Pirates.
Here some information from filmforce.net on the upcoming pirate movie : warning spoiler:
But then there's the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced adaptation of Pirates of the Caribbean – cue the ride theme song. I have much higher hopes for this one.
The picture is set to start shooting in October under the direction of Gore Verbinski (Mouse Hunt, The Mexican). Only two of the major roles have been filled so far. Johnny Depp will play Jack Sparrow, a swashbuckling benevolent pirate. And Geoffrey Rush (Shine, Shakespeare in Love) will play Captain Blackheart, an evil pirate who leads his crew on a mission to break an ancient curse.
While Verbinski's credits don't exactly thrill me to no end, I'm hopeful, and stoked about Depp and Rush being involved – they'll both make great pirates. I'm even more hopeful after corresponding with an anonymous source who was happy to answer some of my big questions about the film. Here's some of what I learned (Arrr... Beware of story spoilers ahead, me maties. Properly warned ye be, says I.)...
The film begins at sea, where we meet 12-year-old Elizabeth Swann, aboard the H.M.S. Dauntless. She is accompanying her father to their new home in Port Royal. There has been talk of pirates on the ship and Elizabeth tells her father, "I think it'd be fascinating to meet a pirate." Needless to say, this upsets her father and the ship's captain, Norrington, who has sworn to rid the sea of the pillaging scum. But Elizabeth gets her wish when the ship comes upon the wreckage of a British vessel. After plucking a young boy from the water, the crew spots The Black Pearl, a legendary pirate vessel with imposing black sails.
Flash forward eight years. Elizabeth is now a striking 20-year-old woman. Her father, now Governor Swann, is prompting her to attend the promotion ceremony for "Commodore" Norrington, whom he hopes she'll marry. We're also reacquainted with the boy who was saved from the shipwreck, Will Turner, now a handsome young man. Elizabeth still carries a gold medallion that she took from him after the rescue.
Johnny Depp is Captain Jack Sparrow, a "swashbuckling rogue" who shows up in Port Royal aboard his tiny, leaky ship, the Jolly Mon. It doesn't take long for trouble to find Jack. He spots the H.M.S. Interceptor docked in the harbor and sneaks on board to take a closer look at the new "fastest ship in the fleet." At the nearby ceremony, Elizabeth, who has been struggling all day with a tight new corset, faints and falls into the water. Jack dives in and saves her life, but his goodwill backfires when Norrington spots the "pirate's brand" on his wrist. Norrington, whose hatred of pirates won't be undone by a single good deed, has Jack locked up.
That night in his cell, Jack hears the rumble of cannon fire outside the prison walls. Pirates are attacking! The Black Pearl has sailed into the harbor and is turning its guns on nearby Fort Charles and on the town itself. Port Royal is under siege. Buildings are being demolished and fires are springing up everywhere. Pirates have begun to come ashore in longboats to wreak havoc on the town.
Back at the Governor's mansion, Elizabeth fends off the invaders long enough to come up with a plan. She allows herself to be captured, but invokes the "right of parlay" (something she learned thanks to her childhood fascination with pirates). Parlay is part of the pirate's code that allows a captured party the right to be taken to a ship's captain unharmed.
Still locked in the jail, which has been half-demolished by cannon fire, Jack is startled when two pirates burst in thinking they've found the town's armory. Jack and the pirates know each other... and aren't exactly bosom buddies. They start an argument which ends with one of the pirate's reaching through the cell bars to try and choke him. It's then that Jack notices something horrific. The pirate's wrist and hand, when bathed in a beam of moonlight, are skeletal. The stories he's heard are true... the crew of The Black Pearl has been cursed!
Meanwhile, Elizabeth is brought before Captain Blackheart. She identifies herself as Elizabeth TURNER (to keep them from knowing they have the governor's daughter on board), and demands that he leave Port Royal and never return. He laughs Elizabeth off until she reveals a secret bargaining tool, the medallion she wears around her neck – the one she took from Will years ago. There's something about that medallion... the captain desperately wants it. He agrees to her offer, but only in part. The Black Pearl turns out to sea with Elizabeth still on board... a prisoner.
Will frees Jack from jail and the two make a plan to commandeer a Navy ship and go after Elizabeth. Commodore Norrington also sets out on a rescue mission under orders from Governor Swann.
A captive on the ship, Elizabeth soon learns the true cursed nature of The Black Pearl's crew. Captain Blackheart tells her, "The moonlight shows us for what we really are! We are not among the living, and so we cannot die... but neither are we dead!" She is horrified to learn that he intends to somehow use her to break the curse. "You're going to deliver us from this ****," he says. "You and the blood that runs through your veins."
While Will and Jack are in hot pursuit of The Black Pearl, Jack reveals that he once knew Will's father, William Turner. But he knew him by his pirate name, "Bootstrap Bill." Will must face the realization that his father, whom he always believed was a merchant marine, was in fact a pirate. The pair know that Blackheart is on his way to Isla de Muerte, but they can't get there without more men – they've done good to get this far with a two man crew. They dock in Tortuga, the dregs of the Caribbean, to round up some of Jack's cronies.
As you might imagine, our source's time was running short and he cut to the Cliff's Notes version. Will and Jack manage to rescue Liz, but Will is captured in the process. The pirates plan to use him to break the curse instead. Can Jack and Elizabeth reach Isla de Muerte in time?
Unfortunately, our source left us hanging, but I wouldn't want the ending spoiled anyway. He shared my enthusiasm for the story and says that there are several fun references to the theme park ride that Disney lovers will get a kick out of. One occurs while Jack is his jail cell. There are three prisoners next to him desperately trying to attract the attention of a dog, sitting just out of their reach, that has the keys to the cell clutched in his teeth – that's a scene straight out of the ride.
The script for Pirates was penned by a quartet of writers, with the most recent draft by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (Shrek, The Mask of Zorro, The Road to El Dorado). The pair were hired to add the supernatural elements to a previous draft by Stuart Beattie. Beattie's version was a brush-up of the first draft by screenwriter Jay Wolpert (The Count of Monte Cristo). Beattie, regarded as an expert on pirates, was brought on to add realism.
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Back to the Rock Season 2
Sesame Street Season 54
The Muppets Mayhem premieres
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
