Disney and live-action movies that are not Marvel or Star Wars have had a rocky road over the decades. Before Disney’s general (but not guaranteed) success with live-action remakes of animated classics, Disney's one shining success at the box office was the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. We have been assured that more Pirates movies are coming but very little is known, including, it would seem, by the people who might be in them.
Austin Butler may be in line for a shot starring in a live-action Disney movie very soon. His name has been associated with potentially starring in the Russo Brothers’ live-action Hercules, but his name has also come up as the potential star of a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot. If it’s true that Disney wants him, nobody at the studio has asked him. When ET asked Butler about the rumors, he claimed ignorance, though it turns out he’s a fan of those movies. He said…
Oh really, I haven't heard about that. I loved Pirates of the Caribbean.
While Butler says he hadn’t even heard the rumors, it sounds like if they are true, he might seriously entertain the project, as he’s a bit of a fan of the franchise. He tells ET he even included Pirates of the Caribbean in a school project about his favorite things when he was a kid. You have to imagine if Disney does come to him with a Pirates movie, he’d want to do it.
As a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and a fan of Austin Butler, this sounds good to me. I don’t know why somebody who can convincingly play Elvis feels like they could obviously play a pirate, but it seems to work out in my head. Disney could do a lot worse.
Of course, the new Pirates of the Caribbean project, while we are continually told it is happening, the wheels seem to be moving slowly. The movie will be a complete franchise reboot, which means nobody from the previous movies is expected to appear. But that’s also the problem.
Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow became such an iconic character that Disney seems to be having trouble figuring out how to move forward without him. Even Butler admits that he’s not sure he would want to try because he loved Depp’s performance so much. He continued…
It's a hard one to touch because they did it so well. I loved what Johnny [Depp] did with that.
One way or another it seems clear that we will get at least one new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and possibly more, as a pitch for a Pirates film with Margot Robbie, while not the current priority, isn’t entirely dead. Whether Butler is at the top of Disney’s list or not, if there is a discussion of casting going on, then the next film may finally get close to becoming real. My eyes will certainly be on D23 this year.
