Pirates of the Caribbean star Geoffrey Rush has revealed one of the film franchise's biggest secrets - his character's male monkey pal is a girl. The Aussie actor loved working with his simian companion in the Pirates sequels after his first monkey mate upped his price and was dropped from the franchise.

He reveals, "They (the producers) didn't own the monkey, they were renting the monkey... and they went back to the person who owned it and said we want the money again for parts two and three.

"But they priced the monkey out of the film. My agent thinks that's the funniest story in Hollywood."

But the fact that Captain Barbossa's furry pal is played by two apes isn't the big surprise. He explains, "The monkey we have in parts two and three, Jack the monkey, is played by Chiquita - it's a girl.

"Since Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously or Felicity Huffman in TransAmerica, this has been the greatest crossdressing, undetected performance... That girl was pure male."

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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)