‘Pirates’ Franchise Prequel Was Filmed Without Johnny Depp After Disney’s 3-Day Ultimatum To Director
The Pirates of the Caribbean is arguably the most hefty franchise that Johnny Depp earned the honor to be associated with to date. Immensely loved by fans worldwide, every movie in the film series from the franchise was shot with Depp in the lead as the trickster Captain Jack Sparrow, who would do anything and everything in his wit and deceit to attain what he wishes for. Well, almost every single one except for the short prequel, Tales of the Code: Wedlocked.
The Only Pirates of the Caribbean Film Shot Without Johnny Depp
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Though Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will no longer star Johnny Depp in any role–let alone that of Captain Jack Sparrow–considering the actor’s firm rejection of the franchise irrespective of whatever amount he is offered, there is one short film that happened before this drama that also happened to get shot and released without the involvement of the renowned legend.
This short tale was included in the Pirates of the Caribbean Four Movie Collection along with four other feature films, released with the fourth installment of the film series On Stranger Tides in 2011. Titled Tales of the Code: Wedlocked, this was the prequel to the first film, The Curse of the Black Pearl, and was mainly a reference to particularly the “Auction scene” from the original film series.
However, it also had a very understandable reason behind not including Johnny Depp in the shoot: Disney had a 3-day ultimatum for the director of the film, James Ward Byrkit, which was basically to film the short movie within three days before the “Pirate Cove” set from the previous movies was destroyed, i.e. the same set where this short film was shot.
A little backstory here: Tales of the Code: Wedlocked was never pre-planned and was shot during the off-hours by Byrkit, who worked as a conceptual consultant on the sets of Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End with filmmaker Gore Verbinski. Thus, all the resources and cast required were assembled rather speedily to pull off the shoot for the short film within the limited time frame.
While Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow did appear in the short film at the very end, trying to get the water out of his boat so he could quickly sail off to Port Royal, that scene was never filmed with the shooting of Wedlocked but was instead taken from the very movie that served as the sequel to this short prequel film: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Thus, even though he was there, Johnny Depp was never really there in Tales of the Code: Wedlocked!
Why Tales of the Code: Wedlocked Was Created
Tales of the Code: Wedlocked was nothing but a short, funny story based on the ‘Pirate Code’ book, shot on one of the set pieces of the Shipwreck Cove designed by Rick Heinrichs for the original film series.
Moreover, James Ward Byrkit, did a beyond-exceptional job while showcasing his remarkable directing skills when he created Wedlocked. As per how he described it on his official website Branebox:
“‘Wedlocked’ was a labor of love, a short film I directed especially for super-fans of the ‘Pirates’ movies. Knowing we had a small budget and borrowed sets, Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott wrote a script for me that recalled the Pirates ride more than the movies. ‘Slappers’ Vanessa Branch [who played Giselle] and Lauren Maher [who played Scarlett] turned in leading lady performances that should get them their own TV spinoff.”
All in all, Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code: Wedlocked was indeed a hilarious masterpiece created by someone who wasn’t even a director of the original movie series but instead worked as a conceptual consultant on the sets!
