In a side chat about some of his projects Rob Marshall let slip that he is in fact directing the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise called On Stranger Tides.
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.
The followup will have a much leaner budget, which I think is best for this kind of franchise. What made the first film so amazing was the engaging characters which I feel were not as deep in the sequels. Instead amazing visuals took the place of character interaction and we ended up with weaker story for it.
The first film was still visual heavy, but you fell in love with the characters. With Will and Elizabeth out of the picture now, we will have to fall back on story and characters again.
Marshall is primarily a musical director, so I don’t know how he fits into all of this, but I am encouraged that Depp likes him, so maybe his temper tantrum over his buddy getting let go at Disney will fade and he will get back to delivering the character we love.
