Summary
- PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
- screenplay by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
- screen story by Jay Wolpert & Stuart Beattie and Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
- FIRST DRAFT (September 1, 2002)
- Here's an early draft of the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN screenplay.
- You might notice that it's a little rough. You might notice that parts are not like what eventually landed in the movie. We thought that would be more interesting -- let screenwriters, and fans, see how aspects of the movie change over time, let people see the gulf between idea and final execution.
- When you read it, try to take yourself back and put yourself in our shoes at the time, to before the film was a hit, before it was even shot, before we had the full cast, before Johnny showed up with his gold teeth, before we knew if our flickering green light would stay lit. The 26 or so screenplay sequences were written out of order; this is one of the first fully assembled drafts, where you slap it together to see if all the story engines run. It was completed about the time Disney pulled the plug on the project, and Gore Verbinski saved the film by telling people to come into work anyway. As Michael Eisner tells the story, he was fully prepared to tell Gore and Jerry Bruckheimer he wasn't going to make the film, but then Gore took Eisner on a tour of the development art, and Eisner thought, what the heck, there's a movie I'd like to see, and let it continue.
- It's always the same on a movie. Looking forward it seems like there is a wide path, looking back you realize you walked the edge of a knife.
- [...]
- So there you go. We hope you enjoy the script -- it's the version of the film we thought would work. No speeches needed.
- Terry Rossio
- September, 2005
Source
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Wordplayer.com: WORDPLAY/Archives/Screenplay - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
