Keira Knightley had taken on a few big roles before taking on one of the leads in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Cures of the Black Pearl. In fact, although Love Actually premiered a bit later than the pirates movie, Knightley was well aware of her Disney pirates gig while on the set of Love Actually. In fact, a new report says that at the time Love Actually was being shot, Keira Knightley revealed that she had little faith in the Johnny Depp starrer, calling it a "disaster." Here's her exact words:
[It's] some pirate thing -- probably a disaster.
In a feature penned by Love Actually director and writer Richard Curtis for the Radio Times, Curtis revealed that when Knightley was on the set of his movie he had asked her what her next big project was coming up. Her next project was, in fact, Pirates of the Caribbean, but at the time she was dismissive of the movie, as is clear in the above quote. Curtis, however, says that he is happy that many of the cast members in the film--which also named Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Andrew Lincoln, Chiwetel Eijofer and Martin Freeman as big players--went on to long and storied careers.
A few months after Keira Knightley made her comment to Richard Curtis, Pirates of the Caribbean went on to gross more than $305 million at the box office in the U.S. and more than $654 million worldwide. The movies made Knightley a household name, and have also continued to be a source of income for the actress, as the fifth movie in the franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is set to hit theaters this year.
Although it's a little bit shocking to hear Keira Knightley once called such a huge franchise a disaster, there was never any guarantee that The Curse of the Black Pearl was going to be a hit. Pirate tales, in particular, have not always been overwhelmingly huge winners at the box office as a whole. (Remember Cutthroat Island?) And even though Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a Disney venture, at the time Johnny Depp was more known for indie films than as an a-lister. Orlando Bloom was already known for the Lord of the Rings films, but he hadn't had much experience outside of that realm yet, either. At the time Pirates of the Caribbean was not exactly a sure bet.
It's easy to look back now and laugh at Keira Knightley's feelings at the time. She's made a swell salary in each of the Pirates movies and is anticipated to appear in the latest, which will bring back Orlando Bloom, as well. We'll see if the franchise can survive after five when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales hits theaters on May 26, 2017. To see what other big films are coming up, take a look at ur 2017 movies schedule.
