It’s wild to think it's been almost a decade since the latest of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies came out. On top of that, it's also been over 20 years since the blockbuster franchise began. Despite how much time has passed though, Disney’s swashbuckling franchise remains a treasure for the studio, and within Orlando Bloom’s career. As the British actor recently promoted 2025 movie release, he recalled the time he needed to be convinced to play Will Turner. Not only that, but he also dropped thoughts on reprising his famed role.

Orlando Bloom Almost Turned Down Pirates Of The Caribbean For Being A ‘Crazy’ Idea

Earlier this year, Bloom spoke about having “a lot of respect” for his time on the Pirates movies. The 48-year-old actor also revealed -- while promoting his new film, Deep Cover -- that it actually took some convincing for him to buy into the concept of the film series. As he recalled to L’Officiel:

While the idea of making a movie out of a Disney theme park ride seems like a no-brainer these days. However, only a couple of those kinds of films had hit theaters before The Curse of the Black Pearl did in 2003, and they weren't that successful. So Orlando Bloom wasn’t sure it was a good idea. However, when he was offered the role, he was working with Geoffrey Rush (a.k.a. Captain Hector Barbosa of the Pirates series) on the film Ned Kelly. It was on that set that Rush assured Bloom it was a good idea to take the role, and now the latter jokes:

Orlando Bloom went on to star as Will Turner alongside Johnny Depp and Kiera Knightley in four out of the five Pirates of the Caribbean movies. To this day, Will remains one of Bloom's most beloved movie characters right behind Legolas in The Lord of the Rings films. I’m sure he’s grateful he listened to Rush!

Orland Bloom Shares Thoughts On Returning To The Pirates Franchise

That brings us to the future of Pirates of the Caribbean, which has remained in flux ever since the fifth movie hit cinemas in 2017. Over the years, there have been a lot of reports about what’s going on with the franchise. There have been claims that suggest both a reboot and continuation to the series starring Johnny Depp are in the works. Here’s what Bloom told ITV’s This Morning about his thoughts about returning as Turner (via Wales Online):

At the end of 2024, it was confirmed that there are two scripts for Pirates 6 in existence, one with Depp's Jack Sparrow and one without him. And, earlier this week, there was buzz regarding a rumor about Depp being in “advanced” negotiations with Disney to play the beloved pirate once again. At this time, we’re definitely taking those claims with a grain of salt for now. Nevertheless, it’s great to hear that Bloom is still up for more years after nearly turning down the franchise's original film.

As we speculate about what could be next for Pirates of the Caribbean, see Orlando Bloom in Deep Cover, which lands on Amazon Prime Video on June 12.

The horror genre has a unique place in the entertainment industry. Some of the best horror movies were made on a minimal budget, allowing there to be massive profit if a title hits big. Horror has been experiencing a renaissance for years now, attracting some A list talent to join in on the fun. Case in point: the upcoming horror movie The Rule of Jenny Pen, which stars icons Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow. And the latter actor shared with CinemaBlend how he was inspired to sign on, specifically after hearing the vision of filmmaker James Ashcroft.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Rush and Lithgow about their collaboration on The Rule of Jenny Pen, and the latter actor couldn't say enough positive things about the movie's director. I asked about the film's grueling tone, where he revealed his original reaction to the movie's script. In the 3rd Rock from the Sun (which was arguably one of the best NBC shows) alum shared:

Points were made. This latest horror flick is set in a nursing home, where Lithgow's villainous Dave Crealy is terrorizing his fellow residents with the movie's titular puppet. CinemaBlend's The Rule of Jenny Pen review praised the "nasty" film, although it sounds like the cast had a great time filming the project.

The setting of the movie is definitely captivating, with Geoffrey Rush equating Jenny Pen to Alien when speaking about the way the nursing home immerses viewers into the story. Despite how hard it is to watch the residents being victimized, John Lithgow explained how Ashcroft actually tried to be very "compassionate" about the story. In his words:

While there are scenes in The Rule of Jenny Pen that are hard to get through, it's only because we're meant to care for the elderly residents and want the best for them. That's where the compassion part comes in, and why Dave Crealy is so easy to hate as the villain of the project.

