There are reports this weekend that Johnny Depp has been given the heave-ho from the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, as Disney plans a reboot that will take the long-running film series in a new direction.
The 55-year-old actor, who commands a hefty paycheck, has played Captain Jack Sparrow for the past fifteen years, but in a recent interview with the Daily Mail, scriptwriter Stuart Beattie seemed to confirm his exit, saying:
“I think he’s had a great run. Obviously, he’s made that character his own and it’s become the character he’s most famous for now … I think Jack Sparrow will be his legacy. It’s the only character he’s played five times, it’s the character he dresses up in to visit children in hospitals, it’s what he’ll be remembered for.”
I mean, “he’s had a great run” is typically the kind of thing you say about your 98-year-old granddad on his deathbed, and it’s maybe a little macabre to talk that way about a living, breathing actor, but yeah, the point there certainly comes across.
Johnny Depp was reportedly very difficult to work with on the set of the fifth Pirates, leaving crew and extras waiting for long periods of time and delaying the production.
This, coupled with his hefty fee and the film’s relatively underwhelming performance at the US box office, means Disney are probably looking to shake things up.
It was reported last week that the studio had met with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the writing duo behind the Deadpool films, to see if they might be interested in penning the next Pirates script.
If that works out, then I guess we’ll have a more wisecracking, adult-oriented sea captain next time around, and who knows, they might just say the hell with it and cast Ryan Reynolds in the thing, but all that remains to be seen.
