The Piracy Debate

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

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Depp seems little concerned with the film's commercial fate. For a man who brought a subversive, punk-rock aesthetic to the most soccer-mom-friendly studio in Hollywood, only to become an accidental kiddie icon along the way, success or failure, it's all part of the same surreal carnival. ''It goes back to that Hunter Thompson line, 'Buy the ticket, take the ride,''' he says. ''We've bought the ticket and now we're on the ride.''

MR. VERBINSKI'S WILD RIDE

MOUSE HUNT (1997)
''I got a call that Steven Spielberg wanted to meet me. He offered me Mouse Hunt and I thought, I can do something with that.''

THE MEXICAN (2001)
''Once Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt were in, this little movie got hyped as a big romantic comedy. We got eaten alive.''

THE RING (2002)
''They offered me The Ring 2, and I passed. There was clearly an agenda to get that movie out. I just thought the jig was up.''

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (2003)
''We were on the edge for Disney. But if you're not making the studio nervous, you're not doing your job.''

THE WEATHER MAN (2005)
''After Pirates, I wanted to do something completely different, a talkie. I'm not interested in perfecting one genre.''

A PEEK AT 'PIRATES III'

The concluding chapter of the Pirates trilogy, reportedly subtitled At World's End, is still being filmed, but Verbinski offers some hints as to where the story will sail. In broad thematic terms, he says, ''Piracy itself is at stake. It's like the railroad is coming to the West.'' Specifically, the film will delve deeper into the backstory of Davy Jones — ''he's a tragic figure, who's been devastated by love,'' says Nighy — while also bringing the unfolding romantic drama between Will and Elizabeth to a climax. ''They realize love is something that hurts,'' Verbinski says, ''and there are things they have to overcome if the relationship is to last.'' (Those darker shades are a welcome development for Bloom, who says he was frustrated on the first film at being simply ''the upright, straitlaced, naive Will Turner.'') Expect plenty of eye-popping set pieces, of course — including a conference of the world's pirate leaders and a treacherous journey to the literal ends of the earth. And could there be a fourth movie? Verbinski says no: ''By the end of the third one, I'm hoping there's no reason to ever make a pirate movie again.'' Depp, however, is leaving the door open a crack: ''You don't want it to be Rocky 12, certainly. But you never say never.''