Screenwriter Terry Rossio Talks Pirates 4
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Disney, Fandom, Scripts, Family Films, Johnny Depp, Remakes and Sequels
As one of the few film critics to actually enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, I can honestly say I'm looking forward to more from the franchise, even after the current trilogy ends. Well, actually, I'd probably lose interest if Johnny Depp did -- not that it seems he will ever let go of Jack Sparrow. As you've probably read here and there, a fourth installment is still up in the air, and even screenwriter Terry Rossio isn't sure if it will go ahead. "It's like the fourth Indiana Jones picture," he told Moviehole. "There are forces in play to make it happen, and forces in play to make it not happen. I think we will try to write a screenplay. I can't say if we'll be able to solve the challenge of making a good fourth film, or if our screenplay will be enough to get a film made."Last summer, Jerry Bruckheimer stated that if Rossio and Ted Elliott continued to write 'em, the producer is interested in making 'em. And this was before Dead Man's Chest went gangbusters in theaters and on DVD (Disney shareholders will likely demand more sequels if the profits keep coming.) Obviously the series will eventually dwindle in quality, as does any franchise, but considering most reviews of Dead Man's Chest were negative, this shouldn't matter. Other tidbits that Rossio shared with Moviehole include the series' origins, the difficulty of back-to-back sequels and the subject of Keith Richards: "Well you don't hire Keith Richards to get a guy who shows up in the morning, on time wearing a suit and tie," he said. "You get a guy who shows up at night, on time, with a bottle of wine. There were good times on the set."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
2-14-2007 @ 11:29PM
kathy said...
Iam so glad that Pirates 4 is coming soon.Iam not ready for Johnny Depp to put away his Captain Jack. You get so use to the character that is hard to give up.
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2-17-2007 @ 6:14AM
frankie said...
I think three is enough for any movie. look what happen to the planet of the apes, alien series, and rocky.
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2-17-2007 @ 7:23AM
Lia said...
Pirates is a great story and I would love to see a fourth installment. Dead Man's Chest wasn't quite as much fun because it was so dark, the way the Harry Potter movies are getting. They need to keep it light and fun like the first one. However, it would only work if the same main actors were in it: Depp, Bloom, Knightly, Davenport...... Otherwise, it will flop like a wet pancake on the floor like the Home Alone movies did when they replaced the characters. It just isn't the same. I am really looking forward to Keith Richards playing Jack Sparrow's father.
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2-17-2007 @ 7:25AM
Lisa said...
Oh...cmom! Leave Captn. Jack to be a snack for the Kraken? Will to live in regret of never fulfilling the promise made to his father?...and the belief that his beloved Elizabeth betrayed his love? And her, to live with the guilt that she is responsible for Jacks demise? How can there be ANY hesitation over the making of #4? And I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know if that poor dog makes it off the island..and what becomes of the psycho monkey..lol.
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2-17-2007 @ 7:41AM
chip said...
I have only watched Pirates 1 & 2 once and I don't really care for either of them. I mean, PIRATES? Come on Disney, we can do better.
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2-17-2007 @ 7:41AM
Side Show Bob! said...
I too would like to see more installments of Capt. Jack Sparrow. Just don't make the mistake of the aformentioned "Rocky" series and "Alien" series. Follow the road of "Star Wars" and produce every so often to keep the public entertained and not just to make them happy! there is a BIG difference in the two!
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2-17-2007 @ 8:27AM
Rick said...
I learned a long time ago not to give a crap about what critics say. Quite frankly they are usually wrong. I enjoy the Pirates movies and would look forward to more. I did not go to see them expecting to see some artsy fartsy Oscar quality this or that. I do so because they are entertaining and an escape. Isnt that the gist of most movies? If they keep making them like that and I will keep going to see them. That or any movie franchise for that matter. If I know Disney though, they will not stop until it stops making money. Yo ho yo ho.
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2-17-2007 @ 8:43AM
Mary said...
Whoa there chip! Pirates is the best thing that happened to Disney since the Classical Princess movies. You probable can't even name one Disney movie that has done better than Pirates. Herbie? NO. Cars? NO. I've watched Pirates 1 more than 5 times and it never gets old. I can't wait for a Pirates 3 and 4!
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2-17-2007 @ 8:50AM
robin said...
oh come on! I continuously say.....the people who don't enjoy "Pirates" are the stuffy, not enough personality, don't know how to have fun! people!
I saw Dead Man's Chest in the theaters 3 times because i couldn't stand the wait of it coming to dvd.
keep going Disney. there are a lot of us loyals out here. Captain Jack is the funnest character since Darth Vader. savvy?
