Johnny Depp created a relaxed atmosphere on the set of the 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' franchise by holding rehearsals at a bar.

The 47-year-old actor stars as rum swilling pirate Captain Jack Sparrow in the Disney films and co-star Geoffrey Rush has revealed Johnny was so determined to make everyone comfortable from the start that he got them out of the studio and into his bar, The Viper Room - which he has since sold - for a read through.

He said: "I can't deny the scale of it. I remember when we were all about to sit down for a table read through at the Disney offices once and Johnny decided we should do it in his club, the Viper Room, instead, so as we would feel on a human scale.

"So if there is a relaxed atmosphere on set, I think it is down to him. He says he sees it as an independent film that happens to have a s**tload of money attached to it."

Geoffrey revealed he only understood the enormity of the budgets involved while shooting a scene for the third movie, when a crew of 800 people were involved in creating a short scene.

He explained to Seven magazine: "For six actors to have a dialogue on the beach meant there were 800 people to provide lunch for, stunt men, people to rake the sand between takes and so on. So at that point we did feel pressure not to screw up."