In our interview, John Lithgow also shared that director James Ashcroft's family is actually uniquely tied to the process of caring for the elderly. Namely because his wife and her family a run them. As he told me:

I feel they did just that, even if the movie was grueling at points... even has a horror fan. The circle of life means that so many of us have cared for elderly relatives, allowing for an easy emotional anchor in The Rule of Jenny Pen. Add in the two legendary actors at the forefront of the story, and the project has a lot going for it.

Moviegoers can judge for themselves as The Rule of Jenny Pen gets its wide theatrical release on March 7th as part of the 2025 movie release list. And it's just one of many horror titles expected to arrive this year.

It's a good time to be a fan of scary movies, as the genre has been experiencing a thrilling renaissance for years now. One of the upcoming horror movies arriving shortly in theaters is James Ashcroft' The Rule of Jenny Pen, which stars John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush. And the latter actor spoke to CinemaBlend about the project, and name dropped Alien when helping to describe its setting.

Alien is arguably one of the best horror movies of all time, and many fans of the genre hold it in high regard. And after speaking with Mr. Rush about his performance as Stefan Mortensen in The Rule of Penny Pen, his comments about the James Cameron's rang true. I asked the film and stage legend what it was like playing his character, who was in a rehab center for a stroke and therefore had less control over his body. Rush offered:

While Rush has to internalize most of his performance in Jenny Pen, it sounds like he appreciated the challenge. Plus, he was able to manipulate his electric wheelchair in a specific way based on each scene.

During our interview, which also included his co-star John Lithgow (who low-key stole the Oscars), Rush spoke about the movie's grim setting. The movie is set in a rehabilitation center, where Lithgow's villainous Dave Crealy is tormenting his fellow residents. It's bleak and oppressive setting, one that Rush equated to Alien aka one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. As he told me:

That's definitely the vibe for The Rule of Jenny Pen. Personally, I wanted to reach into the screen and take care of the various senior citizens that Lithgow was torturing with his titular puppet. CinemaBlend's Rule of Jenny Pen review praised the movie's "nasty" contents and oppressive tone, which was surely aided by its setting.

On paper Alien seems like it couldn't be more different from The Rule of Jenny Pen. But Rush's comments did highlight just how gripping it was to be trapped within one setting for the new horror flick's runtime. Add in the way Dave Crealy was able to freely manipulate those around him, and it felt like no one was safe.

While I didn't originally see it, I thought Rush's comments really captured what the movie did well. Audiences can watch and make this comparison themselves when The Rule of Jenny Pen gets its wide theatrical release March 7th as part of the 2025 movie release list.

No one could have predicted that a movie based on a theme park attraction could attract multiple theme parks-worth of movie-goers into theaters around the world and spawn a massively successful, long-running franchise. However, that accurately describes the success of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean movies -- starring Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow, Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom as William Turner, and Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann.

The trio would reunite with the main antagonist of the first film, Geoffrey Rush as Capt. Barbossa, but this time as an ally in what was initially said to be the third and final installment of the franchise. A decade-and-a-half has passed since the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End cast (also including Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma, Chow Yun-fat as Sao Feng, and rock star Keith Richards as Jack's father) gathered for the high-seas adventure's world premiere. Relive that night and check out how the actors look today by swiping through photos in the slideshow below.

It has been more than a decade since the 2011 release of Green Lantern, the movie based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name that was, at one point, supposed to kick off the massive cinematic universe. And even though the movie was a critical and commercial failure that forced DC and Warner Bros. to change their plans (and cancel any future installments), the actors who appeared in the movie have gone on to have a great deal of success both in front of the camera and behind it.

I recently watched the movie with my nephews for the first time since its release, and I couldn’t help but be blown away by the number of great actors in the Green Lantern cast. One thing led to another and now I’m here, sharing with you what everyone, including Ryan Reynolds, has been up to as of late. Well, besides dogging on the movie at every opportunity.

Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan)

Ryan Reynolds led the Green Lantern cast as hot-shot test pilot Hal Jordan, who became the newest member of the Green Lantern Corps after being chosen by Abin Sur in the intergalactic peacekeeper’s final moments.

Though no stranger to fame by the time he joined the cast of the ill-fate superhero movie, Reynolds’ star power has only grown in the 11 years since its release, and it doesn’t look like that is going to slow down anytime soon. In the past few years, Reynolds has starred in Detective Pikachu, Free Guy, Red Notice, and action-packed and emotionally-heavy The Adam Project. And with Reynolds’ Deadpool joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the near future, it looks like he’ll keep on playing superheroes for quite some time.

