It can be a pirate’s life for she, but it sounds like Johnny Depp wasn’t game to bring a female baddie into the fold for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. At least, that’s what’s been suggested by one of the screenwriters of the upcoming Pirates swashbuckler.
MoviePilot has place a spotlight on screenwriter Terry Rossio commentary on the changes the Pirates 5 script saw in its development into the latest film in the Disney franchise. Rossio noted in a blog post that his version of the motion picture had something that Depp allegedly wasn’t comfortable with: A female villain.
“My version of Dead Men Tell No Tales was set aside because it featured a female villain, and Johnny Depp was worried that would be redundant to Dark Shadows, which also featured a female villain,” wrote Rossio.
Rossio makes a point to note that it’s possible that his screenplay “simply sucked,” but he’s confident that’s not the case.
“Usually when I go back to read a screenplay that wasn’t produced, it holds up, often better than the film that was eventually produced,” states Rossio. “Sometimes it just takes a single decision by a single person, often just a whim, to destroy years of story creation and world-building.”
Rossio’s reflecting isn’t likely to do Johnny Depp’s damaged present-day reputation any favors. The actor has seen his star power dwindling with moviegoers and the optics of an actor wanting to pass on a female villain for career path reasons isn’t exactly the best look.
(Via MoviePilot)