A somewhat specious “exclusive” on CinemaBlend (which amounts to little more than “one guy told another guy”) is claiming that Johnny Depp is considering hanging up his pirate hat following the sudden departure of Disney’s former chairman, Dick Cook. According to their tipster, if Depp even makes a fourth film (already slated for summer 2011) he won’t be back for any more installments.
Cinemablend’s random email, err… source, also says that Disney is preparing to forge forward with another character if Depp doesn’t sign on for ‘Pirates 5 and 6.’
Depp certainly hasn’t made his displeasure about Cook leaving Disney a secret. According to Depp, Cook supported his interpretation of Jack Sparrow from day one. “When things went a little sideways on the first Pirates movie and others at the studio were less than enthusiastic about my interpretation of the character, Dick was there from the first moment. He trusted me.” In addition, both Cook and Depp announced the title of the next film, “Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” in full pirate garb at Disney’s D23 Expo earlier in September, making his sudden ousting all the more awkward.
But let’s put things in perspective for a moment. We think it’s safe to say that Depp isn’t doing these films for any artistic reasons. It would be naive of him to bow out of his biggest meal ticket because a CEO of a studio — no matter how supportive — has moved on. He earned a cool $20 million “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead’s Man Chest” and Lord knows what Disney will drive up to his front door (Unicorns? a Leprechaun with a rainbow? a Monkey’s paw with endless wishes?) to get him on board for the fourth installment. He’s tentatively slated to appear in the next film pending script approval, but considering the last two films were barely on this side of coherent, we can’t imagine there are going to be any problems. And let’s not forget that Depp stars as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s forthcoming Disney tentpole, “Alice In Wonderland.” You can bet once it opens at number one at the box office, the executives over at the Magic Kingdom will be fast-tracking “Through The Looking The Glass” and Depp certainly won’t want to do anything dramatic that might hurt the development of a franchise for Tim Burton or his own continued involvement.
If Depp does decide to leave this already bloated franchise — which frankly doesn’t need a fourth, fifth or sixth sequel — it will most likely be for reasons other than corporate restructuring. As much as Disney needs Depp, we have to remember that Depp has Disney to thank for turning him from a respected character actor into a worldwide star.