Quick Note: Yikes, it's been over a week and a half since my last update. Sorry about that, everyone—it's been an intensely hectic time at work, and I couldn't find the time to squeeze in a few posts. Well, things have calmed down a bit lately, and while I still can’t update as much as I would like to, I should be able to write new stuff on a semi-regular basis again. Thanks for all your patience!
Source: Heat Vision
(Found via ComingSoon.net)
Talk about interesting developments. I love the idea of a fresh, standalone Pirates of the Caribbean sequel (thereby getting rid of the overcooked mythology from Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End), which sounds like just the direction Disney is taking with its now-officially-greenlit Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (great title, by the way) for next summer. Johnny Depp will return as Captain Jack Sparrow in a search for the Fountain of Youth, and, although there’s still no official word, looks like Geoffrey Rush will as well.
On top of that, for some bizarre, out-of-left-field announcements, we now know the director and co-star for Captain Jack Sparrow as well. [Pirates news and thoughts after the jump]
Taking over the directing reins from Gore Verbinski (who I wish would have stayed to do this as well—in the first one, he showed the perfect approach to this material) is none other than Chicago and Nine helmer Rob Marshall. I’m intrigued by this choice, if not exactly confident; Marshall has a good eye for visuals (even the empty-headed Memoirs of a Geisha was gorgeous to look at) and gets mostly great performances out of his actors. However, it still remains that, after Chicago, he hasn’t made a worthwhile movie, with his latest, Nine, getting trashed by critics for being a glitzy, hollow spectacle. Here’s hoping Pirates 4 will rejuvenate his storytelling abilities; he certainly has the talent, and I’d love to see him stretch himself with a fantasy/adventure setting.
As for Depp’s co-star/potential love interest, Penelope Cruz (a recent Oscar nominee for Marshall's Nine) has just signed on! This I have no objections too. I mentioned in my original Pirates 4 post how awesome it would be for Jack Sparrow to finally get a love interest (and an age-appropriate, equally quirky one if possible). Cruz could do that effortlessly—she’s beautiful, always interesting to watch, and could go toe-to-toe with Depp, as she proved in their last movie together, Blow. Jack Sparrow needs a good sparring partner, someone who could match him in spunk and lovable craziness; the crackling chemistry these two showed before could be a good sign of things to come. I can’t wait to see what the writers have cooked up for them. Plus, it’d be fun to see Cruz ditch the Oscar-bait “serious” roles for a change and tackle something more lighthearted.
All in all, some promising movement on the Pirates of the Caribbean front. If the returning screenwriting duo of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio (who penned all the Pirates movies so far…and Disney’s Aladdin!) can recapture some of the first movie’s magic, it could go a long way toward rekindling the near-universal love this franchise once had.
Looking forward to hearing more as the movie gets prepped for filming on its way to a Summer 2011 release date. In the meanwhile, what do you guys think of these developments? Do you like the hiring of Cruz and Rob Marshall as director?
Images courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.
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