While Johnny Depp may be considered an irreplaceable role in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise by fans, Disney executives felt the opposite.
Depp revealed in a recent interview that Disney executives wanted to fire him from the franchise, claiming that the audience would have a hard time understanding what the actor was saying and would be forced to use subtitles.
“They couldn’t understand what I’m doing. You know? To the point where Disney wanted to – wanted to fire me. They didn’t understand the character. They were actually contemplating subtitling the film,” Depp told Reveal magazine.
The now 50-year-old actor reminded studio execs that if they did end up firing him they’d still have to pay him for his time.
“I was probably as close to getting fired as anyone could be,” Depp recalled. “They wanted to fire me so bad they could taste it”
“I spoke to one of the execs at the time and said, ‘You’re right, you should fire me – but you’ll have to pay me for my time.'” Obviously, they ended up not firing the Golden Globe winner and instead decided to release four more sequels with him as the lead.
Not only did the first installment of the franchise end up being a box office hit, it also landed Depp an Oscar nomination for his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow. The franchise has since releases three sequels, two of which have grossed over $1 billion at box offices worldwide, with a fifth installment set to hit theaters in July of 2015.