Blake Lively (Carol Ferris)

Blake Lively appeared in the Green Lantern cast as Carol Ferris, the vice president of Ferris Aircraft who had a complicated history with Hal Jordan.

Besides killing it on social media with her former Green Lantern co-star and husband Ryan Reynolds and getting caught up in his ongoing "feud" with Hugh Jackman, Lively has spent the past decade doing much of what she did in the first part of her career: appearing in a variety of movies that showcase her versatile acting talents. In the past few years she’s appeared in movies like The Shallows, Café Society, All I See Is You, A Simple Favor, and most recently, the 2020 action thriller, The Rhythm Section.

Peter Sarsgaard (Hector Hammond)

Peter Sarsgaard showed up in Green Lantern as Hector Hammond, the intelligent yet easily corruptible scientist who turned into one of the movie’s main antagonists after being exposed to Parallax’s fear energy, which caused his brain to grow exponentially and give him deadly powers.

The Golden Globe-nominated actor (Shattered Glass) continues to be one of the more prolific film and TV actors in the years since Green Lantern’s release, appearing in recent small-screen and streaming series like The Looming Tower, Interrogation, and Dopesick. And that’s on top of his recent film work, which includes The Lost Daughter, The Survivor, and Matt Reeves’ recently released, The Batman, which saw him play corrupt Gotham District Attorney Gil Colson.

Mark Strong (Thaal Sinestro)

Mark Strong appeared throughout Green Lantern as Thaal Sinestro, Hal Jordan’s reluctant mentor within the Green Lantern Corps who was weary to trust the new recruit before making a dreadful decision of his own.

A few years after appearing in Green Lantern, Strong took on a more likable role in Kingsman: The Secret Service, portraying Merlin, a role he would reprise three years later in 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle. More recently, Strong has appeared in Shazam!, 1917, and Cruella. He is set to appear in Adam Sandler’s upcoming sequel, Murder Mystery 2, on Netflix at some point down the line. Strong has also worked on other Netflix projects, including Home Game and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Angela Bassett (Amanda Waller)

Although not one of the best Angela Bassett movies, the Golden Globe winner (What's Love Got to Do with It) was outstanding in her portrayal of government agent Amanda Waller in Green Lantern, five years before Viola Davis portrayed the ambitious and cutthroat character.

Over the course of the past few years, Bassett has joined the list of other actors who have appeared in both DC Comics and Marvel movies with her turn as Ramonda in Black Panther, a role she will reprise in the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is scheduled for a November 11, 2022 release. Her other recent film work includes Soul, Gunpowder Milkshake, and the 2021 Tina Turner documentary Tina. Bassett is also currently one of the stars of the successful Fox first-responder drama, 9-1-1.

Tim Robbins (Robert Hammond)

Tim Robbins showed up in Green Lantern as United States Senator Robert Hammond, the father of Hector Hammond and part of the reason for his transformation.

In the years since the release of Green Lantern, the Academy Award-winning actor (Mystic River) has gone on to appear in a number of film projects, including A Perfect Day, Marjorie Prime, VHYes, and Dark Waters. During that same stretch of time, Robbins had major roles on shows like The Brink, Here and Now, and Castle Rock (his second appearance in a Stephen King adaptation, the first being The Shawshank Redemption). Robbins is next set to appear on the upcoming Amazing Prime Video series, The Power.

Temuera Morrison (Abin Sur)

Temuera Morrison, who has one of the most recognizable voices and faces in science-fiction and comic book adaptations, took on the role of Abin Sur, the Green Lantern who crash-landed on Earth and gave his powerful ring to Hal Jordan before dying in Green Lantern.

Morrison, who first played Jango Fett in 2002’s Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones before providing the voice for his character’s clone Boba Fett in the special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy, returned to play the young bounty hunter on the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian in the show’s second season. After that, Morrison led a show of his own with the spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett. Outside of the galaxy far, far away, Morrison has portrayed Jason Momoa’s on-screen dad, Thomas Curry, in Aquaman and will reprise the role in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Flash, both of which are scheduled for release in 2023.

Geoffrey Rush (Tomar-Re)

Academy Award winner (Shine) Geoffrey Rush popped up in Green Lantern as Tomar-Re, the bird-like member of the Green Lantern Corps who provided Hal Jordan with guidance throughout his early days of being an intergalactic hero.

