We just told you that Johnny Depp promises their won’t be too much Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribben: On Stranger Tides; so who will be taking up screentime? Possibly Ian McShane, Deadwood veteran and beloved of many film nerds, who could be playing Blackbeard.
So that means we have Depp, Penelope Cruz and McShane, all in a story about the Fountain of Youth. And all taken from the novel On Stranger Tides, although Tim Powers’ name never seems to pop up in trade announcements. That could be because while Disney bought the novel and seems to be using the main outline of it – a pirate named Jack goes up against Blackbeard for the Fountain of Youth – large parts of it will be changed. The Jack Shandy character has a very different origin in the book than the Jack Sparrow character, and there doesn’t seem to be a role for Cruz in the original book (the heroine is a young innocent while Cruz’s character has been described as an equal and a foil to Sparrow. Probably a love interest as well).
If you’ve read the book and have some insights into what might be changed and what might stay, please feel free to comment below.