Johnny Depp to Become a Disney Pirate
Yo ho, yo ho, it's a pirate's life for Johnny Depp. The "Edward Scissorhands" star, 38, has agreed to headline "Bad Company" producer Jerry Bruckheimer's upcoming adventure movie, "The Pirates of the Caribbean," based on the Disney theme-park ride, the Los Angeles Times reports. The proposed feature is one of three ride-inspired movies that the Disney studio is doing, according to trade reports. The others are the soon-to-be released "The Country Bears" (based on the "Country Bears Jamboree" attraction and featuring the voice of Haley Joel Osment, among others) and the planned "The Haunted Mansion" (based on a ride of the same name and that may star Eddie Murphy). Studio sources have told PEOPLE.com that the hope is to have the "Pirates" movie in production this summer and in theaters next summer, though, said one executive, "that's cutting it awfully close, especially if there are scenes to be filmed at sea." The ride itself, which opened in California's Disneyland in 1966 (the Florida version opened five years later, with the launch of Walt Disney World), takes passengers on little boats through a Louisiana bayou before they are plunged down two waterfalls (only one waterfall in Disney World) to a time in history when pirates pillaged, plundered and went a-wenching. No word yet on which leading lady may costar with Depp, who will play a swashbuckler named Jack, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The trade paper also reports that the director will be Gore Verbinski (who did "The Mexican," with Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt). As for the film's musical score, PEOPLE.com has learned, there will likely be a variation on the ride's "A Pirate's Life for Me," which was written by the Oscar-winning brothers Richard and Robert Sherman, who also wrote the score for "Mary Poppins" and that ever-catchy Disney park anthem "It's a Small World." Now, where's the movie based on that one?
(BTW, the Casper crap? great for degrading the ghostbusters)
