Johnny Depp almost got fired off the first ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’

Remember back before 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” came out and Johnny Depp was a successful and well-respected actor known for challenging indie roles? Well, apparently the role that turned the tide and made him a blockbuster movie star was almost too challenging — at least for the Disney brass in charge of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” as Depp’s work gave them some major pause.

“They wanted to fire me. I fully expected to be fired, and I got a call from the upper echelon at Disney who were courageous enough to ask me, ‘What the f— are you doing?'” Depp tells Moviefone. “The questions came up, ‘Is [the performance] drunk? Is it gay?’ All I could say was, because they set me up with a great line, I said, ‘Well, don’t you know all my characters are gay?'” Fascinating, and it explains so much!

“I really expected to be fired, but I wasn’t for some reason,” he continues. “They were actually going to put subtitles under my character. They couldn’t understand Captain Jack.” Listen, while it’s great that they didn’t fire him off that first “Pirates” film, considering the idea for the sequels wouldn’t have been so bad.

Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter: @nedrick