On The Horizon

For months now, Johnny Depp has been back in beard and dreadlocks as mincing, mascaraed glam-rock rogue Captain Jack Sparrow, shooting high-seas sequel Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. And believe us, he’s loving it.

“Captain Jack is so much fun to play!” beams Depp when we catch up with him in the Bahamas, base-camp for the sequels’ shoot. “You’re going to see a couple of new layers to him here, see him in situations that he is unable to talk his way out of.” Those “situations” pivot around soggy CG über-villain Davey Jones (Bill Nighy), legendary ruler of the ocean depths, captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman and the man to whom Sparrow owes a blood debt. Which rather buggers up the wedding plans of the winsome Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley).

The cast looks fantastic, with Geoffrey Rush also back as zombie-pirate Barbossa, Chow Yun-Fat sprouting face hair as 19th-century Chinese pirate Cheung Po Tsai and Stellan Skarsgaard turning up as Will’s father, Bootstrap Bill. Plus, gnarly rocker Keith Richard is still in the frame to line up with Depp. “Does it get better than that?” exclaims the actor. “Talk about a dream come true!” For him, maybe. We’re looking forward to the cannibals and the giant squid-monster...

So director Gore Verbinski’s swashbuckling blockbuster is on course to dock on 7 July next year. But by then, the gang will be hard at work on Pirates 3. “It’s a lengthy process,” smiles Depp. “But there’s so much more to explore, I’d keep going. If they wanted me to do Pirates 7, why not?”