'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

[ALIASd]

'On Stranger Tides author Tim Powers:

Powers was in a tricky spot -- he wanted to publicly celebrate a career windfall but the folks at Disney had made it clear that he was supposed to keep everything under wraps. He was more surprised than anyone that the title had been trumpeted at Disney's new promotional convention.

"I was still -- as far as I understood -- not free to talk about it," the author told me Monday. "Then about a week ago my agent wrote and said, 'You're now able to say that in fact Disney did option the book.' That happened a while ago, it'll be three years in April."

full article at:
Surprised author Tim Powers finds himself setting sail with 'Pirates of the Caribbean' | Hero Complex | Los Angeles Times

[Dustysage]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

LOL. Great story. Disney tells the guy not to talk and then spills the beans without even telling him.

[ALIASd]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

A friend of mine once found out one of the films he'd written a script for was going into production by running into an actor pal of his at Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake. The actor had just come from an audition for it and walked out with the part.

The studio announcing it officially at their expo seemed to have added quite a bit more for the fans there, as part of the big presentation.

It's probably also why they decided to repeat the surprise appearance of Johnny Depp in full Captain Jack Sparrow costume, they'd done the same thing a few years ago at the invite-only industry studio preview event at the El Capitan driving Johnny over from the Universal backlot where they were shooting the third 'POTC' film.

[Timekeeper]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

Not what I expected...

Timekeeper.

[SnorkletsMom]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

It's going to need some story alterations to fit in with the previous films. But I wonder if any film at all will be made, now that Depp is less than enthused about the whole thing.

ALIASd, I want to commend you for always grabbing the hot stuff and posting it. Thank you!

[devans]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

Thanks for the posting, ALIASd. This is a fabulous book (as is "Last Call" also mentioned in the article), and I'm actually glad to see it folded into the POTC world.

[ALIASd]

[WDWDN]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

I for one am very excited that we will have a POTC 4. Not that I want to see Johnny Depp leave the franchise but It would be interesting to see how Disney could develop a new character for POTC 4 and then make that person the center of the story for future editions.

Who would you guys like to see be the next lead?

I would give a shout out to Robert Pattinson right now.

[Retrocool]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

LOL. Great story. Disney tells the guy not to talk and then spills the beans without even telling him.

Very much standard Hollywood studio behavior where writers are concerned. It's a Hollywood tradition, going back decades.

[ALIASd]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

Terry Rossio explains Disney's move to option the book and the story behind the new film, saying, "We wanted to do a story about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, and Tim Powers wrote a book about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth... it just turns out that to do that story you would need that book. It's a brilliant and Tim Powers is an amazing writer - and it's a great title. It allows us to draw material from that universe and his expertise."

The question remains, was it based on it or not?

"I don't know if its proper to say it's based on it but there are enough common elements to think that the book had to be optioned to us to reasonably proceed along that story line."

The Keira Knightley-less Pirates is still pencilled in for a July 2011 release, Fountain Of Youth and all.

The Latest On Pirates 4 Origins

[Retrocool]

Re: 'On Stranger Tides' author onboard

Cool. Terry's a good guy. I've talked with him, since he and I went to the same high school in Santa Ana.