While Nicole Kidman and Marcia Cross walked down wedding aisles this weekend, Keira Knightley looked bridal herself in a white gown and dangling diamond earrings at Saturday's world premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at Disneyland. She took away the breath of thousands of patrons lined along the amusement park's red-carpet-covered Main Street U.S.A.
"I'm floating up the red carpet in a white Chanel number, which should (fare) well on Splash Mountain," Knightley joked. "Everyone said, 'You can't go on a ride in that dress,' and I said, 'I definitely can.' " Pirates opens July 7.
Co-star Orlando Bloom, who was joined later in the evening by girlfriend Kate Bosworth, said he encountered fans who began camping out at 6 a.m. to offer him a "pirate booty" of "hugs, kisses and gifts."
The event was a virtual redo of the 2003 Disneyland premiere for the first Pirates pic, with a few exceptions — notably the attendance this time of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver, close friends of the film's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer. Shriver shocked with an eye-popping T-shirt: Michelangelo's David, bedazzled with purple gems over the famed statue's privates.
Outside the park, guests passed picketers from the Caribbean, protesting the film's portrayal of their people as cannibals. "I love that," an unfazed Bruckheimer said. "But the movie's make-believe."
Star Johnny Depp made hundreds of fans happy by signing autographs for almost three hours. He then dashed down the carpet, waved to fans and boarded a pirate ship with his co-stars.
IN DEPP: Actor plays it his way
The ship cruised around Tom Sawyer Island, stopping in front of a giant screen, where the film played until midnight and was followed by a fireworks display.
Screenwriter Terry Rossio revealed the likely title of the third Pirates film, due Memorial Day: At World's End, which ties to the film's cliffhanger ending. "It's the pirates' last stand; the end of an era," Rossio said of the third, which sees the introduction of Chow Yun-Fat as a Chinese pirate. The Caribbean scenes have all been shot, but the cast will reunite in late July and August to shoot interiors.
Rossio then reteams with Bruckheimer for National Treasure 2, which finds Nicolas Cage's character, Ben Gates, exploring an Old West mystery.
More fun on the way: Disney chairman Dick Cook revealed that a film titled Jungle Cruise, after another popular Disneyland attraction, is in development. And animatronic figures of Knightley's and Bloom's characters are expected to join the newly installed Depp character in Disneyland's Pirates ride next year.
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