Depp: 'jack sparrow was unpopular with disney bosses'

Johnny Depp initially confused Disney bosses with his Pirates Of The Caribbean rogue Jack Sparrow - they assumed the character was gay or drunk.

Depp was confronted by movie executives after his first performances as the flamboyant pirate, who the actor has admitted was inspired by Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards.

He tells Vanity Fair magazine, "They just couldn't stand him. (I got calls from) upper-Disney-ites, going, 'Is he, you know, like some kind of weird simpleton? Is he drunk? By the way, is he gay?'"

But Depp refused to change the eccentric Sparrow, who has since helped turn the films into a hit franchise.

He adds: "I actually told this woman who was the Disney-ite that called me about all that stuff, and asked me the questions, I said to her, 'But didn't you know that all my characters are gay?' Which really made her nervous."