Keith Richards, who served as the model for Johnny Depp’s swishy, eccentric pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, is greatly owed. From Pep Le Pew to B. R. Burg’s “Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition,” Depp pieced together Sparrow’s sexually ambiguous swashbuckler. Still, Richards is regarded as Sparrow’s actual and figurative father. The Rolling Stones guitarist was easily persuaded to join the sequel, “At World’s End,” as Captain Teague, Jack Sparrow’s father, but the producers struggled to time his arrival.
According to Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced “Pirates,” the Stones’ busy world tour “A Bigger Bang” had to be accommodated throughout filming.
“The hardest part was trying to fit our film schedule into his touring schedule, so we had to find about three or four days when the Rolling Stones weren’t touring. But I think he was happy to be part of the film. It’s just a small role, but important to the story, and I think he had a ball. He was there with his wife and kids and he clearly didn’t want to leave.”
A lovely bunch of coconuts
When Richards encountered a circumstance that the “Pirates” writers could have contrived for Sparrow himself, The Stones’ tour ran into yet another hitch. The 62-year-old rocker was injured after he fell out of a coconut tree while on holiday in Fiji in April 2006. In July of that year, following Richards’ brain surgery in New Zealand, the band continued their tour. Richards continued the tour and his summertime appearance as Captain Teague, Jack Sparrow’s father. Orlando Bloom, a global celebrity in his own right and his shipmate, enthused about the legend (via Associated Press). If he doesn’t kill himself by jumping off of coconut trees, Bloom added, “I can’t wait to see him healthy.” Absolutely rock and roll.
Richards makes a fleeting but charming appearance in “At World’s End.” With a casual drag of a cigarette, he blows smoke off the tip of a deadly revolver while hiding in the shadows and wearing a deep crimson coat. Audiences can enjoy listening to Richards play a wonderful acoustic guitar in the background as the pirates quarrel about their code. The moment is a flawless mash-up of a rock star and a pirate, and it epitomizes Depp’s own vision for his character:
“When I was thinking about Captain Jack was the idea that pirates were the rock and roll stars of that era, of the 18th century. First and foremost, the myth or the legend would arrive months before they would ever make port, that kind of thing, which is very similar to rock and roll stars, and it was about freedom.”
Hail, Richards
One of Richards’ few acting roles—possibly the only one in which he doesn’t portray himself—is in “Pirates.” He played a disgruntled musical director for Chuck Berry in the 1987 documentary “Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Richards perfectly captures the appearance of a modern-day pirate in a clip from “Hail! Hail!” He talks about Berry while wearing a bright blue scarf around his neck and a flowy white button-down shirt. On his right hand, the middle finger is adorned with a skull ring, and on his left, two spindly fingers support a cigarette. Richards, who was 44 at the time, already had a gravelly voice that was probably a result of years of smoking the same cigarettes, and his languid movements were controlled by his slender, delicate wrists. Like Sparrow, his easy smile shows you that while appearing older than his actual age, he actually has a youthful vigor hidden inside.
Richards and Sparrow differ significantly in one important way. Richards doesn’t seem to be concerned about his impending death, in contrast to the fictitious pirate, who devises numerous schemes to connive with Davy Jones or discover the fountain of youth. Richards shrugged off the topic of whether he was afraid of dying following his accident involving the coconut tree. And despite abusing booze and heavy narcotics for decades, the septuagenarian still performs. Richards’ possibility for additional cameos as Captain Teague may have outlasted the “Pirates” sequels directed by Depp, which is a credit to his tenacity.
