Jerry Bruckheimer teases Margot Robbie’s Pirates of the Caribbean film
Bruckheimer also weighed in on Johnny Depp's future with the franchise
Aux News Pirates of the Caribbean
Margot Robbie is still set to sail the seven seas, according to Pirates Of The Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Robbie’s Pirates project (another collaboration with Birds Of Prey scribe Christina Hodson) was first announced back in 2020, but there’s been few updates since then.
In an interview with The Sunday Times (per Variety) Bruckheimer, who produced the five previous Pirates installments, confirmed that the script is in the works… though not much else. He told the outlet: “Yes. We’re talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two Pirates scripts—one with her, one without.”
The “one with her” is reportedly a brand-new “wholly original” tale “inspired by the long-running attraction at Disneyland,” per The Hollywood Reporter, and not a spin off of the original franchise. “The one without” Robbie was also described by THR as a “reboot,” rather than a continuation. Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Pirates veteran Ted Elliot have signed on to develop the latter film.
It appears neither film will feature the series’ most famous (or infamous) character, Jack Sparrow. Asked whether controversial star Johnny Depp might ever return, Bruckheimer said: “Not at this point. The future is yet to be decided.”
Also yet to be decided is the outcome of Depp’s defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. The actor claimed in his suit that Heard’s op-ed about domestic abuse (which did not name Depp, but alluded to their relationship) cost him opportunities, including with the Pirates franchise. According to Variety, he testified that Disney dropped him from a potential sixth film days after the op-ed was published.
But while Bruckheimer seemingly left the door open for Jack Sparrow to return, Depp stated in a court of law that he would never revive the character. During cross examination, he affirmed that there was “nothing on this earth would get [him] to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates Of The Caribbean film,” per Variety. Pirates fans will just have to settle for Margot Robbie, which sounds like a pretty good deal, in all honesty.
98 Comments
I haven’t been following the lawsuit, but why would his willingness to come back to that role even be pertinent?
Money.
The Pirates films that work, work because Depp picks the entire franchise up, puts it on his back and carries it. (It wasn’t enough to salve #4 and #5, mind.) I’ll be curious to see if Margot Robbie can do the same, but considering how much firepower she can deploy when necessary I’d give it 50-50 odds.
puts it 0n his gnarled hairy back and carries it.
From what I’ve gleaned off headlines and social media, not even half of what’s being brought up is remotely pertinent. It looks like, all other motivations aside, this is just one really expensive and dreadfully public group therapy session.
If by therapy you mean revenge via public humiliation…I agree.But saying he wouldn’t go back to the franchise would seem to invalidate his claim that Heard’s revelations cost him money.
The qualifier “All other motivations aside” was referring to the revenge aspect of it. I don’t disagree that he’s doing just that, but absent any knowledge of his reasons for suing her, it’s just people talking about everything wrong with their relationship that they were unable to sort out on their own.
Something called “self-respect”? Why would you want to go back to a company who have clearly shown you they’d drop you the very second you seem to be a liability? But do you boo.
Because he is essential to the movies. Disney screwed him by firing him from stuff like this and he, possibly rightly so, is mad enough about it to never return.
The article above clearly indicates that it’s Depp who doesn’t want to do that role again, rather than Disney firing Depp and him objecting to that.
I saw that the hashtag “NoJohnnyNoPirates” was trending after this news broke, and I think that’s the sort of future we can all get behind. No Johnny Depp, and No Pirates movies, thank you very much.
NoJohhnyNoPiratesNoRent…TURKEY!
I didn’t even attempt to watch the last few Pirates movies so I ultimately agree, though I’m a little interested in Robbie there I guess. But G-d, if more Pirates movies means we’re all stuck hearing from Depp’s insipid cheering section, I’ll sit this one out.
I disagree. Is Johnny Depp sucking your dick now or do you just worship him on the regs?
Look, I’ve hesitated to bring this up in the past, but you are very bad poster, and also not a very good reader. Pick one response you want to make and move on.
