This was Shown in Every Movie, but Only a Few Paid Attention: What Disease Does Jack Sparrow Have?

Johnny Depp came up with the character of Jack Sparrow from scratch. The initial sketches from Disney showed a neat pirate, but the actor insisted on a completely different vision — an unshaven, perpetually drunk sailor with gold teeth. The studio's management initially resisted, but then agreed to this crazy idea. The actor went even further — he added a hidden detail to the character.

Make-up artists painted a red spot on his cheek each time, which, according to Depp, symbolized syphilis. With each film, the scar was supposed to get bigger, because his character would hardly have sought treatment. This dark detail remained behind the scenes, but gave the character a special depth. However, not all viewers noticed it.

Initially, Will Turner was planned to be the main character in Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jack Sparrow was seen as a secondary comic character. Depp suggested making the pirate even more eccentric — with a false nose that would fall off, as a hint of an advanced disease. But fate decreed otherwise: it was Sparrow who became the iconic face of the franchise. Instead of a nose, the creators left only a barely noticeable spot on the face, and the "gimmick" with the disappearing body part was given to another character — the pirate Ragetti with his eternally disappearing wooden eye.