Word has come out of THR.com today that Oscar winner Penelope Cruz is in talks to join Johnny Depp in the upcoming fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, On Stranger Tides. If this comes to be, Cruz will be re-teaming with her Nine director, Rob Marshall, who is taking over the franchise from Gore Verbinski. Plot details for Tides are still under wraps, but it’s said to involve the Fountain of Youth. Cruz’s character details are also being kept secret, though she is to be Sparrow’s foil and equal in many ways. Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio are back on writing duties.
I’m on the fence about this project. It could do fine without Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, but if they don’t land Geoffrey Rush, it could get very iffy. I’d want to see Rush in it as much as I would Depp. Perhaps more so. Shooting begins this summer in Hawaii for a May 20, 2011 release.