“Pick one response”To be fair, he seems pretty hung up on fellatio.
THAT’S how you interpreted the OP?
It could well be that *I* am the one who is remiss and misread, but I think you may be misunderstanding Yellowfoot’s point. I didn’t get the impression that they are a Depp supporter in the slightest. I certainly hate his guts so that is why I laughed at the joke they made!
You seem to have misread the comment you’re replying to.
Three times.
Try reading the comment more than once before you reply to it more than once.
You have reading comprehension issues. You two both dislike Depp.
Seriously tho does Johnny Depp pay you? Why is this your hill to die on. A Margot Robbie Pirates film sounds like a good idea but you’d rather deny all the tech people the work because you’re identity is tied to Johnny Depp winning this trial. Grow the fuck up.
I think you misread, Yellowfoot appears to dislike both Johnny Depp and The Pirates films and is happy to be done with both of them
Sometimes on the internet, the intention of a poster can be misinterpreted due to a lack of tone. But the word “and” used in Yellowfoot’s post pretty clearly indicates that you didn’t read the comment very carefully before you decided to attack the poster.
“Seriously tho does Johnny Depp pay you?”
WOW, you’re dumb.
I think you are fundamentally misunderstanding their comment. They don’t want anymore Johnny Depp Pirate movies period, not that they would only accept Johnny Depp Pirate movies. I would think, if they are Johnny Depp stans, that they would want more Johnny Depp Pirate movies, but their comment is clear that they don’t.
I’m sorry but didn’t the most recent Pirates film starring Depp suck tho? Like you sucking his dick right now.
OP clearly isn’t a Depp fan. Independently, it sounds like they aren’t a PotC fan. You seem to be a bit homophobic, and I guess you struggle with parsing text.
IDK… the first couple of movies with Jack Sparrow were great, but that version of the franchise really overstayed its welcome after a while. I’d be much more interested in seeing a new direction with Margot Robbie than just more of the same stuff we’ve already seen a bunch of times.
I say Russell Crowe should get Master and Commander going again
Master and Commander is just an unreasonably good film. I watched it again recently, and it absolutely held up. So I’d be slightly scared sequels might somehow damage it, but at the same time…
Even before the whole Heard marriage/divorce fiasco, making Johnny Depp the focus of those films was a major turn-off for me. I wanted it to be about Elizabeth and Wil, maybe with Sparrow as a supporting character. The idea of a Jack Sparrow-less Pirates franchise definitely appeals to me. Putting Margot Robbie in the lead is the whipped cream on top.
Jack Sparrow is such an iconic character because Depp’s performance in the role is oddly understated. His reactions to all the crazy shit happening in those moves is hilariously blase. Nothing against Robbie personally, but she is a scenery chewer.
lmfao huhhhhhhhhhh??? His reactions are blasse because he’s chewing some completely different scenery, no way is jack sparrow understated lol
He ate the entire set for goodness sake!
Dude is a troll. Ignore them forever.
Depp was nominated for a Lead Oscar for Black Pearl even! That was a hell of a coup for that type of character.
This statement will bite me in the ass I’m sure, but I’d love to see Margot Robbie as some Anne Bonny style female pirate.
“I’d love to see Margot Robbie as…”
…they’re just gonna make her Harley Quinn in a puffy shirt.
Nonsense! Pirates in the 18th Century frequently wore short shorts with the words “Lucky You” printed on the backside.But seriously, Pirate Harley Quinn sounds more appealing than anything the Pirates franchise has done in more than a decade.
Pirates also didn’t wear rockstar eyeliner, at this point even pirate Harley sounds more appealing then Johnny Depp does strange noises for two and a half hours.
You say that like it’s a bad thing!
Well, that’s not nice.
Pirates are amoral dudes who rape, murder and pillage, but they pass on raping gorgeous Robbie because she’s a fellow pirate? I can believe a curse that turns pirates into the living dead, but not a group of lawless men who pass on raping a hot blonde. I mean, even when they aren’t pirates I expect any group of men to do something horrible to the women in their midst, see, e.g., the recent Supreme Court decision on Roe.
