Filmonic » Pirates Of The Caribbean 4

Rob Marshall confirms he’s directing Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Liam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:03:33 +0000

Back in July it was reported that Rob Marshall, director of Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha and upcoming musical Nine, was in negotiations with Disney to direct Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Since then the film got a name change (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) and Johnny Depp wasn’t sure if he still wanted to do it. Well at a recent screening of Nine Marshall spoke briefly about the film, and it seems things have worked out nicely:

From AICN:

When asked about his next project (by Nora Ephron, who hosted the Q&A), he replied ‘y’know, it’s something that I was offered and never in the world thought I would do but then I was like ‘why not?’… I’m doing ‘Pirates of the Caribbean….”’ The only additional thing he mentioned about it was that he had a wonderful meeting with Johnny a little while ago and that they’re both excited to work together.

It will be interesting to see where Marshall takes the franchise. Because of the scale and cost of the last two films Disney want to tone things down slightly, so we should hopefully get a movie similar to the first film.

On Stranger Tides author “thrilled” Disney are adapting book

Liam — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:00:23 +0000

Last month Johnny Depp appeared in full Jack Sparrow costume at the D23 Expo and announced the title of the next Pirates movie would be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. A quick Google search lead to a book of the same name written by author Tim Powers in 1987. Had Disney bought the rights, or was it a strange coincidence that both involved pirates? Well the L.A Times recently sat down with Powers himself, and it turns out he sold the rights 3 years ago, and he’s pretty happy about it.

“I was still — as far as I understood — not free to talk about it,” the author told me Monday. “Then about a week ago my agent wrote and said, ‘You’re now able to say that in fact Disney did option the book.’ That happened a while ago, it’ll be three years in April.”
The novelist, with a dozen books to his credit, is still a bit dazed by the fact that a book he published during the Reagan administration will setting sail in May 2011 as new edition of a Disney franchise that has racked up $1.78 billion in worldwide box office since hoisting its flag in 2003. “Yes, I’m thrilled,” Power said, “I think it’s great.”
“I’ve watched all the movies several times, of course, and I think the clear thing they would use is the trip to the Fountain of Youth,” Powers said. “My main character doesn’t overlap with Jack Sparrow at all [in personality or circumstance]; they’re totally different characters. I suppose they might overlap the Geoffrey Rush character Barbossa and Blackbeard. The only thing I feel certain they will hold on to is the Fountain of Youth since they telegraphed that at the end of the last movie.” Either way, Powers said he is not going to walk into the theater with too many expectations other than hoping to have a good time as a moviegoer.

All too often authors sign the rights away for the money and don’t want anything more to do with it, so it’s good to see an author actually excited about his work being adapted. If elements of your Pirate novel are going to be used in a movie, it might as well be part of the biggest pirates franchise out there.

Geoffrey Rush back as Barbossa for Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Liam — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:16:12 +0000

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End left the doors wide open for Hector Barbossa to return, and it hinted that both he and Jack Sparrow would be sailing the seas again to reach the Fountain of Youth. However, the only cast member that we know will be returning is Johnny Depp (depending on the script), so what about Geoffrey Rush? Well MTV caught up with him recently and asked him about his involvement in Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

The Australian actor said he’s definitely set to reprise his role as nefarious Captain Barbossa, and has been told to keep his schedule open for a possible start to filming next spring.
Said Rush to Josh Horowitz: “They’re waiting for the screenplay writers to put together something that’s beyond the trilogy, take it off into a new direction so that it’s fresh and hopefully really interesting for an audience, that they’re not going to just sausage-machine out something else, which wouldn’t be so good.”

Barbossa was my favourite character from the films so I’m glad he’s returning. It’ll be interesting to see how the writers develop the Barbossa/Sparrow dynamic as those two characters together produced some of the best scenes in the trilogy, whether they were comparing telescope lengths or having deep conversations about an ever-changing world.

Johnny Depp says his passion for Pirates 4 has been severely dampened

Liam — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:33:04 +0000

Just over a week ago Johnny Depp appeared in full Jack Sparrow costume to announce the new title, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and a release date of summer 2011 for the next Pirates movie. However since then Dick Cook, the longtime chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, decided to step down and Depp has been quoted as saying he is “shocked and very sad” about this news.

From the L.A Times:

The actor said it was because of Cook that he ended up working with Disney in the first place. Cook had been trying woo Depp for years with various projects including doing voice-overs for animated films and one day, in Cook’s office, the studio chief threw out an idea that Depp pounced on.
“He said, ‘We’re thinking about doing this ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie,’” Depp recalled. “I said I was in. This was before there was a script or anything.”
As for the fourth planned “Pirates” movie, Depp said while he has a potential deal in place that will depend on how good the script is, his passion for the project at the moment has been severely dampened by the news that Cook will no longer be around.
“There’s a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment,” Depp said. “It was all born in that office.”

Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio must feel a lot of pressure on them after reading this. The future of the billion dollar Pirates of the Caribbean franchise rests on their writing abilities, as no Depp means no movie.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Liam — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:03:54 +0000

That’s the official title of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. According to ComingSoon.net Johnny Depp appeared in full Jack Sparrow costume at the D23 Expo and announced the new title and the summer 2011 release date.

The title isn’t as epic as At Worlds End, however it will probably be related to the story like the titles have been with the previous movies. The last time we saw Jack Sparrow it was hinted that he would be going after the Fountain of Youth, so that could feature in the next film. I get a hint from the new title that they will be going to a location we haven’t been before, and there was talk recently that they could be going down the steampunk route (steam powered boats and technology).

What do you think of the title?

Update: A quick ‘On Stranger Tides’ Google search shows that the title is also a book written in 1988 by Tim Powers. It just so happens to involve pirates and has the following synopsis:

Puppeteer John Chandagnac, bound for Jamaica to recover stolen money from his uncle, becomes Jack Shandy after pirates attack his ship and force him to join their crew. Shandy’s struggle to accept his new life grounds the story for readers, even as Blackbeard and vodun magicians whisk everyone away to dreamlike lands where the Fountain of Youth itself awaits. The chaotic sea battles sing, though at times key events happen so quickly that they get lost in the shuffle as Jack tries to comprehend where he’s going and what’s at stake.

Have Disney bought the rights to use elements from the novel?

Rob Marshall to direct Pirates of the Caribbean 4?

Liam — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:43:56 +0000

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 has been without a captain ever since trilogy director Gore Verbinski decided to focus on Bioshock. Last week we heard that Disney were planning on filming next year, so finding a new director has most likely been their top priority for a while. Well according to Variety they may have found one. He goes by the name of Rob Marshall and he is the director of Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha and upcoming musical Nine.

Disney is on the verge of putting Rob Marshall in as director of a fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” a move that puts the film on track for a 2010 production start, with Johnny Depp back as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney have been meeting with a number of directors in recent weeks, because the studio wants to pull the “Pirates” film together and have Depp star in it before he does “The Lone Ranger” for the producer and the studio. While Marshall’s involvement wasn’t immediately confirmed, sources said things look good enough that the studio has begun casting new characters that will appear in the picture.
It is big business for Disney, as the “Pirates” trilogy grossed $2.6 billion worldwide with Verbinski at the helm. Sources say unless things break down at the last moment, Marshall will be steering the pirate vehicle’s next installment.

Getting a man who’s had his hand up the skirts of two musicals doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice for a Pirate film, but than again you would never have thought the director of Mousehunt and The Ring could give us epic maelstrom ship battles. As long as Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew don’t burst into song and dance simultaneously to music appearing out of nowhere, I’ll be happy.

Disney have also said that for Pirates 4 they would “scale it down, because [they] can’t get bigger”, which is true. Not only was At Worlds End large in scale, it was also costly, so scaling down the action and replacing it with character and story (and non-musical numbers) would be better for them, and it would be something i’d welcome too. Hiring a director like Rob Marshall who isn’t really an action director gives us an idea where Disney are headed.

What are your thoughts on Rob Marshall possibly directing Pirates of the Caribbean 4? Would you welcome a more character driven story, or would you prefer it to be action packed and epic like before?

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 will start filming next year

Liam — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:52:08 +0000

As some of you may know the San Diego Comic-Con is currently taking place and studios are showing off footage from their upcoming movies, and there are a lot of movie making people being interviewed and drilled for any information about anything. Well Disney’s Head of Production Oren Aviv was drilled by ComingSoon.net and he revealed that Pirates of the Caribbean 4 will start filming next year, and that they want to “kind of reboot the whole thing”:

“We’re going to shoot ‘Pirates 4′ in April and May of next year,” Aviv told us during our interview. “We are going to release it hopefully in 2011 is the plan.” He said that this time they would only be doing one movie this time that would “hopefully be the first of another trilogy.”
“It’s important to get the story right and it’s important to me to scale it down, because we can’t get bigger,” Aviv admitted. “The movies have subsequently gotten bigger and bigger and very complicated and they were satisfying on so many levels obviously, but I want to kind of reboot the whole thing and bring it down to its core, its essence, just characters.” He agreed that there is a lot of Captain Jack Sparrow’s back story that we haven’t seen yet without confirming or denying that we might see some of that in the fourth movie. Still no word on whether Gore Verbinski might come back for the fourth movie.

Gore Verbinski decided not to return to direct the fourth film because he wanted to direct Bioshock instead, however he cast doubt as to whether he would actually end up directing the game adaptation, saying that he may not be able to commit to filming outside the US for such a long length of time. If Gore does leave Bioshock then I guess that makes him available to direct Pirates 4, however if they want to “kind of reboot the whole thing” then a new director may be what they need.

