Margot Robbie has clarified some important details about her Pirates of the Caribbean reboot film, and it sounds like it’s lost at sea permanently.
News of the new swashbuckler adventure film starring Robbie came to light again in May this year, around the time Johnny Depp, who portrayed the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow, was on trial for defamation against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
After The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported in 2020 that the Australian star and Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson were reuniting for another Pirates of the Caribbean film, details have been few and far between.
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The franchise was meant to set sail once again but Robbie, 32, has clarified that Disney had pumped the brakes on a ‘more of a female-led’ incarnation of the tale.
Confirming that the film was ‘dead’, Robbie recently told Vanity Fair: “We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led—not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story—which we thought would’ve been really cool, but I guess they don’t want to do it.”
Robbie’s Pirates film may be dead in the water, but there were two scripts in development.
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In an interview with The Times ahead of the release of Top Gun: Maverick in May, iconic Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer discussed the future of the franchise and it having a female lead.
"Yes. We’re talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two Pirates scripts - one with her, one without," he said.
Following the 2003 blockbuster smash, Curse of the Black Pearl, Depp earned a whole new legion of fans and an Oscar nomination.
He reprised what has since become one of his most recognisable roles in four sequels; Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales.
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The Edward Scissorhands star was originally expected to take part in a sixth film, but this never came to fruition, with the 59-year-old declaring he wouldn’t return as Captain Jack Sparrow if Disney asked him to come back to the franchise during his trial... Not even for $300 million or alpacas.
Depp’s representatives also emphasised that the former Fantastic Beasts franchise star was not preparing a grand return to the seven seas, despite rumours of a pending comeback.
The rumours first appeared in PopTopic and claimed that the actor had been offered around $301 million to make a comeback - but it was later confirmed that this untrue.
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Depp last played Jack Sparrow in 2017 for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and continues to be the face of the blockbuster franchise.
Robbie still has a plate filled with high profile upcoming projects, including the hotly anticipated live-action Barbie film and an Ocean Elevens spin-off.
Topics: Margot Robbie, Film and TV
Gregory Robinson