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Orlando Bloom isn't angry about 'Pirates of the Caribbean' criticism

Bloom as William Turner (Credit: Disney)
Bloom as William Turner (Credit: Disney)

Orlando Bloom has said that he doesn't 'look back in anger' over the criticism of his role in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Critics often rounded on Bloom's relative dryness as William Turner Jr, when viewed next to that of Johnny Depp's eccentric, boozed up pirate Captain Jack Sparrow.

Read more: Bruckheimer doesn’t know if Depp will be back in POTC

Famously, critic Mark Kermode branded Bloom ‘Orlando Bland’.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said: “Nobody steps out of the door or onto a set — whoever you are, whether you're an actor, director or producer — nobody is trying to do bad work. I know when I put my head down at night, I've done my best with everything that I've ever done.

“I've always given it my all, and I think in a way, if anything, there was a lot of safe play in my career. I'm not really interested in that any more, so I can see how... I mean for Will, for example, I was playing the straight guy to Johnny remarkable Jack Sparrow, but it's not easy to pull that straight guy off, do you know what I mean?

Depp as Jack Sparrow (Credit: Disney)
Depp as Jack Sparrow (Credit: Disney)

“And in a way, it was the emotional thread, that relationship between Elizabeth and Will, but I don't look back with anything. I just look forward with excitement, to be honest now.”

Bloom played Turner in four of the five Pirates of the Caribbean movies; 2003's debut Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and then in Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007).

He skipped Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, before returning for a small role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge in 2017.

Some years back, Bloom revealed there was talk at Disney potentially rebooting the series centring on Will Turner – who eventually became the Davy Jones character – and his relationship with his son, Henry Turner, played in Salazar's Revenge by Brenton Thwaites.

Margot Robbie arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Margot Robbie (Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

However, it emerged in June this year that Disney is plotting a new, female-fronted spin-off franchise with Margot Robbie at the helm, and without Johnny Depp, following the financial disappointment and critical drubbing taking by Salazar's Revenge.

Lurid details of Depp's private life from his recent libel court case with The Sun also won't have helped the actor's chances of reprising Captain Jack given Disney's family-orientated values.

The studio is also said to be planing a reboot of the property with Craig Mazin, the writer of hit series Chernobyl for HBO.