They didn’t really have an option but to downscale things. The budget for At Worlds End snowballed due to the work needed to finish all of the effects on time, which is the main reason Disney pushed Prince of Persia back a year. They didn’t want to make the same costly mistake again.

Johnny Depp talks Mad Hatter and Pirates 4

Liam — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:23:27 +0000

During a press conference for Public Enemies Johnny Depp was asked about a few of his future projects. He first spoke about Alice in Wonderland where he plays the Mad Hatter, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean 4 which will see him return as Captain Jack Sparrow.

From Latino Review:

The Mad Hatter
Depp: Well, the Hatter was awfully fun, you know? After doing something like a John Dillinger, it evolves where it’s so overstrained because of the responsibility you have to that guy, that the Mad Hatter was like being fired out of a cannon. The Hatter was great fun, and it’s one of things where you’re just amazed you weren’t fired, you know? [laughs]
Regarding the Hatter’s look:
Depp: All I’ve seen is bits and pieces but what I imagined it to look like is is how I feel I thought he should look, which is the first reason I was surprised I didn’t get fired.

Pirates 4 and doing the character four times:
Depp: Call me a glutton. Honestly, if we can get the screenplay right to Pirates 4, because obviously virtually no cinema is perfect. Pirates I had its own thing. 2 & 3 I suppose had their own thing and you know it got a little confusing here and there in the story. Not that I’ve seen the movies, but I hear tales [smiles]. I think for me, because I love the character so much, and I enjoy playing the character so much and people seem to like him, that if there’s an opportunity to try again, it’s like going up to bat. You wanna get back out there and try and try and I enjoy playing the character of Jack very much.

The Pirates of the Caribbean 4 script is currently being written by trilogy writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot, however director Gore Verbinski has announced that he will not be returning. This means we could see a slightly different side of Jack Sparrow in the next film depending on who Disney get to direct.

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is currently being written!

Liam — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:17:16 +0000

The last thing we heard on Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was that director of the trilogy, Gore Verbinski, had decided to direct Bioshock instead of returning for a fourth outing (which was understandable). Now producer Jerry Bruckheimer has spoken to Coming Soon and revealed that writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot are working on the script “as we speak”.

Bruckheimer told us that for Disney, the priority is most definitely “Pirates.” “It’s a great franchise for them and for us, too,” he said. “A beloved character and Johnny’s really excited about coming back to Captain Jack. He certainly is interested in Tonto, but Disney’s priority is to get ‘Pirates’ made first. You never know what’s going to happen, but they would like it.”
Bruckheimer shared that the original writers, Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot, were “writing ‘Pirates’ as we speak,” and he said it was “funny” and a “whole new way of going” although he wouldn’t share more than that.
Since Gore Verbinski recently announced that he may not direct a movie based on the video game BioShock, we asked Bruckheimer if there was a chance he might return for a fourth movie. “You never know,” he admitted. “He created the franchise so we’d love to have him back, but it’s kind of up to him.”

The Pirates trilogy has made Disney billions so it makes sense to move forward with the next one as they are guaranteed a huge return. Gore Verbinski recently cast doubt as to whether he will actually end up directing Bioshock, which I suppose increases his chances of returning if he isn’t tired of the franchise.

Gore Verbinski will not be directing Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Liam — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:08:10 +0000

Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy director Gore Verbinski has decided not to get back into the directors chair for Pirates of the Caribbean 4 according to Variety.

Verbinski has informed Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer that he will not helm a fourth installment that’s expected to set sail in 2010 with Johnny Depp back as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Sequel is in development but not yet greenlit. It’s unknown how Verbinski’s ankling will affect the pic’s schedule.
“I had a fantastic time bringing ‘Pirates’ to life, and I am eternally grateful to Jerry, Johnny and the rest of the creative and production team,” Verbinski said. “I’m looking forward to all of us crossing paths again in the future.”

This is understandable considering Gore has spent 6 years of his life surrounded by pirates. While the exotic filming locations will no doubt have been tempting, most directors prefer to use their creative talents on different things. Variety say that Gore will instead be focusing on the movie adaptation of Bioshock, which he has been attached to direct since May last year. Filming on that is expected to begin sometime in 2010, so Gore will not be escaping the sea entirely, as Bioshock mostly takes place under it (or in it if you want to be technical).

This obviously means Disney will be searching for a new director for Pirates 4, which won’t necessarily be a bad thing depending on who they get. Someone else guiding Captain Jack Sparrow on another adventure will be interesting, and some fans of the trilogy may welcome it. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio will be back to write the script, so we shouldn’t expect anything too drastically different from what we saw in the trilogy.