Paul McCartney was Keith Richards' replacement in new Pirates film

Johnny Depp turned to Paul McCartney for his latest Pirates Of The Caribbean blockbuster after Keith Richards made it clear he was too busy for another cameo.

The Rolling Stones star Keith reportedly dropped out of a planned return to the franchise as the father of Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, and so the actor reached out to the former Beatles star to see if he would be interested in playing his onscreen uncle.

McCartney jumped at the chance to play a pirate in a jail scene in the new film, Dead Men Tell No Tales.

"Keith Richards, who was in a couple of previous Pirate movies, was on tour and unavailable," producer Jerry Bruckheimer tells Yahoo Movies. "So Johnny's very close with Paul McCartney, they worked together in the past, he picked up the phone, called Paul and said: 'Paul, you wanna be a pirate?' Paul said, 'Sure, I'll be a pirate!'"

And the movie mogul insists Macca was a joy to work with: "He knew his lines, he was on time, he was just a real gentleman... He came up with some really funny stuff too."

Paul plays Uncle Jack in the film, which set sail for the box office on Friday (26May17).

It's not the first time Depp and McCartney have appeared onscreen together - the actor starred in the rocker's Queenie Eye music video.