Remember my article last week entitled "Could Dick Cook's lay off cost Disney 4 BILLION dollars ? ". I was explaining how devastating it could be for the WDC if Johnny Depp was finally saying "NO" to the Pirates of the Caribbean 4th episode (and so to the next trilogy)?
Well, i don't know if you've read my article but it seems that somebody at Burbank did read it as the Cinema Blend web site announces today that Disney "is preparing to replace Captain Jack with a entirely new character if Depp eventually refuses a fifth and sixth film" . Not to mention the fourth if johnny was changing his mind.
Why are they thinking to do such an insanity? Because of Johnny's comments after Dick Cook was fired. Exactly what i told you in the article.
Now, can you think about a POTC movie WITHOUT Jack Sparrow and Johnny's genius? Frankly, half of the success of the movies were due to the Jack Sparrow character and they did billion of dollars thanks to Johnny's talent. So who could be fool enough to try to replace him? Well, actually, they probably DON'T want to replace Johnny and it seems that they're ready to pay him a big amount of dollars for the fourth movie. But Disney execs have probably realised too that Cook's lay off could eventually cost them more than expected only because the actor who plays their most valuable character may be more faithful to his friend than greedy. I live in Paris but it's almost if i can hear the "Ooops, i think we've got a problem" coming out of Burbank when they've learned that Depp was "less enthusiastic" to come back for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean.
There is no way that Disney will accept to loose the POTC phenomenal franchise and there is at least one point we all ( Disney, you, me, everybody ) agree on: nobody else than Johnny Depp can play the Jack Sparrow character. If Johnny's not part of the movie, they have to create a new character. That's why they're thinking to introduce a new character, just in case...
Of course it's also a way to send a message to Johnny, something like "don't ever think that you are in strong position, we can replace your character". Which is in fact exactly what Disney execs probably think right now - that Johnny IS in fact in strong position - and of course they hate this.
No doubt that Johnny Depp will get the message. And you know what? Knowing Johnny's nature as i do, I think he's not going to like it. Not at all.
Edited 9/29: Cinema Blend just released a new article saying that they "spoke to a Disney representative today who had checked with the higher-ups in the company, who assure that Depp has not wavered one bit in his commitment to Pirates 4, despite some cryptic statements he made when Disney exec Dick Cook left the studio last week.
As for any movies following Stranger Tides, the Disney rep can't speak about those-- probably not because they don't want to do them, but because nothing has yet been greenlit, and it would be silly to publicly speculate otherwise."
Okay, so until now Depp is still part of POTC 4!
We'll see what will happen next, so.........to be continued
Picture: copyright Disney-Bruckheimer
