The upcoming sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film has a script so strange that one of its writers is amazed Disney accepted it.
Craig Mazin, who wrote the acclaimed HBO miniseries Chernobyl and co-created the network’s The Last Of Us, made a candid confession to Variety.
Now he has co-written the next Pirates of the Caribbean film with Ted Elliott, who himself co-wrote the first four films in the series with Terry Rossio.
“We pitched it and thought, ‘There’s no way to buy it, it’s too weird.’ And they did!” Craig revealed this in his new interview.
“And then he wrote a fantastic script and the strike came and everyone was waiting,” the showrunner added.
Review: The upcoming sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film has a script so strange that one of its writers is amazed Disney accepted it; Johnny Depp is pictured for the fourth film (pictured in 2003)
Who’s Who: Craig Mazin, co-creator of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl with Stellan Skarsgard (left) and Jared Harris (right), made the candid confession
The previous five films in the series starred Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, a character who became beloved by legions of fans around the world.
However, Johnny’s Hollywood career has stalled in recent years due to explosive legal battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard.
Amber and Johnny fought a bitter legal war after their 15-month marriage fell apart amid a barrage of abuse allegations.
After winning a libel case against Amber last year, Johnny made a grand return to show business and was enthusiastically received at the Cannes Film Festival this May, where he premiered his film Jeanne du Barry.
Last May, shortly before Johnny’s courtroom triumph, “Pirates Of The Caribbean” producer Jerry Bruckheimer had no comment on the prospect of Johnny’s return to the franchise.
When The Sunday Times asked if Johnny would be back, Jerry said: “Not at this stage” but left the door slightly ajar and added: “The future is still to be decided.”
In 2020, while Johnny’s career was still on hold, it was revealed that Disney was developing Pirates of the Caribbean 6 along with a spin-off film starring Margot Robbie.
The Margot project was set to be written by Christina Hodson, who previously wrote the blonde bombshell’s supervillain film Birds Of Prey.
New gig: Craig (pictured) has now co-written the next Pirates of the Caribbean film with Ted Elliott, who himself co-wrote the first four films in the series with Terry Rossio
Who’s Who: In the previous five films in the series, Johnny Depp played the main role as Jack Sparrow; in the first film he starred alongside Orlando Bloom as the blacksmith Will Turner
Current news: Pirates of the Caribbean quickly became a global juggernaut as a film franchise, producing a total of five films between 2003 and 2017; depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The way they were: However, Johnny’s career has been in the doldrums in recent years due to his legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard, with whom he is pictured together in 2015
On Hold: In 2020, while Johnny’s career was still on hold, it was revealed that Disney would be developing Pirates of the Caribbean 6 along with a spin-off film starring Margot Robbie
However, last year Margot gave an interview to Vanity Fair in which she claimed Disney had decided to abandon their film Pirates of the Caribbean.
“We had an idea and we evolved it a long time ago to have a more female-led story — not just women, but just a different kind of story — which we thought would have been really cool,” she said. “But I suspect they don’t want to do it.”
Jerry Bruckheimer then entered the fray and clarified that the spin-off wasn’t completely off the table, but was postponed in favor of the direct sequel.
“I think this script will be released at some point,” he told Collider about the spinoff. “We have developed two different stories for Pirates and the other one goes first. So that’s what we’re working on, to try to make that story happen.”
Based on a childhood ride at Disneyland, the Pirates of the Caribbean film series began in 2003 with a film subtitled The Curse of the Black Pearl.
In the first three films, Johnny starred alongside Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom as the governor’s daughter and a blacksmith who fall in love.
Pirates of the Caribbean quickly grew into a global juggernaut as a film franchise, producing a total of five films between 2003 and 2017.
By the time the fifth film premiered, Johnny and Amber were already embroiled in the bitter legal battle that dragged on for another half decade.