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Monday Mouse Watch: Is Gore Verbinski looking to bail on “Pirates 4” ?

Jim Hill

First the good news: The rumors that you’ve hearing are true. Johnny Depp actually has told the folk at Walt Disney Studios that he’d be willing to reprise the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow. Which is why the Mouse has already tentatively made plans to shoot “Pirates 4” in 2009. With the hope that this film could then be the studio’s tent pole for the summer of 2009.

Now the bad news: When Johnny finally swaggers back in front of the camera, his longtime collaborator — director Gore Verbinski (Who has helmed all three installments of Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” series to date: 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl,” 2006’s “Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest” and 2007’s “At World’s End“) — may not be there to say “Action !”

Gore Verbinski (in red) directing Johnny Depp during the production of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” Copyright 2006 Disney Enterprises, LLC / Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Why For? Because — as author Berkeley Breathed explained this past Friday night on the first stop of his “Mars Needs Moms!” book tour:

“Gore’s sick of pirates. If I wrote a scene that had to be shot on water, he’d run the other way.”

And Breathed? He’s in a really good position to know Verbinski’s mindset these days. Given that Berkeley & Gore are now working together to try & turn Breathed’s 2003 children’s book, “Flawed Dogs: The Year End Leftovers at the Piddleton “Last Chance” Dog Pound” into a CG film for Walt Disney Pictures.

Copyright 2003 Berkeley Breathed / Little, Brown Young Readers

Berkeley views adapting “Flawed Dogs” for the big screen as something as a challenge. Given that …

” … There’s only a hint of a story in the book. But all of the characters and settings that you need for a fun movie are there.”

Mind you, Gore Verbinski isn’t the only A-Lister that Breathed is working with these days. As he revealed at last Friday night’s signing at Willow Books & Café in Acton, MA. :

“Robert Zemeckis is doing the movie version of ‘Mars Needs Moms ! ‘ They’re working on the script now.”

Now what’s interesting about “Mars Needs Moms !” is that this Breathed book was also optioned by the Mouse. Which means that the movie version of this children’s story could be one of the very first projects to be produced by Disney’s new ImageMovers Digital unit. You know? That state-of-the-art performance capture studio that Mickey’s in the process of setting up for Zemeckis. Which would then be housed in an old airplane hanger on what used to be the Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato, CA.

Robert Zemeckis

Still — given that he tried for years to get a movie version of his “Red Ranger Came Calling” children’s book produced (Only to have that project repeatedly fall apart because — according to Hollywood conventional wisdom — kids won’t watch period pieces. Which are too expensive to shoot anyway) — Berkeley knows better than to predict when “Flawed Dogs” and “Mars Needs Moms !” will turn up at a theater near you. For now, he’s just enjoying working with Verbinski and Zemeckis. As well as spending time in Santa Barbara with his wife and two young children.

And then — of course — there’s Opus. That neurotic penguin who’s been the star of all three of Breathed’s comic strips, “Bloom County,” “Outland” and “Opus.” Recently, there have been a number of newspaper stories about how Berkeley was supposedly making plans to kill off his signature character. Which the cartoonist now denies.

That said, Breathed has been toying with once again shutting down his Sunday strip. And one of the ways that he’s considering staging Opus’s exit is reportedly given his syndication syndicate absolute heart failure.

“The weekend after Bush leaves office, I’d like to run a strip where Opus is standing on an aircraft carrier with a big ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner behind him.”

Which — given some of the pokes that “Opus” has taken at our Commander in Chief over the past few years …

Copyright 2004 Berkeley Breathed

… only seems appropriate.

Copyright 2006 Berkeley Breathed

Anyway … If you yourself would like to hear what Berkeley has to say and/or get an autographed copy of his latest children’s book, “Mars Needs Moms !,” his book tour continues this week. Which this Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist still scheduled to make appearances at:

Berkeley Breathed

Getting back to “Pirates of the Caribbean” now … Should Gore Verbinski actually opt out of directing “Pirates 4” … Well, that may cause some problems at the Breathed household. Given that (As Breathed explained in a recent interview with the A.V. Club) …

“… My 4-year-old son retrieves a pirate pistol and sword and acts out the entire movie, shooting and stabbing everyone in the family, all of whom are amused except for Pickles the pit bull.”

Here’s hoping that Gore Verbinski uses “Flawed Dog” as a well deserved break from working on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films. Rather than as an excuse to not direct “Pirates 4.”

Your thoughts?

Jim Hill

Jim Hill is an entertainment writer who has specialized in covering The Walt Disney Company for nearly 40 years now. Over that time, he has interviewed hundreds of animators, actors, and Imagineers -- many of whom have shared behind-the-scenes stories with Mr. Hill about how the Mouse House really works. In addition to the 4000+ articles Jim has written for the Web, he also co-hosts a trio of popular podcasts: “Disney Dish with Len Testa,” “Fine Tooning with Drew Taylor” and “Marvel US Disney with Aaron Adams.” Mr. Hill makes his home in Southern New Hampshire with his lovely wife Nancy and two obnoxious cats, Ginger & Betty.

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