Johnny Depp Sets Sail on Fourth 'Pirates' Movie

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by Matt McDaniel · January 20, 2010

Captain Jack Sparrow will soon take to the seas again, and this time he is after the most sought-after treasure imaginable: the Fountain of Youth.

It was announced this week that the fourth installment of Disney's highly successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise will begin filming in Hawaii this summer. Johnny Depp once again plays the flamboyant Captain Jack, and Geoffrey Rush reprises his role as his adversary, Barbossa. However, costars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are not expected to return.

The film's story is loosely based on the 1987 pirate novel, "On Stranger Tides" by award-winning fantasy author Tim Powers. The book tells the story of a young man -- coincidentally named "Jack" -- who is captured by the pirate Blackbeard and forced to join in the search for the Fountain of Youth.

Ted Elliott, the co-writer of the first three "Pirates" movies, said that the story of the novel just happened to align with where they wanted to take the fourth film. He told Empire magazine, "We wanted to do a story about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, and Tim Powers wrote a book about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth... it just turns out that to do that story you would need that book."

Johnny Depp signed on to appear in the fourth movie in 2008, before there was a script. It was announced at the same time he would also be playing Tonto in a film version of "The Lone Ranger," but that project has been delayed until after "Pirates" is finished.

Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom have both said they had no desire to return for a fourth movie. Knightley said in an interview, "It was a completely fantastic experience, and it was an amazingly large portion of my life, but I don't think I need to go there again. I think that it's done." Also, the director of the original trilogy, Gore Verbinski, will not be coming back. He is being replaced by Rob Marshall, the director of "Chicago" and "Nine."

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is scheduled to dock into movie theaters on May 20th, 2011. Johnny Depp will next be seen as the Mad Hatter in director Tim Burton's new version "Alice in Wonderland" coming this March. To see why he says the role is "a dream come true," watch the exclusive interview with him in the player below.

Happy Friday!!

Despite today being "9/11", I hope everyone's on their way to having a great weekend after remembering the tragedy 8 years ago and such. How can anyone forget?

Spent a few hours with my brother this morning/afternoon. Checked out the new Rock Band 'Beatles'. He KILLED the drums for two songs. The background animations were great. It's a good interactive game. Also saw game footage of "Fight Night Round 4" "Champions Online" for the PC. WOW! Games have come a long way from the Playstation 2 years when I played. He bought me and my wife lunch too. WHOO-HOO!!

Dreading going back to work on Monday after a 6 day lay off. C'est la vie!! Didn't really do anything during these past 3 and a half days off. NOthing planned ofr the rest of today, Saturday, or Sunday unfortunately....

Here's what I saw today on the news that I thought was interesting...

From YahoO! Entertainment_ – Avast! Disney says a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" film is on the horizon. Johnny Depp sailed onstage Friday on a pirate ship at the Anaheim Convention Center to help announce the forthcoming installment of Disney's blockbuster film franchise. He was welcomed with a rousing standing ovation. Depp will reprise his role as Capt. Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," slated for summer of 2011. It's the fourth in a series. Dressed as Sparrow, Depp staggered around the stage and embraced Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, who announced the news to about 5,000 fans on hand for the D23 Expo, Disney's answer to Comic-Con. In his presentation of upcoming Disney films, Cook also announced that Depp would play Tonto in an upcoming big-screen adaptation of "The Lone Ranger." The first all-things-Disney convention runs through Sunday.

Two Austrailian newspapers are reporting that gender tests show the world champion at South African runner Caster Semenya has no ovaries or uterus and internal testes that produce large amounts of testosterone. The international sports federation that ordered the tests wouldn't confirm the reports.

Gertrude Baines , the world's oldest person, has died in Los Angeles at 115 years of age.

Democratic leaders are planning a House vote early next week to admonish Republican Rep. Joe Wilson if he does not apologize on the House floor for yelling "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's health care address to Congress.

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs returned Wednesday to the showman role that has helped define his company leadership, taking the stage for the first time since his medical leave to announce such new products as an iPod Nano that records video.

The group ACORN has fired two employees who were seen on hidden-camera video giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman who pretended to be a prostitute.

La Toya Jackson tells ABC News' '20/20' Friday night that her brother Michael was "special," explaining that "he wasn't God, but he was certainly God-like. He was the closest thing to a god that I knew." She also says her brother Michael looked "absolutely fabulous" when he was laid to rest last week.

Sunday marks the long-awaited season finale of HBO's True Blood. It also marks the series finale of King of the Hill on Fox.


Courtney Love says she will sue Activision for using Kurt Cobain's image in Guitar Hero. Many record companies are suing Ellen DeGeneres and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" for using their music during her "dance' segments without permission or payment.


that's all ffffolks!!
Ciao!
John