Johnny Depp is back on screens in The Lone Ranger, which is released in August (Picture: Getty)

Johnny Depp has admitted that he dared Disney to give him the boot from the Pirates Of The Caribbean series after they were left confused by his flamboyant portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow.

The Lone Ranger star – who is set to reprise the role in a fifth Pirates film – told Reveal magazine that he narrowly escaped being axed from the series.

However he was forced to remind studio execs that they would still have to pay him whether he appeared in subsequent movies or not.

‘I was probably as close to getting fired as anyone could be,’ Depp said. ‘They wanted to fire me so bad they could taste it.




‘I spoke to one of the execs at the time and said, “You’re right, you should fire me – but you’ll have to pay me for my time”.

The actor won an Oscar nomination for his performance as eccentric pirate Jack Sparrow (Picture: Disney)

Depp has previously revealed how close he came to being dumped from the franchise thanks to his brilliantly over-the-top performance.

‘I’m very happy to explore all possibilities of a character and really, you know, dive into the role,’ the actor explained.

‘They couldn’t understand what I was doing. You know? To the point where Disney wanted to – wanted to fire me. They didn’t understand the character. They were actually contemplating subtitling the film.’

Despite the studio’s concerns, Depp’s portrayal of Jack Sparrow won him his first ever best actor nomination at the 2003 Oscars, for the first Pirates film Curse Of The Black Pearl.

The star recently revealed he was contemplating quitting acting altogether, telling BBC Breakfast: ‘When you add up the amount of dialogue you say per year and you realise you’ve said written words more than you’ve had a chance to say your own words, that becomes an insane option for a human being.’

He added: ‘I wouldn’t say I am dropping out any second but I would say it’s not too far away.’