Development By September 2006, Mark Zoradi, president of the
Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group was quoted as saying, "The third film... will conclude the initial Pirates trilogy, though it is unlikely to be the last Pirates sequel." Terry Rossio said in 2007 that a fourth film was possible, and producer
Jerry Bruckheimer expressed interest in a spin-off. Director
Gore Verbinski concurred that "all of the stories set in motion by the first film have been resolved. If there ever were another
Pirates of the Caribbean film, I would start fresh and focus on the further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow." Shortly before the premiere of ''Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
, Bruckheimer stated it was the end of the Pirates of the Caribbean'' trilogy, but the idea of a spin-off was still possible. After the film's successful opening weekend,
Dick Cook, then Chairman of the
Walt Disney Studios, said he was interested in a fourth installment.
Los Angeles Times also reported that rights to a book were bought.
Johnny Depp was expected to reprise his role as Captain
Jack Sparrow.
Ted Elliott and
Terry Rossio had started working on a script in 2007, but they were interrupted by the
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, and only resumed in mid-2008. In June 2009, Bruckheimer indicated Disney would prefer the fourth installment of
Pirates to be released before
Lone Ranger film, which was being worked on for release in the summer of 2010. He hoped original
Pirates director
Gore Verbinski would return for the fourth film, as his
BioShock film adaptation had been put on hold. As Verbinski was unavailable due to his commitment with
Rango the same year, Bruckheimer suggested
Rob Marshall, whom he considered a "premiere filmmaker", stating that "Every film [Marshall] made I thought was unique and different". On July 21, 2009, Marshall accepted the job, because of the "whole new story line and set of characters. It felt new, and that was important to me." Marshall's involvement was not reported until August. Marshall said the film provided him a long-awaited opportunity to work with Depp, and that his directing was helped by his experience as a choreographer—"the action sequences felt like big production numbers". "I really had one criteria for signing on. And that was a story I could actually follow." On September 11, 2009, during a presentation at Disney's
D23 Expo, Cook and Johnny Depp, in full Captain Jack Sparrow costume, made the announcement that a fourth
Pirates film was in development for a summer 2011 release. The title was announced as
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, later revealed to have been taken from
Tim Powers's 1987 novel
On Stranger Tides. Depp's faith in
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was somewhat shaken after the resignation, with Depp explaining that "There's a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment. It was all born in that office". Depp also explained Cook was one of the few who accepted his portrayal of Jack Sparrow: "When things went a little sideways on the
first Pirates movie and others at the studio were less than enthusiastic about my interpretation of the character, Dick was there from the first moment. He trusted me". Director Rob Marshall visited the
Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland for inspiration, eventually paying homage with a skeleton holding a magnifying glass in Ponce de León's ship. Another ride reference scene featuring "Old Bill", the pirate who tries to share his rum with a cat, was also filmed but cut.
Pintel and Ragetti were originally supposed to make an appearance, but director Rob Marshall opted out of the idea as he feared their roles would be cut.
Writing During the production of ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and At World's End'', writers
Ted Elliott and
Terry Rossio discovered
Tim Powers's 1987 novel
On Stranger Tides, which they considered a good foundation on which to base "a new chapter" in the
Pirates series. In 2009, after the announcement of the film's title, which led to speculation in regards to his book, Powers insisted that Jack Sparrow and his book's main character Jack Shandy "are totally different characters", but that it was possible that "they might overlap" his fictionalized version of
Blackbeard and the film franchise character
Hector Barbossa. Additionally. Powers felt certain the Fountain of Youth was the only thing they would hold on to due to the film's ending. Rossio stated that he and Elliot had considered using Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth in the story, "but whenever you say those words, Powers's novel comes to mind. There was no way we could work in that field without going into territory Tim had explored." However, while taking inspiration from Powers' novel, Rossio denied that the film would be a straight version of the novel: "Blackbeard came from the book, and in the book, there is a daughter character, too. But Jack Sparrow is not in the book, nor is Barbossa. So I wouldn't call this an adaptation". Among Depp's suggestions were turning Philip into a
missionary and having a Spanish contingent following the protagonists.
