Keira Knightley felt Pirates of the Caribbean would be 'probably a disaster': Love Actually director reveals

As director Richard Curtis unveiled the eagerly anticipated sequel to Love Actually on Red Nose Day, he took a moment to look back at the film's incredible success.

Also read: Check out striking hi-res images from Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The writer-director of romantic comedy shared his views in an op-ed column for Radio Times. Curtis revealed about where his stars were in their careers when the film debuted in 2003. "It's been a particular delight to me how brilliantly the cast have done over the years. When we shot the film, I remember Keira Knightley saying that her next project was 'some pirate thing — probably a disaster.

"That turned out to be Pirates of the Caribbean, in which Bill Nighy was also later a be-tentacled Davy Jones.

"Andrew Lincoln had never come across, let alone killed, the Walking Dead. Chiwetel Ejiofor hadn't been a slave for five minutes, let alone 12 years..."

He continued that Liam Neeson still has the very coat that they first filmed him, disclosing: "As I write this we've already filmed with Liam Neeson – who impressively had kept the coat that we first filmed him in, and is wearing it again – and with Rowan Atkinson, who is still wrapping things very lavishly."

Richard admitted that he had to edit the new script quite a lot because it could have turned into a feature-length follow-up, "and nobody wanted that".

"I've also had to leave out some of the other stories or it would have started to creep up to a full-length feature, and nobody wanted that.

"I know the film is very much not everyone's cup of tea, but I've been surprised ever since it came out, and so grateful, that some people are really fond of it."

The fifth instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise titled Dead Men Tell No Tales will open in cinemas on May 26.