On a sunny and breezy afternoon, a ship departed from Baja California, Mexico, and headed south across the Pacific Ocean.
This antique vessel, styled after sixteenth-century ships, sailed along Mexico's coastline toward the south, preparing to pass through the Panama Canal.
The journey was blessed with clear skies and warm sunlight. From time to time, dolphins could be seen accompanying the ship for part of its voyage.
The crew was quite relaxed, though they maintained the ship's speed diligently to reach their destination as soon as possible.
As the ship arrived at the port entrance of the Panama Canal, local port staff, curious about its vintage appearance, asked the crew, "Where are you headed?"
"We're going to the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean," the crew responded.
The port workers asked again, "And what's the purpose of your trip?"
"We're going to shoot a movie!" one crew member answered matter-of-factly.
The port workers grew even more curious. "So, you're actors?"
"No," the crew member shook his head. "We're just staff members serving the actor."
"What kind of actor needs twenty people to serve him? A Hollywood megastar?" the port workers were intrigued.
Little did they know, even Hollywood's biggest stars usually don't have such an entourage not even if you count bodyguards, assistants, and various aides.
A celebrity requiring this large of a support team might only be found among the most high-maintenance social media idols of the past.
Gilbert had once heard that a certain boy-band idol had over thirty assistants. Every time he appeared in public, he was swarmed by an entourage no one knew exactly what all those assistants even did.
When you added other followers, such as makeup artists, nutritionists, and stylists, this idol needed a team of at least fifty just to attend a single commercial event. It was downright outrageous.
But looked at from another angle, these "brothers" had at least solved a problem—employment. Ahem!
The port staff remained puzzled. This supposed superstar sure had some odd preferences he chose to travel on such a nostalgic-looking old ship?
Soon, the crew cleared up the misunderstanding: it wasn't a person they were serving.
It was the ship itself.
That's right the ship was the actor.
As for the movie they were filming no need to guess it was the work of none other than Hollywood's legendary director, Gilbert: Pirates of the Caribbean.
Anyone traveling near the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean knew that a massive Hollywood film crew was building a gigantic set on the island for a movie shoot.
If they tried to construct the same sets in Los Angeles, the costs would have been four to five times higher.
Doing it in the Caribbean not only solved the budget issue, but it also matched the movie's title perfectly.
Actually, long before Gilbert came into the picture, two screenwriters were inspired while visiting the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney. They wrote a script and presented it to Disney.
After reviewing it, Disney brought in two more screenwriters, making a team of four to complete the story.
But after that, the script vanished from Disney's executive desks. The first reason was the intense power struggle between Michael Eisner and the Disney board at the time.
The second reason was that Robert Iger, who was in charge of live-action films, thought the story was too cliché and lacked appeal.
At that point, Disney had already secured Gilbert as the poster director for their live-action division, so they didn't feel an urgent need for the project anymore.
But when Gilbert later expressed interest in making a Pirates of the Caribbean film, Robert Iger dusted off the old script and offered it as a reference.
When Gilbert read it, he was shocked. He almost thought he had accidentally plagiarized the wrong script.
However, after reading the entire thing, he relaxed. The story really wasn't great. It lacked excitement and couldn't compare to the script he currently held.
Here's the plot written by those four screenwriters: prison guard Will Turner secretly frees pirate Jack Sparrow in order to save his beloved, Elizabeth Swann. They set out to sea and discover that the notorious pirate Blackheart had kidnapped Elizabeth. Together, they defeat Blackheart and rescue her.
After reading it, Gilbert told Robert Iger plainly: "This story is unimaginably corny."
What's more, based on that script, Will Turner was clearly the lead character. But in Gilbert's version, the story revolved around Jack Sparrow as the undeniable centerpiece.
In production meetings, Gilbert had emphasized repeatedly to the creative team that every storyline should orbit Jack Sparrow. The other characters existed mainly to support him and the plot.
Of course, there were exceptions like Captain Barbossa, who naturally stole scenes without overpowering the story. That couldn't be helped.
Credit had to go to actor Geoffrey Rush for that. His performances alongside Johnny Depp were electrifying and memorable.
The other actors did well too. Even Jack Sparrow's eccentric crewmates had significant screen presence.
Ironically, it was Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley whose roles felt overshadowed when compared to the rest.
Gilbert had made every effort to balance their screen time with Johnny Depp's, so the proportions felt just right.
But the issue is, Jack Sparrow as a character feels like it was tailor-made for Johnny Depp, and Depp's performance was simply too outstanding.
His seductive eyeliner, his catwalk-like strut, that graceful swaying silhouette every movement radiated a kind of bizarre charm that irresistibly drew people's attention to Jack Sparrow.
And you couldn't ask Johnny Depp to tone it down either, because he is the absolute male lead. With a role like this, any level of performance is justified.
In fact, before Pirates of the Caribbean, back in 1995, Carolco Pictures invested $95 million in producing a pirate-themed film titled Cutthroat Island.
That film turned out to be a major disaster, grossing only $9.5 million, which directly led to Carolco being acquired by MGM, and cast a long shadow over pirate-themed movies.
It's worth noting that now, one of Hollywood's major studios—MGM—is teetering on the edge of collapse this summer due to the failure of Windtalkers, along with the underperformance of the new 007 film.
As mentioned before, if a major studio is betting its survival on a single movie, then it's already in serious trouble.
That's exactly the situation MGM is in. A box office flop isn't the worst part what's truly frightening is that shareholders and the stock market have lost faith in MGM, and its stock price is plummeting.
If things keep going like this, it won't be long before MGM enters bankruptcy proceedings.
At this point, MGM has started seeking external acquisition, hoping to find a good buyer to sell itself off to and save its own life.
If Gilbert weren't already a shareholder and board member of both Disney and Time Warner, he'd definitely seize the opportunity to acquire MGM and become the owner of a major movie studio.
As for how to save MGM? With Marvel Studios under his belt, Gilbert doesn't see that as a problem at all.
But unfortunately, Gilbert can't acquire MGM.
Even though MGM is on the verge of bankruptcy, it's still a major studio, and it owns valuable assets, including a massive library of rights and licenses things that Hollywood studios are drooling over.
Any company could try to acquire MGM, except Gilbert. That's because he's already deeply partnered with two major studios.
If he were to add MGM to the mix, the other giants, driven into a corner by Gilbert, might cry "antitrust" and force him to sell off all his existing film company shares.
Though Gilbert is a super-rich mogul and a heavyweight in the entertainment industry, he's still not God, nor is he invincible.
The more he gains, the more enemies he makes.
Facing the onslaught of North America's many interest groups, even the alliance built around Gilbert wouldn't be able to hold the line. And once it fails to do so, the outcome would be him being torn apart and devoured.
Still, just because Gilbert won't make a move doesn't mean no one is eyeing MGM.
....
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