it!

After all, it's a pirates life ;)

Fact #391
The Jack Sparrow's uncle tells Jack the same joke Al Pacino told Johnny Depp during production of Donnie Brasco: "A skeleton walks into a bar, orders a mop and a beer... "

Fact #392
The film was being produced as Johnny Depp was going through a bitter divorce from his wife Amber Heard. He was chronically late to the set, to the point where it ate into the schedule as the set often came to a halt for hours at a time. It got to the point where a production assistant was hired just to wait outside Depp's house and announce that he was awake when they saw the lights inside come on.

Fact #393
Christoph Waltz was originally cast in the role of Captain Brand, but dropped out due to other work commitments. Javier Bardem was then given the role, but the name was changed from Brand to Salazar to sound more Mediterranean to accompany Bardem's Spanish descent.

Fact #394
Paul McCartney is seen singing a song "Maggie Mae". It is an old drinking song of the sea from Liverpool and featured on The Beatles "Let it Be" Album.

Fact #395
This was Orlando Bloom's first appearance as Will Turner in ten years, since Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was released in 2007.

Fact #396
Johnny Depp injured his hand while filming in Australia and had to fly back to the United States for surgery. The film's production had to pause for 2 weeks until Johnny was well enough to come back for filming. 

Fact #397
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the only film in the Pirates franchise whose title quotes audio from the Disneyland and Disneyworld attractions. Actual audio from the attractions were featured in At World's End.

Fact #398
The severed heads in the guillotine basket are of the film directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.

Fact #399
This movie takes place more than 20 years after At World's End but a few months after On Stranger Tides.

Fact #400
The two Pirates who interrupt Captain Barbossa, while he is having Breakfast are the two redcoats from the first movie who are "guarding the dock" when Captain Jack Sparrow first arrives. Jack must have had such an influence on them, they eventually turned to piracy.

Fact #401
Instead of rebuilding the Sunset from Queen Anne's Revenge to the Black Pearl, production decided only to build the deck and the rest of the ship was completed using CGI, this was done in order to save money.

Fact #402
Keira Knightley has ruled out a return to the franchise after her former co-star Orlando Bloom suggested he would be open to returning. However, Knightley has stated that to be part of the franchise was an amazing time in her life, but as it took five years of her life, she just can't see herself going back. But, now officially, Keira Knightley is returning to franchise.

Fact #403
Brenton Thwaites, who plays Henry Turner, is only 12 years younger than Orlando Bloom and only 4 years younger than Keira Knightley. Both play his parents in the film.

Fact #404
In the flashback scene, we see Jack is on a ship called the Wicked Wench. This is actually the Black Pearl, it gets renamed when Davy Jones brings it back from the deeps in the book Pirates of the Caribbean The Price of Freedom, making the book Canon.

Fact #405
First movie where Tortuga is neither mentioned nor visited.

Fact #406
A scene after the end credits shows Will and Elizabeth asleep when their bedroom is entered by a silhouette of Davy Jones. Will awakens and assumes this as a nightmare, but is oblivious to a few of Jones' tokens remaining.

Fact #407
This film shows the compass being given to Jack by a captain he worked for in his youth as that captain is dying, previously Tia Dalma said he bartered the compass from her.

Fact #408
The destruction of the trident at the end of the film broke all the curses of the sea, which meant that Will Turner is no longer bound to the Flying Dutchman. However, at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, his heart was cut out and put into the Dead Man's Chest. Therefore, when the curse broke, he should have dropped dead.

Fact #409
In May 2017, the film was allegedly stolen by a group of piracy hackers, who demanded a large sum of money from Disney in order for them not to distribute the unreleased film. The company refused to do so and worked with the FBI in order to get their identity on the group.

Fact #410
It was originally planned to film Dead Men Tell No Tales and the 6th pirates film back to back, but along the way Disney changed their minds and decided to just film the 5th installment. The director for Dead Men Tell No Tales has confirmed that a 6th film is happened and that the 5th installment was only the beginning of the final adventure. 

Fact #411
Johnny Depp has stated that he will continue to play Jack so long as the character remains popular. Disney loves the character so much that they paid Johnny $65 million to play Jack Sparrow in Dead Men Tell No Tales. 

Fact #412
In the first screenplay written for the film back in 2011, Dead Men Tell No Tales originally had a female villain, but that version was soon scrapped. 

Fact #413
Dead Men Tell No Tales was the biggest movie production to ever take place in Australia, costing up to $300 million to make. 

Fact #414
In one of the original scripts of the film, Karina was actually planned to be a witch instead of an astronomer and Jack Sparrow's love interest. This was later change into what we now know her as an astronomer and Captain Barbossa's daughter. 

Fact #415
The gap between On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales was 6 years. The reason the gap was so big was because Disney had a long list of possible directors and cast members to choose from before going into pre-production. 

Fact #416
Key hair designer Peter Swords King's department created more than 1,000 wigs for the film, and on the biggest days made up 700 extras and 30 principals, with a main team of 22 people and another 70 in a vast tent for background, stunt players and wranglers. The facility was humorously referred to as "the sausage factory."

Fact #417
The uproarious "shotgun wedding" sequence filmed at Hastings Point became a true family affair for Stephen Graham (Scrum), whose wife Hannah Walters—a talented actress in her own right—was asked by the filmmakers to portray Captain Jack's would-be, not-so-blushing bride, Beatrice Kelly. Graham and Walters' two spirited and adorable children, Alfie and Grace, played Beatrice's two kids. And it was up to the talented hair and makeup departments to make the otherwise attractive Graham/Walters clan look as unappealing as possible. 

Fact #418
When the "Dead Men Tell No Tales" company filmed in the thick jungle of Tamborine Mountain, they had to don hardhats to protect their heads from remarkably heavy black beans falling from the ancient trees.

Fact #419
To properly age the wardrobe, Penny Rose and her team used a variety of innovative techniques, including putting them along with pebbles in a cement mixer, using cheese graters to wear them down and, occasionally, taking blowtorches to materials as well.

Fact #420
When the original Pirates of the Caribbean was released, co-stars Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario were 14 and 13 years old.

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I hope you all enjoyed these facts as much as I did!