Johnny Depp aside (I adored him as a teen), I cannot think of a better female hollywood actress than Margot Robbie to star in one of these films. She has the right charisma to do a female take on Jack.
Agree absolutely.
She has the right charisma to do a female take on Jack.I don’t think anyone wants a female take on Jack. Just give us a new character entirely.
Even without considering Depp’s situation, Jack Sparrow has outlived his usefulness. Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann (I had to look up their name) may not have been as popular but they were necessary counterpoint to Sparrow’s eccentricities, and they grounded the movies. Without them, Sparrow is all flash and no substance, and his shtick gets old real fast.Plus, there is the age question. Depp is getting too old to play a pirate, when most of the famous ones were hanged within the first five years. The franchise either needs a reboot, or – preferably – a long break.
It needs more than a break. Just let it be over.
No argument with most of your points, but the Pirates movies aren’t exactly known for strict fidelity to historical accuracy, so I’m pretty sure they’d willingly have an older Jack Sparrow around if there was a market for it.
I know this is Edward Teague, but still…
It’s the Fonzie issue. Jack is a supporting character for the straight man (and woman) to react to, not something to build a movie around. And yet, they tried …
They did try with other straight characters, but unlike Will and Elizabeth, there was little compelling arc to their stories.
“but unlike Will and Elizabeth, there was little compelling arc to their stories.”
Sorry, UNLIKE Will and Elizabeth? You thought they weren’t boring as shit???
Oh I think the historical boat left a long long time ago, around the time they set the series in the 1740s and decided Blackbeard can stick around about 22 odd years past his death date. Also curses and skeletons.
Exactly! Sparrow was fun for 3 movies but was a joke for the next 2. This is a franchise that has had maybe 2.5 good movies out of 5 but it has a lot of potential if they can movie passed Jack Sparrow.
I’d go further than that and say it needed the whole cast. Not just Will and Elizabeth, you also had Norrington as the straight laced navy commander, Barbossa as the more dangerous pirate, the Governor of the islands – between those extra perspectives it hid that Sparrow was essentially failing his way to success in a very Jar Jar Binks way, but you forgave it for being effective comic relief.
The third film has his dad played by Keith Richards. I’m sure they could find room for a cameo or two until Depp is 80. Either way, as a fan of the franchise I think they should just end it instead.
NoJohnnyNoPirates
Good idea. No to both.
This is a series that really never had a reason to exist after the first movie.
The second one was a slog, but there’s a kind of balls to the walls anarchic stupidity to the third one that stops me from hating it.Also, Bill Nighy was awesome, and worth all the dreck.
True, one fun popcorn movie was all this series needed. It could stand as proof that a movie based on a ride doesn’t have to suck.
Couldn’t disagree more. Audiences demanded a sequel because they loved it, the characters, and the world. That’s why 2&3 broke box office records and were the highest grossing films each year of their release. There’s a reason the trilogy was nominated for 11 oscars, the pirates franchise was among the most popular film franchises of the 2000s, and it resurrected a dying film genre.Disney created a wholly original story/ characters and made their own huge epic fantasy series set to peak industry production values, which is something Disney will never do again. 2&3 innovated vfx to create cgi that is among the best every made, shot on location with ginormous sets with expert action choreography, all set to another fantastic Hans Zimmer score. The craft on display is simply incredible. Audiences just wanted an iconic character in fun action/adventure epics with great visuals.
It could be good. Or it could be…
You know, I actually sort of liked that one.
Those are some teeth for the 18th century.
Its not the worst movie ever and Gena Davis really tried. Its just a massive money pitt.
Robbie could be good; she’s good in most things. I’ll give it a watch. Depp’s contributions were good, and I can rewatch the first two if I want to see them.
