The famous Disney franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean has some of the most amazingly memorable scenes with its adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp. Little does anyone know, Mackenzie Crook had to go through a lot during the shoots of the same. Besides that, he actually began his career because of Ricky Gervais when he landed a role in the UK sitcom The Office.
The star made a huge impact on the audience when he first appeared as Ragetti in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. But he has his own side to express, because of this he does not feel much attached to the Disney franchise.
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Mackenzie Crook Thanks Ricky Gervais
The One Chance actor went through a rough patch in his life when he went to Greece to do a few stand-up comedy shows in the year 1997. But on his arrival, he found out that the shows were called off. He was stranded a thousand miles away from home and was suffering through a major breakdown in his life.
In an interview with Mirror, he described:
“I was really, really low and on the brink of deciding ‘That’s it’.”
The actor spoke of his situation where he almost decided to quit showbiz. Further stating:
“It was scary – I hadn’t felt those things before. I was so despondent. It was some sort of breakdown. It was a horrible time. I was stuck in this place, so I just went out and got wasted, to drown it all. But it continued after I got back home.”
A year after his misfortune, he began his career on Channel 4 comedy program The 11 O’Clock Show with Ricky Gervais. And this is where he got his big break as this gig led to his great future with The Office.
Speaking of his gig in The 11 O’Clock Show with Ricky Gervais, and thanking him for the opportunity the Detectorists actor said:
“If I hadn’t, my life might have gone on a completely different path. Who knows what I’d be doing now.”
Talking about The Office, playing Gareth Keenan started a new chapter in Crook’s life. He got married to Lindsay Crook, the same year the show began. And has since been widely appreciated for his role as Keenan.
Within a few years, after his huge break with The Office, he then got a big break in the Hollywood movie Pirates of the Caribbean.
The struggle of Mackenzie Crook during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean movies
In the year 2003, Mackenzie Crook got the chance to play the character of Ragetti alongside Johnny Depp in The Curse of the Black Pearl, which he reprised in the sequels as well, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End.
Although he had fun playing that character, Crook expressed:
“It’s such a vast monster, Pirates of the Caribbean, you did only feel like little parts in a big machine – that sounds really scathing.”
Upon remembering his struggles as an actor and a family man he said:
“Yes, we were in these tropical locations but I wasn’t with my family a lot of the time. My wife was pregnant with our first child and he was born during the first movie. I had to fly back to Britain for his birth and they (his family) came out to the Caribbean when he was just three weeks old.”
Currently Mackenzie Crook has a huge and well-established career as he is working on his own series Detectorists, which he also calls his own baby. Crook plays the role of Andy Stone in Detectorists, a sitcom that has Toby Jones as the Co-star.
