Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Question: Does anybody know where I can get a script/transcript of the film?

Answer: There are several places that it's available. It's here - sfy.iv.ru/pdf/pirates_of_the_caribbean(2003).pdf - as an Acrobat file, which is the full script, containing directions and so forth. A transcript can be found here - http://www.hostultra.com/~vampfiles/piratesscript2.html - all the dialogue but much less detail on actions and so forth.

Tailkinker

Answer: Currently (May 2025) available here: https://thescriptlab.com/wp-content/uploads/scripts/Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-The-Curse-of-the-Black-Pearl.pdf.

Answer: He lets Jack go and decides to give him a one day head start before pursuing him again out of affection for Elizabeth, whom along with Will wanted Jack to be spared from execution for his good deeds.

Phaneron

Answer: At no point did he actually "let" him escape on purpose. Jack was always just too witty for Norrington (who is kinda slow). That's counting 3 occasions where Norrington failed to capture Jack, but perhaps you can be more specific as to which escape you are referring to.

lionhead

The escape is at the end of the movie. When Elizabeth and Will help Jack escape. Norrigton is asked if they are going to go after Jack but Norrigton decides to give him a head start.

In that case then, Norrington is confident that the British Navy can capture 1 pirate with relative ease.

Ssiscool

Answer: He is overly-confident that he is more capable than Jack and will easily catch him.

raywest

Answer: In addition to the other reasons mentioned, Governor Swann suggests it, and not wanting to cross him may have contributed to Norrington's decision.

Question: How does Will get out of the sinking Interceptor? He is stuck there, it's full of water. Several minutes later (it must be some time later, because the Black Pearl had time to move away) the ship explodes, and Will shows up. How did he do that?

nightline

Chosen answer: Heavy objects are easier to lift when submerged in water. It is quite possible that once submerged, he was able to lift a hatch that he was not able to do before.

Scrappy

Answer: The explosion damaged the ship enough for him to get out.

Question: I feel like an idiot for encouraging the way the entire plot of this movie is laid out in the questions page, but, how do the pirates know exactly what they need to do to lift the curse? Does Aztec gold come with an instructions manual or something?

Answer: The Aztec chest has inscriptions on all of its sides. After Barbossa and the rest realized that there indeed was a curse, they went back to Isla de Muerta and learned how the curse can be undone, by deciphering the inscriptions. This is when William Bootstrap Turner decided that they all deserved to be cursed and remain cursed and then sent one piece of the gold to Will, his son, living in England.

Super Grover

Answer: It is very plausible that the curse of the gold is a legend that many have heard. Of course, not many would believe it, and when the pirates realised what was happening to them, they believed it and knew what to do.

Question: When the Black Pearl arrives at Port Royal, and the two pirates, Ragetti and Pintel go after Elizabeth, she runs to her bedroom and throws fire on Ragetti's head. These pirates are cursed, and therefore cannot feel anything. Why then, does he yell as if he could feel the fire? Isn't that a mistake?

linita

Answer: Ragetti (amongst others) is indicating that the undead pirates do feel pain. In example Ragetti talks about his wooden eye and how it "splinters terribly". He also screams that the coal is hot and that it burns him. Another pirate screams in agony when being stabbed. As Barbossa states; they can't feel pleasure in any form but mentions nothing about pain. The curse is meant to punish the greedy who stole/steals the gold. What better punishment than let them suffer by not feeling what wealth can bring in form of pleasure by flesh and food but only take away that part and leave the "bad" feelings like pain?

Fairly logical - just one slight chink: At the end, when Jack and Barbossa fight, Jack stabs Barbossa right through the middle - if the curse is punishing them in this way, Barbossa should be feeling quite a lot of pain. Yet he just sighs, pulls the sword out, and stabs Jack with it.

When Barbossa is explaining the curse to Elizabeth he says, verbatim, "I feel nothing." Therefore, Ragetti can't feel that the coals are hot.

Chosen answer: No, this is not a mistake. Ragetti is just reacting to it in panic, believing that he really can feel pain, even though he cannot.

raywest

Answer: I think it is a deliberate mistake so the curse isn't revealed too early. If he did not react to the coal, the moviegoers would mark that as a mistake that he didn't feel pain from hot coals.

Continuity mistake: When Jack holds the chain to Elizabeth's neck, and subsequently swings about, there are approximately ten links between the wrist shackles. When he tosses the links over the rope, before he slides down, there are at least fifteen attached links. Then at the blacksmith shop, when Jack sits at the anvil, there are eight links, and after he breaks it there are three links dangling from the right shackle and seven dangling from the left, totaling ten. (00:19:50)

Super Grover

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Trivia: Johnny Depp uses the phrase "Interesting..." as his trademark in many of the movies he stars in, including Sleepy Hollow. He uses it in PotC when Koehler's skeletal hand tries to grab him in prison.

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Question: There are numerous mentions of the fact that Depp based his performance as Jack Sparrow on Keith Richards. But I'm sure I saw an interview/making-of programme where he said that Jack Sparrow was a combination of two real-life 'characters'; one was Keith Richards, and try as I might, I can't remember the other one. Did anyone else see this? Who was the other inspiration for Jack Sparrow? (It may have been another actor e.g. Orlando Bloom talking *about* Johnny Depp's influences etc.).

Answer: On Disc 3, Johnny explains, "Take something as solid as Keith Richards and combine it with Pepé Le Pew... I felt... he would resemble a modern day Rastafarian..." Pepé Le Pew is a Looney Tunes cartoon character, based on Charles Boyer's romantic character, Pepé Le Moko. Pepé Le Pew, however, is a romantic amorous cartoon skunk and he has a huge flaw - his 'odor', which he emits in a grand way.

Super Grover

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