The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl—the title pretty much sums up the core of the story.
In a nutshell, the infamous pirate ship, the Black Pearl, is crewed by pirates who messed with a cursed chest of gold they shouldn't have touched.
The curse turned them into undead, tormented souls, suffering endlessly.
To break the curse, they need to recover all the gold coins and spill some blood from the Turner family.
The pirates mistakenly kidnap Elizabeth, played by Anne Hathaway, thinking she's a Turner descendant.
Luke's character, Will Turner, teams up with Captain Jack Sparrow—one to save his love, the other to reclaim his ship, the Black Pearl—taking on the cursed pirates together.
In the original Pirates of the Caribbean script, Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow had a massive role.
Rumor has it, the character was initially written with Hugh Jackman (you know, Wolverine) in mind.
But Disney pushed back hard. They wanted a quirky, comedic, unconventional pirate captain.
They had their sights set on Jim Carrey, the king of comedy.
Problem was, Carrey was tied up shooting Bruce Almighty and had no availability.
That's how Johnny Depp landed the role of Jack Sparrow.
As the soul of Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow's screen time was huge.
But in the latest script revision, Luke's character, Will Turner the blacksmith, got a major boost in scenes, nearly matching Jack Sparrow's.
"Changing the script like this is great for me, but will Disney go for it?" Luke asked.
"I'm the producer for Pirates of the Caribbean. My word carries a lot of weight," Mr. Eisen replied.
Bookmark our site, 101ReadBooks.com!
Luke was surprised—not because Eisen wasn't qualified to be a producer.
On the contrary, he's arguably Hollywood's top producer, bar none.
It's just that he hasn't taken on producing duties in years, usually just tossing in some investment money.
This time, for Luke, he was pulling out all the stops.
"I actually wanted to snag the director's chair and hand it to Johnston," Eisen added.
Luke nodded. He'd worked with Director Johnston on Jurassic Park 3. The guy came from a visual effects background, so directing Pirates of the Caribbean would've played to his strengths.
"Disney didn't go for it?" The answer was obvious, but Luke asked anyway.
"They'd already locked in their choice, so it wasn't easy to change."
"So, as a consolation, they gave you the producer role?"
Luke recalled Eisen mentioning he was old friends with Disney's CEO.
"Not quite. They begged me to take the producer role," Eisen said.
"Why?"
"Because they're not confident. They're worried the movie will flop and hope I'll bring some luck."
Luke blinked at Eisen's response.
Then it clicked. With his "prophetic" hindsight, Luke knew Pirates of the Caribbean would be a massive hit.
But Disney didn't have that crystal ball.
Initially, they just wanted a promotional film for their theme park, inspired by the pirate ship ride.
No one expected it to become a critical and commercial juggernaut, launching an entire franchise.
Disney's current anxiety stemmed from the fact that pirate movies were considered box office poison at the time.
Before Pirates of the Caribbean, two pirate films—Waterworld and Cutthroat Island—had tanked hard.
Cutthroat Island was such a disaster that Carolco Pictures, the studio behind Terminator and First Blood, went bankrupt because of it.
For a long time, pirate movies were an industry taboo.
"If you hadn't been so set on starring in this, I wouldn't have invested," Eisen admitted.
"How much did we put in?"
Luke was curious. To him, this movie was a no-risk investment—the more you put in, the bigger the payoff.
How big a slice of the pie did his studio get?
"As you said, we went all in. We invested $40 million," Eisen answered.
Luke was pleased with that figure.
Considering this was a Disney-led project, securing that amount was a solid win.
The total budget for Pirates of the Caribbean was $140 million, so his studio's $40 million accounted for 28.5%.
Even based on the original timeline's global box office of $654 million, that $40 million would yield around $90 million in returns. And Luke was aiming to outdo The Lord of the Rings.
"So, money really does let you call the shots?" Luke joked, knowing Eisen wouldn't get the meme but saying it anyway.
Right now, having their guy as producer made everything smoother—script changes were a breeze compared to before.
Latest chapters posted first at [site name]!
"There's a price to calling the shots," Eisen replied seriously.
"What's that?"
"The director, Gore Verbinski, and Johnny Depp might have some issues with you. You'll need to handle that."
"Huh?"
Talk about trouble coming out of nowhere.
But Luke wasn't shocked.
Rewriting the script, boosting his own role, even trying to swap out the director—it made sense that Verbinski and Depp might be annoyed, since he was the one benefiting.
Still, they all had to work together to make the movie a success.
"Feeling tricky? Think you can manage your relationship with them?" Eisen asked with a grin, his eyes testing Luke.
"No big deal. I've got this," Luke said confidently.
"How you planning to handle it? Lay it out."
The situation was crystal clear.
The good: They'd revised the script, bumped up Luke's role, and gained more influence.
The bad: It stepped on the toes of the director and Depp, so they weren't thrilled.
"Fight for unity, play both sides, and play them well," Luke said with a smile. "While we're at it, we make the pie bigger. People can't betray their own interests."
Luke laid out his plan:
When faced with unreasonable pushback, stand firm.
Win them over with a killer performance.
Unite them with the promise of future profits.
A mix of strength and charm, hitting from both angles.
Where there are people, there's a game to play.
And that game isn't just about fighting—it's about navigating relationships.
"Well said! You're ready to take on the world!" Eisen replied, clearly impressed with Luke's approach.