Johnny Depp On Why Dressing Up As Captain Jack Sparrow Was A Bad Idea

Having played Captain Jack Sparrow in five different Pirates of the Caribbean films, the character has become one of actor Johnny Depp's most iconic and recognizable roles. The one place fans might not recognize the character, however, is the very ride that birthed the whole franchise to begin with.

The actor recently shared on The Graham Norton Show that, when he visited the attraction in Disneyland in hopes of giving guests a shocking surprise, everyone there seemingly thought he was just a very advanced animatronic.

"I did something that, as soon as Pirates was going to happen, I thought, 'How great would it be to be able to have the opportunity to stand there as some sort of animatronic until the people come by and then you start screaming?'" Depp recalled. "Scare them into a mischief. All these years later, I got the chance to do it, so I was very excited."

Despite his excitement about the opportunity, the actor revealed it didn't go quite the way he had anticipated.

"These boats are gonna come around the corner and they just sort of looked at me as they were coming around and I was frozen and I went, 'Oy!' I didn't know what else to say. 'What are you looking at?!' And then...nothing," Depp confessed. "You know what I got? All of the iPhones in the world going, 'Wow. Why that's a pretty good animatronic.' It was one of the proudest moments of my life."

The ride originally opened in 1967 and quickly became one of the most popular rides at the Disney amusement parks.

While the ride doesn't feature a strong narrative, the 2003 film that earned its namesake from the ride incorporated a variety of the ride's featured characters that devout Disney fans would recognize.

In 2006, the ride officially began including a Jack Sparrow animatronic at different points in the ride to appease fans who were attending due to their love of the film.

Earlier this year, the ride underwent another transformation, with a scene featuring a pirate auctioning off women being replaced with a pirate auctioning off treasures.

[H/T YouTube, The Graham Norton Show]