Geoffrey Rush expressed interest in returning to his role as Hector Barbossa. Bruckheimer later confirmed the presence of Rush as Barbossa, Rush was positive on Barbossa having lost a leg, as he considered the disability made him "angrier, more forceful and resilient as a character", and had to work with the stunt team for an accurate portrayal of the limp and usage of crutch, particularly during sword fighting scenes. and
Keith Richards as
Captain Teague. On reprising his cameo role from ''At World's End'', Richards and Depp tried to persuade
Mick Jagger to join Richards as a pirate elder. Previous cast members
Orlando Bloom (
Will Turner) and
Keira Knightley (
Elizabeth Swann) repeatedly stated that they would not reprise their roles, declining interest in returning to the
Pirates series as they both thought the storyline involving their characters had gone as far as it could in ''At World's End
. On August 1, 2009, Bill Nighy expressed his desire to return as Davy Jones, who died in the previous film At World's End'', citing a possibility to resurrect the character. On February 5, 2010,
Mackenzie Crook also stated he would not be reprising his role of
Ragetti, stating, "They haven't asked me. But actually I don't mind that at all. I'm a fan of the first one especially and I think the trilogy we've made is great. I'd almost like them to leave it there." New cast members include
Ian McShane, who plays the notorious pirate and primary antagonist of the film,
Blackbeard, and
Penélope Cruz, who plays Angelica, Jack Sparrow's love interest. According to Marshall, McShane was chosen because "he can play something evil but there's always humor behind it as well" and the actor accepted the job due to both the "very funny and charming" script and the opportunity to work with Marshall. Marshall said Cruz was the only actress considered for the role, as she fit the description as "an actress who could not only go toe to toe with Johnny and match him, but also needed to be all the things that Jack Sparrow is in a way. She needed to be funny and clever and smart and crafty and beautiful", Cruz was pregnant during filming, leading the costume department to redesign her wardrobe to be more elastic and the producers to hire her sister
Mónica Cruz to double for Penélope in risky scenes. and
Richard Griffiths for the role of
King George II, as Depp was a fan of Griffiths' work on
Withnail and I. and British actor
Paul Bazely also joined the cast. Spanish news website
El País reported that the film had four Spanish actors: Cruz,
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey,
Óscar Jaenada, and
Juan Carlos Vellido. Jaenada was picked for both his work in
The Losers and a recommendation by Cruz. Casting for mermaids required the actresses to have natural breasts—no
implants. As Bruckheimer explained to
EW, "I don't think they had breast augmentation in the 1700s, [...] So it's natural for casting people to say, 'We want real people.'" Marshall invited Spanish-French actress
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey to play
Syrena after seeing her in a French magazine article on up-and-coming actresses. Bergès-Frisbey had to take lessons of English, swimming and breath control for the role. The rest of the mermaid portrayers, such as Australian supermodel
Gemma Ward, were chosen for having "exotic sense, an otherworldly sensibility, but also under those layers a deadly quality", according to Marshall, and had to take swimming lessons to learn movements such as the
dolphin and
eggbeater kicks. with a synopsis released. Filming was moved to California in August 2010, primarily at the
Long Beach shore production moved to the United Kingdom in September, where principal photography wrapped on November 18 after 106 days of shooting. The producers also considered using
New Orleans as a location. In October, security was breached at the UK site when a
celebrity impersonator gained access to filming at the Old Royal Naval College by dressing up as Captain Jack. After the joint production of ''Dead Man's Chest
and At World's End
cost over $300 million, Disney decided to give a lower budget to the fourth installment. Many costs had to be cut, including moving primary production to Hawaii and London, where tax credits are more favorable, and having a shorter shooting schedule and fewer scenes featuring special effects compared to At World's End''. The tighter schedule—according to Bruckheimer, "We had a 22-week post, and for a picture like this, with almost 1,200 visual effects shots, it's usually 40 weeks"—meant that Marshall supervised editing of sequences during filming. ''Queen Anne's Revenge
was built atop Sunset
, the same ship used to depict Black Pearl
in previous installments. In February 2010, Sunset
was sailed from Long Beach to a shipyard in Hawaii for the reforms, where a big concern was to make it imposing, with three stories, without sacrificing actual seakeeping. According to Myhre, given Blackbeard was meant to be the meanest pirate to appear in the series, the look for Queen Anne's Revenge'' was ominous, with sails dyed blood red, various elements on fire, and a decoration based on skulls and bones (drawing inspiration from the
Sedlec Ossuary in Czech Republic). Damage from cannon fire was also added to show that "not only Blackbeard was a dying man, but his ship is also a dying ship". The ship's
figurehead also drew inspiration from Blackbeard's
pirate flag. The replica ship was used for Barbossa's ship, HMS
Providence, and all the scenes aboard
Providence were shot on the Long Beach shore as
Surprise could not be sailed to Hawaii.
Effects On Stranger Tides employed 1,112 shots of
computer-generated imagery, which were done by ten visual effects companies.
Cinesite visual effects supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp claimed that the most difficult part was doing the effects in 3D: "
Rotoscoping is tricky. Cleaning up plates is double the work, and
tracking has to be spot on."—and
Moving Picture Company, who created digital ships and environment extensions, such as changing weather and designing cliffs and waterfalls. Filming the mermaids involved eight model-actresses, who portrayed them outside the water, as well as 22
synchronized swimming athletes and a group of stuntwomen, both of whom wore
motion capture suits to be later replaced by digital mermaids. Mermaid corpses were depicted by plaster models. The design tried to avoid the traditional representations of mermaids in paintings and literature, instead going for a scaly body with a translucent membrane inspired by both jellyfish and the fabric employed in
ballet tutus. To make the mermaids more menacing underwater, the faces of the actresses had some digital touch-ups on the underwater scenes, adding sharper teeth and a shimmery fish scale quality on the skin. ILM also handled Blackbeard's death, where Ian McShane's actual performance was covered by digital doubles which turned him into a "boiling mass of blood and clothing", and a hurricane-like formation that represented "the waters of the Fountain taking his life". CIS Hollywood did 3D corrections and minor shots, and
Method Studios created
matte paintings. ==Music==