Johnny Depp halted Pirates of the Caribbean filming over dangerous stunt gone wrong | Films | Entertainment
The future of Johnny Depp’s career in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been left up in the air, but some of his former colleagues have come out to support the actor. Disney dropped the American star from the series after his ex-wife, Amber Heard, accused him of domestic violence. Since then, the Pirates franchise has been left to stagnate. But before the first film had even hit cinemas, Depp was looking after the cast and crew around him.
Stuntman Tony Angelotti spoke with Metro about working closely with Depp to bring the Pirates movies to life. But the first film in the series, The Curse of the Black Pearl, almost ended his career entirely.
The moment came during an iconic sword fight at the beginning of the movie. During this high-stakes battle, Orlando Bloom (who played Will Turner) lost his precision and caught Angelotti in the face.
He recalled: “I do remember one time when I saw [Depp] extremely angry, And it was when we were filming the blacksmith forge fight, and I was fighting Orlando Bloom, and Johnny’s sitting over by the camera watching.”
Angelotti described the fights as “really intense and fast” – so when Bloom lost his footing, things went bad for the stuntman.
“Orlando I think got lost at one point,” Angelotti remembered. “And went in another direction, And I ducked back and the tip of his blade caught right near my eyebrow.”
The stunt professional called it a “nick” on his eyebrow, while adding that “a hair closer would have left a decent mark”.
But when Depp noticed the bloody injury, he intervened. “Johnny got up out of his chair,” he continued. “Walked over to this guy, and said: ‘We’re not doing a f****ng thing until he gets looked at by the medic.'”
Angelotti said it was so quiet on set that you “could have heard a pin drop”.
Thankfully, he added, the film’s medic was there “in a split second” and confirmed that his eyebrow cut was totally fine.
“That’s the rare occasion that I saw him, he blew a gasket,” he added of Depp’s passion on set.
This is not the only anecdote about how Depp looked after his cast and crew during the filming of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
During the production of the fourth film in the series, On Stranger Tides, the cast and crew were buffeted by vicious storms.
Rain, wind, and hail attacked the Pirates family, so much so that Depp went out and bought every single member a brand new thick winter coat to help endure the torrential rain.
He reportedly bought 500 coats worth $75,000 to keep everyone safe and warm during his movie’s production.
The Pirates of the Caribbean films are available to watch on Disney Plus now.