Also yet to be decided is the outcome of Depp’s defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. The actor claimed in his suit that Heard’s op-ed about domestic abuse (which did not name Depp, but alluded to their relationship) cost him opportunities, including with the Pirates franchise. According to Variety, he testified that Disney dropped him from a potential sixth film days after the op-ed was published.Second. Yet to be decided is the outcome of his second attempt to sue somebody for calling him a wife-beater. He already lost the first trial, despite suing noted scumfuck tabloid The Sun in noted libel tourism destination England, because the judge accepted their and Heard’s claim that the abuse allegations she made against him were substantially true.
I bet 100 bucks that Margot’s character will be the red-haired lady from the “whench sales”, who was retooled sometime ago into a pirate…
The XXX version of the all-female Pirates movies are better
The movies have relied so much on Sparrow, that they are trapped. At best, this could have been a franchise filled with colorful characters to where they wouldn’t have to rely on one guy. And to their credit, they tried (kinda?) but nobody else really took. This franchise should have been Star Wars on the Seven Seas, or whatever. Oh well. I secretly rooted for the East India Trading Company, and the end of piracy, anyway.
Pirates fans will just have to settle for Margot Robbie, which sounds like a pretty good deal, in all honesty.
I’ve seen all the Pirates movies in the theater (as well as Cutthroat Island, which clearly suggests I have a problem) and I would 100% trade Johnny Depp for Margot Robbie.
I’m looking forward to both PotC movies and I hope they come to pass.
Disney’s clearly been priming the pump for a new direction for the series for a while, with how they’re marketing the hell out of Redd from the no-sex-trafficking version of the ride. I assume that Redd is the start of one of these two new movies, and that sounds great.
Yeah, even three years ago, when I last visited a Disney park right before the COVID shut-down, they were really going all-out to promote Redd as the new face of Pirates of the Caribbean. The character is kind of a blank slate right now, so I hope they so something interesting with her.
That was my guest too. Margot Robbie already played one famous redhead in Queen Elizabeth the first, why not Redd the pirate, heavily inspired by Anne Bonny who is always depicted with red hair.
Seems a dumb to sue someone and have part of your case be that it caused you to loss a job and then say you would never do that job.
I’m afraid that without Depp they’ll try and fill that void by making one character a copy of him. Similar behaviour and personality and so on, and it’ll end up just being really awful and cringe. And will most likely ruin the movie.I’m fine with a pirate movie without Depp, but it’s too soon to reboot it. The super sucky version is that Margo will just reprise her Harley character but in a pirate universe instead of making something new. Like Ruby Rose has done with all her roles since forever..
I can see rebooting the franchise. Jack Sparrow had a very limited shelf life and by the end of the second film, I was already getting tired of him.The character worked in the first film because he wasn’t written to be Jack Sparrow, he was supposed to be this traditional, swashbuckling pirate who was taken into a truly bizarre place by Depp. The follow-ups suffered from having to then write Jack Sparrow as Jack Sparrow and it just didn’t work as well.Plus, wasn’t Depp getting his lines fed to him through an earpiece by the end? I get his stans are fighting in the streets about his supposed innocence, but it seems like he’s lost interest in the franchise himself.
To my mind, he should have become a proper villain in any kind of sequel, not this sort of vaguely ineffectual Jar Jar Binks in pirate costume. It would be interesting to see a film about pirates where they aren’t these romanticised rogues, but were properly vicious, or at least self-interested to the point where they couldn’t be cheered for
Yeah, I think that could have been interesting or if his goals clashed against the main characters more often. The first film very much established a spectrum with the evil pirates on one end and Will and Elizabeth on the other and you had Jack Sparrow as someone who was a lot more morally ambiguous. I did like in the second film that he seemed to be a bit of a corrupting influence on Elizabeth, but he really doesn’t work that well as a main character.
About the earpiece thing, he stated it was he could concentrate on emoting with his eyes or some such rubbish. The reality is he was showing up to set high and drunk and needed to be fed his lines.
It amazes me that people seem to care about this “franchise”. The original movie surprised everyone by being a fun popcorn flick. But every single movie after has gotten worse and worse.
So, how about that latest Marvel film, eh?
