Johnny Depp: More ‘Pirate’ Sequels?

Three years and $653 million later, Johnny Depp, aka Capt. Jack Sparrow, and ?The Pirates of the Caribbean? return to sail the seven season July 7.

And to think, there were actually some people who didn?t think Johnny had it in him.

?I was handed this opportunity to make something of this character and there were a number of people who thought that I was, uh, nuts, you know, ha,? Johnny laughed.

“When we were writing Jack Sparrow the first time through, of course we hadn’t seen Johnny’s performance and we were writing this trickster, rogue, swashbuckler character,? producer Jerry Bruckheimer explained.? Johnny’s performance was absolutely correct to what we wrote but nothing like we imagined it would be.?

But in the beginning, Johnny?s rather ?odd? take on Capt. Jack Sparrow ? originally modeled after Burt Lancaster before Johnny came along ? had the studios scratching their heads, according to Newsweek magazine.

“The studio was, like, ‘Is he gay? Is he drunk? We don’t know what he’s doing!’,” Jerry told Newsweek. “It took a little while to calm everybody down.”

?One of the initial things that was really important to me was that a 3-year-old can sit down next to a 50-year-old and they all, they all get the same thing out of this character,? Johnny said.

Fellow castmate and Oscar nominee for “Pride & Predjudice,”Keira Knightley, admires Johnny’s originality.

?Just watching him work is really extraordinary because that is his,? Keira explained. ?He’s come up with that, and you can only admire him.?

?We wouldn’t be all back here if not for Johnny wanting to play this character again, and hopefully he’ll want to play it for a long time because we love making these movies,? Jerry said.

Johnny also told Newsweekthat being a financial success fit fine with hisnot-so-mainstream image.

“I suppose it’s because I feel like I have a voice,? Johnny told Newsweek. ?The idea of commercial success never bothered me necessarily. What bothered me was striving for that, and lying to get that. If I was going to do something, it had to be on my terms-not because I’m some hideous control freak-but because I don’t want to live a lie. You really don’t want to look back on your life and go, ‘I was a complete fraud’.”

Johnny and Captain Jack may be here to stay.

“He’s a blast to play,” Johnny told Newsweek. “I’ll be in a deep, dark depression saying goodbye to him. I’ll keep the costume and just prance around the house, entertain the kids.”

Are we getting more ?Pirates? after the third then?

“Maybe ‘Pirates 4, 5 and 6’,” Johnny told Newsweek. “If they had a good script, why not? I mean, at a certain point, the madness must stop, but for the moment, I can’t say that he’s done.”