Rob Marshall Confirms He's Directing 'Pirates 4'

We were hoping Rob Marshall would pass on “Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” a gig he was in talks for earlier this year, but so much time had passed (at least in blog years) we assumed he had moved on (plus we had heard some rumors of a British director possibly jumping on board).

But it seems that Marshall has confirmed that he will be the next captain of the “Pirates 4” ship. During a DGA screening for “Nine,” Marshall spoke about the gig. Via AICN.

I just saw the DGA screening of Rob Marshall’s latest movie, NINE tonight and stayed for the Q & A after, so I thought I’d write in to share my thoughts. First, let me just get the HUGE scoop out of the way: when asked about his next project (by Nora Ephron, who hosted the Q&A), he replied ‘y’know, it’s something that I was offered and never in the world thought I would do but then I was like ‘why not?’… I’m doing ‘Pirates of the Caribbean….”’ That’s right– Rob Marshall is directing the next installment of the ‘Pirates’ franchise. The only additional thing he mentioned about it was that he had a wonderful meeting with Johnny a little while ago and that they’re both excited to work together.

Sounds like a done deal. Some directors occasionally speak to soon, but we’re doubtful that’s the case here. Maybe he can make that franchise interesting of fun again and use that musical prowess to make some balletic action? It’s about all we can hope for at this point. The original ‘Pirates’ was high-grade escapist popcorn, but everything since has been dreck.