I’d say the Marvel movies generally hover around the 6-8 out of 10 mark. never brilliant, just functional enough pop corn films to check your brain out for a few ours. Sort of like if Michael Bay had an at least moderate understanding of characters…
Doctor Strange was okay. Not great. Looking forward to Thor: Love and Thunder. I’d watch Thor: Dark World or The Eternals again before I turned on any Pirates of the Caribbean movie other then the first oneEdit: Its also kinda weird to have my very own AVClub stalker. You gonna just start commenting about how I like Marvel movies on every post I make?
Eh, I was pretty young when the first three came out and I enjoyed them.
I think that may be part of it. I was in my 20s. I have a distinct memory of getting home from a trip from India for work and being super jet lagged but being so excited for the second Pirates movie that my wife and I hit the midnight show opening day. I remember a fight scene on a big wheel seeming like it took forever to be done
The first movie came out when I was 11, the second movie came out when I was 14. Pretty much the right age for a fantastic, borderline fantasy pirate series lol. If I was in my 20’s at the time, I’d probably feel the same way you do.
Lately my YouTube and Reddit recommendations are flooded with stuff slamming Amber Heard. Which poses a whole set of questions:1) Why are the dudes posting this content so invested in a slander trial that involves them in no way?2) Of all the Hollywood celebrities they could have hitched their wagon to, why on earth was it Johnny Friggin’ Depp?3) How are they managing to do this – are they just flooding the internet with so much crap that some of it inevitably floats to the top?4) Why? Dear God, what do they possibly hope to accomplish by this – affect the outcome of the trial? Win the heart of their beloved? Make money fast? Because none of that is going to happen.
I can give you some depressing speculation on each point
1. The trial apparently shows that women lie. It’s validation for incels. Just ignore that Depp already lost a defamation trial in a more reputable legal system that is actually more friendly to people making defamation claims.
2. Mix of convenience (if my incel guess is right, they would jump on the first high profile case of this type) and familiarity. Depp has been in some very high profile movies, unlike Kevin Spacey where he cut down on films to appear in theatre. The familiarity thing is why you’ll also see a number of women backing him – most celebrities attract automatic defenders
3. It’s feedback loop of awful – you’ve got a mix of the incels who were waiting for a case like this, and you’ve got clout chasers on social media who know they can generate clicks by pandering to them. As this edited gumpf gets shared it may attract more people to following the content creators, so more of it shows up in social media feeds, and the ignorance grows
4. Clout chasers want clicks, the fans wan Depp back in films because his lacklustre impersonations speak to them, and the incels want validation for their misogyny at best, or to proactively create a defence for their offences before they reach the court system…
Haha, just replying to say I’ve been wondering the same things! It is really bizarre to me how much the internet is caping for gross-ass Johnny Depp. His case is a lightning rod for the type of guys who like to derail conversations about women’s rights with stats on male abuse. Misogyny runs far deeper and wider in our society than I really like to contemplate. But yeah “Why? Dear God why?” has been my reaction as well!
It’s all over facebook comment sections too, the only reasons l can think off is1. It allows them to let their misogyny run loose, since everyone is dogpiling the hate on Heard, they can do it too. And on the rare occasions they get called out on it, then they have support from all the other misogynistic pieces of garbage to hide behind2. It’s a way for some men to try and discredit the whole #beliveallwomen movement. If Depp wins, then men can use that as a way of saying, but all women lie etc etc, when they get called out for their own shitty behaviour.
Yeah, my guess for 2 was along similar lines, but I think Depp is being backed because they see it as a test case for their awfulness and it was the first one they could get behind, rather than something inherent in him
I think the best thing to do with the Pirates franchise would be to do a remake of Blackbeard’s Ghost but with Geoffrey Rush’s Barbossa as a way to cap off the series. They were already feeling tired by the second film and yet they’ve proceeded to beat their way through the dead horse until they’re actually hitting the floor…
Wait, there’s FIVE of these things? I could have sworn it was just a trilogy.