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2-17-2007 @ 8:52AM
Kate said...
Pirates of the Caribbean has always been a favorite movie of mine and if they do continue to make a fourth movie than that would be great. It's hard to continue a story and keep the audience entertained. I would be sad if the story ended at the third movie but I'm glad they shared as much as they could.
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2-17-2007 @ 8:58AM
LaydeRavyn said...
#4 and 4ever. As long as the original cast and several of the newbies are game, I am in. Johnny Depp ain't the only one that will go into a deep/Depp depression when it ends. It is a favorite, I share with my neices and nephews (of course after seeing it alone 1st). POC merchandise as gifts for them?...standard issue. The beautiful thing is that the darlings reciprocate in kind. This has been win win since POC hit the big screen!
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2-17-2007 @ 9:17AM
Joan said...
Sorry guys, the girls love Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. The Awards Committee should have given him his very own Pirates of the Caribbean trophy - it could have looked like the Pearl or Capt Jack Sparrow.
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2-17-2007 @ 9:21AM
ELAINE said...
Awww come on folks why can't a movie just be fun!!!! Does everything have to be a critical success! As far as I'm concerned critics rarely influence what I want to see. I mean they've panned some of the greatest cult films ever made. Everything doesn't have to have a reason sometimes it just IS!!!!!!!!!!!
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2-17-2007 @ 9:23AM
Edna said...
Awww come on folks why can't a movie just be fun!!!! Does everything
have to be a critical success! As far as I'm concerned critics rarely
influence what I want to see. I mean they've panned some of the
greatest cult films ever made. Everything doesn't have to have a
reason sometimes it just IS!!!!!!!!!!!
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2-17-2007 @ 9:28AM
Jo Lavender said...
Whenever I see a studio milking a successful movie for as many sequels as the market will allow, I wonder if they have never heard of the old adage "always leave a party while you're still having a good time." Quit making sequels while the audience still wants more. Otherise, the studio runs the risk of making a movie too far--and having a stink bomb on its hands whose odor permeates to the previous films.
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2-17-2007 @ 9:35AM
beedah said...
Whence comes the law that every cinematic franchise falls apart after no more than three episodes? The history of movies is filled with exceptions: Fred and Ginger, for example, or Mickey Rooney's 'Andy Hardy', and a host of whodunnit series, of which the Rathbone/Bruce 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'The Thin Man" are perhaps best remembered (there are lots more). In the Fifties and Sixties, the British 'Carry On' flicks carried on and on...true, most of these examples were knocked out on the cheap in a few days' filming, but that's not true of the best-enduring franchise of them all, enjoyed by your father and your grandfather, forty years of James Bond. Few of the oldtimers believed it could survive the loss of the imcomparable Sean Connery, so it may be that in 2025, when the fifteenth 'Pirates' appears, today's fans will grouse, 'not a patch on Johnny Depp.' Which, as in the case of Connery, is likely to be true, but may not matter.
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2-17-2007 @ 9:36AM
Roxy said...
I love every intallment of Pirates and I'll probably keep loving them. The basis of a great movie is something that the poeple can relate to, and just because it is set in colonial times it doesn't mean we can't relate to the plot and story line. Everyone has either betrayed, felt betrayal or both and what better way to nuture a story about betrayal than to jump right into a pirate flick. Kepp giving the movie goers what they need, movie men and flick chicks. People like me love it and we'll keep loving it so long as once in a while Disney lets us come up for air. -Drink up, me hearties. Yo ho!
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2-17-2007 @ 9:49AM
Joy said...
This is the most abhorrent and ridiculous excuse of a film series. Maybe when viewers start to demand coherent plots from the directors, we'll eventually see films worthy of the ticket price. If you like this movie, you've got the aptitude of a ten-year-old. Hopefully you're not contributing to society in a meaningful way with your occupation.
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2-17-2007 @ 10:03AM
Lisa H said...
I loved both Pirates movies!!! And Chip---if ya don't like 'em --don't watch 'em!!! They are awesome! My kids absolutely loved them also, I enjoyed going to the theater 3,4,5 times to watch Dead Man's Chest. They are funny, scary, dark and you really get to know the characters. Even my three year old daughter loves Captain Jack. I look forward to taking them all to see the third movie-- and if there is a forth we'll all go and see it too!!
Disney definately needs to keep making them as long as all the same characters stay.
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2-17-2007 @ 10:13AM
John said...
Critics like "films", I like movies. Keep Cap'n Jack comin' back 'til Depp won't play him anymore. He's a fun character.
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