Its hard to escape Pirate fever right now as the world awaits the second instalment of one of Disney's most successful franchises - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest. Set to be the big hit of the summer, Capt. Jack Sparrow and co have the likes of Superman quaking in his little red boots. Superman Return's American release has been moved forward by two days to avoid a direct battle with the Pirates. So how did a movie based on an old-fashioned but popular Disney theme park ride come to rival the likes of Superman, and where did Gore Verbinski, the man at the helm of the Pirates franchise come from? When Verbinski was announced as director of a pirate movie touted as the next summer blockbuster, starring Johnny Depp and hot young new things Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly, the question most people may have asked was Gore who? Verbinski may seem an unlikely choice at first glance but then so did 'Bad Taste' director, Peter Jackson when it was announced he would direct Tolkien's much loved 'Rings' trilogy.

Verbinski was born in 1964 in Tennessee before his family moved to San Diego, California. He began experimenting with filmmaking as a teenager before attending UCLA where he graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film. Film wasn't Verbinski's only passion however, he also played guitar in punk rock bands, The Daredevils and Little Kings. For a while, he combined his two loves when he directed music videos in the late 80's for alternative bands such as L7, Bad Religion and Monster Magnet while working at Palomar Pictures. Verbinski then moved into making commercials where he was the man behind the Budweiser talking frog adverts for which he won awards including Canne's advertising, Silver Lion. He moved back into filmmaking in 1996 when he wrote and directed his first short film, The Ritual and made his feature film debut the following year.

Mousehunt, a slapstick family comedy starring Brit comedian Lee Evans with Nathan Lane, was a commercial hit. Released over the Easter holidays in this country it was an average fun kids movie but offered little else of much value save for Christopher Walken in a supporting role pointing fun at his tough guy on screen persona as the mouse gets the better of him. Verbinski however proved he could deliver commercially and also showed he had a flare for special effects and comedy, something that would come in handy when making Pirates.

His next film was a step in completely the opposite direction, The Mexican, released 2001, was shot as a low budget independent movie, and saw itself as a quirky offbeat road movie, comedy, action hybrid. It was expected to be a huge hit due to its star pairing of Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt but the film failed to live up to the hype that surrounded it. But Verbinski bounced back with The Ring (2002), a remake of Japanese horror movie, Ringu. The film earned more than $200 million dollars worldwide and once again proved Verbinski could deliver a commercial hit despite his set back the previous year with The Mexican.

As well as being a commercial hit the film also received good if often mixed reviews, being a remake, the film was naturally open to comparison to the excellent original. This can often be the kiss of death for a film, to be a remake to such a popular movie, remarks that the film could not possible live up to the original or that the film shouldn't even be remade in the first place often accompany such movies, but despite this the film was a success.

Of course he then went on to receive even more success with his next film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which has spawned two sequels. The third Pirate movie is due to be released next year, and a cameo by Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow's Dad has been hinted at. In between making the first and its two sequels, filmed back to back, Verbinski shot The Weather Man, starring Nicholas Cage and released in 2005, the film like The Mexican was commercially a disappointment and also like that film was less easily categorised then his other success's but this doesn't seem to have affected Verbinski and he will no doubt be riding high once again this summer.