pirates curse development

Development
During the early 1990s,[7] screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio conceived of writing a film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. In their original pitch, Will Turner was the lead role, and the villainous pirates were searching for treasure. Steven Spielberg expressed interest, and wanted to cast Bill Murray, Robin Williams or Steve Martin as Jack Sparrow. Disney was already making Muppet Treasure Island at the time and did not give permission for the film to be made because the two had similar storylines.[8]
Disney had Jay Wolpert write a script based on the ride, which producer Jerry Bruckheimer rejected, feeling it was, "a straight pirate movie."[3] Stuart Beattie was brought in to rewrite the script in March 2002, because of his knowledge of piracy,[6] and later that month Elliott and Rossio were brought in.[3] Elliott and Rossio were inspired by the opening narration of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride, and decided to give the film a supernatural edge.[9] As the budget rose, Michael Eisner and Bob Iger threatened to cancel the film, though Bruckheimer changed their minds when he showed them concept art and animatics.[10] In May 2002 Gore Verbinski signed on to direct Pirates of the Caribbean.[6] He was attracted to the idea of using modern technology to resurrect a genre that had disappeared after the Golden Age of Hollywood, and recalled his childhood memories of the ride, feeling the film was an opportunity to pay tribute to the "scary and funny" tone of it
source:Wikipedia