A veteran of film, TV, and the theater, Rush has spent the past few years appearing in movies like Final Portrait, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Storm Boy, shows like Genius, and stage productions of King Lear. The two-time Golden Globe winner (Shine, The King’s Speech) is next set to appear in the Groucho Marx biopic Raised Eyebrows, which will see the actor take on the role of the famous entertainer, according to Variety.

Michael Clarke Duncan (Kilowog)

Michael Clarke Duncan appeared in Green Lantern as Kilowog, the massive drill sergeant for the Green Lantern Corps who whipped Hal Jordan into shape when the human first joined the group’s ranks.

Sadly, the Academy Award-nominated actor (The Green Mile) passed away at the age of 54 on September 3, 2012, just a little more than a year after Green Lantern opened in theaters. Duncan’s final film credits include In the Hive, A Resurrection, From the Rough, and The Challenger, all of which were released following his death. His posthumous TV credits include Ultimate Spider-Man and Fish Hooks.

Taika Waititi (Thomas Kalmaku)

Before he was making superhero movies of his own like the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika Waiti showed up in Green Lantern as Thomas Kalmaku, a Ferris Aircraft engineer. 

In the past few years, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker has written, directed, and starred in movies like Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit, while also appearing in The Suicide Squad, Free Guy (also with Ryan Reynolds), and several others. Waititi’s upcoming projects, outside of his return to the MCU, include Lightyear and Next Goal Wins, the latter of which he wrote and directed.

Clancy Brown (Parallax)

Providing the voice for the villainous Parallax in Green Lantern was none other than Clancy Brown, whose list of credits (both live-action and voice work) could go toe-to-toe with just about anyone out there.

In the past few years, Brown has appeared in movies like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Promising Young Woman, shows like Billions, The Crown, The Mandalorian, and Dexter: New Blood, and voice roles in programs like Invincible, What If…?, and The Patrick Star Show, voicing Mr. Krabs once again.

Jay O. Sanders (Carl Ferris)

Jay O. Sanders appeared in Green Lantern as Carl Ferris, the founder of Ferris Aircraft.

Recently, Sanders has made appearances in movies like Search for the Super Battery, The Assistant, and the A24 film, When You Finish Saving the World. The longtime actor has also shown up on shows like Blindspot, Sneaky Pete, The Sinner, and Manhunt: Deadly Games in just the past few years.

As you can see, the Green Lantern cast has mostly remained quite busy in the past several years since the movie released, so while it may not have set the box office on fire, it certainly didn't hurt any careers.

For a long time there was a general belief that pirate movies just didn't work. And then Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl came along and changed all that. The film was a massive hit that launched a franchise. Part of what works so well about the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is that every character just has the perfect look. Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow has become iconic, but he's not the only one.

Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa is just as unique visually. From whatever angle you see him, Barbossa stands out in a crowd and you know just who you're looking at even if you can't see his face. It's the mark of great costume design, and yet, it seems that Barbossa could have looked quite different if Geoffrey Rush had gotten his way.

In the Curse of the Black Pearl episode of the Disney+ series Prop Culture, Pirates costume designer Penny Rose reveals that Geoffrey Rush was initially against one specific part of the costume that she had put together for him. He wasn't against a specific hat, but in fact, the entire concept of hats. According to Rose...

I have to say, I'm with Penny Rose on this one. The mere idea of a pirate without a hat is too strange too contemplate. I mean, I'm sure there were actual pirates who didn't wear hats, but when you think of the idea of a pirate they have hats. It's required.

Especially now, looking back at Captain Barbossa in the movie, it's basically impossible to imagine him not wearing that hat. And ultimately, it seems Geoffrey Rush felt the same way. Penny Rose goes on to explain how the actor himself chose the hat he wears in the film...

Geoffrey Rush might not wear hats in general, but the man knew a good look when he saw it.

The look of Pirates of the Caribbean is one thing that will hopefully survive if the franchise continues. While it seems quite likely that we won't see Jack Sparrow again, and we almost certainly won't see Barbossa, a spinoff or reboot movie that takes place in the same universe should therefore retain the same style. That means costumes that feel like they belong, and also, great hats.

Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa has undergone quite a bit of change since the start of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise all the way back in 2003. Not only was he originally introduced as a villain in The Curse of the Black Pearl, but let's not forget that he also spent many, many years as a ghost. The latest adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, once again presents audiences with another evolved version of the character -- and it specifically involves fabulous prosperity and a demonstrated lack of any kind of fashion sense.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Geoffrey Rush last week at the Los Angeles press day for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and it was while discussing the actor's ownership of the character we got into the new duds that Barbossa is wearing in the film. Discussing how he looked at the part going into Dead Men Tell No Tales, he likened Barbossa to a modern-day executive who dresses as garishly as possible to demonstrate his wealth. Rush explained,

At the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Barbossa sailed off as the captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge, returning to the world of piracy... and then ten years that elapsed before the start of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales saw him do extremely well for himself. When we catch up with him in Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg's movie, he has basically managed to become king of the pirates, and actually commands an entire fleet of ships doing his bidding. The success has clearly gone to his head, as he not only wears the ridiculous get-up that you see in the picture above, but has even gone as far as to encrust his peg leg with fine jewels. As odd as the look is, however, the narrative of the movie proves that Barbossa is still very much the same man underneath it all, particularly in how he finds himself willing to sell out Captain Jack Sparrow in order to save his own life.

You can watch Geoffrey Rush talk about Captain Barbossa's brand new look in Pirates of the Caribbean 5 by clicking play in the video below!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales marks the fifth time that Geoffrey Rush has brought Captain Barbossa to the big screen, and you can now see him along with co-stars Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites at a theater near you. Hit the comments below to tell us what you think of Barbossa's new look and the new turn for the character, and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more about the new Pirates adventure!

There was a time, not so long ago, when there was nothing in the world so popular at the movies as Johnny Depp wearing a funny hat. His success at doing this in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl led to three additional films in the franchise. Two that co-starred Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly, and another that replaced them with Ian McShane and Penelope Cruz. While the less than warm reception received by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides left us all wondering if we'd ever see more from these pirates. As it turns out, the answer is yes. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is on its way, and slightly sooner than expected. Here's everything we know about the next adventure of Jack Sparrow and company. Let's get started by looking at what we've seen from the new movie.

See? Aren't you intrigued now? Well, let's get into what we know so far about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

What Is The Pirates 5 Release Date?

While originally planned to be released as early as the summer of 2015, production delays pushed the film back to the summer of 2017. Originally, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was set for a July 7, 2017 release, which would have put it in line with the first two entries in the series. However, after the decision to delay Star Wars: Episode VIII into December, Pirates 5 was moved up to take over the May 26, 2017 date being left vacant.

This will give Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 nearly a month to shine before Disney releases another major film. However, following the Memorial Day Weekend competition will get stiffer. Warner Bros. Wonder Woman will be released the following Friday.

What Is The Pirates 5 Rating?

While no rating has been given to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the entire franchise so far has received a PG-13 rating, so we can be pretty confident that the new film will be as well. If it was going to slide in one direction or the other it would be much more likely to go PG. This is a popular Disney franchise after all. This will put the movie in competition with the rest of the summer PG-13 films, which will be plentiful.

What Is Pirates 5 About?

Between the news that's been released officially and the bit we've seen from the first teaser trailer, there appear to be a few different plot threads that will weave together to build the story of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Captain Salazar is a pirate who has just escaped from the Devil's Triangle and is on the hunt for one Captain Jack Sparrow. As we saw in the trailer, Salazar tells a young man to find Jack Sparrow and inform him that death is coming for him.

The young man in question, is actually Henry Turner, the grown son of Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, the character's played by Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom in the first three films. Henry is looking for his father, who one assumes has been living all this time as Davy Jones.

Jack Sparrow, for his part, is in search of the Trident of Poseidon as a weapon to fend off Salazar, which causes him to cross paths with a woman named Carina Smyth who is also on a quest for the trident. Together they go in search of the artifact that will give its owner complete control of the seas.

What's The Importance of the Stars?

Stellar navigation was a normal thing for ships at sea during the era of piracy. However, the stars appear to be of a singular importance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. In the film's trailer, we get a shot of a specific constellation, followed by the same constellation appearing on the skull and cross bones logo for the movie. The constellation would appear to reference the Trident of Poseidon that will apparently be the movie's big MacGuffin, though exactly how the stars themselves will play into the story is not known.

Captain Jack Sparrow

It just wouldn't be a Pirates of the Caribbean movie without Captain Jack Sparrow. His off the wall, Keith Richards-inspired portrayal of the buccaneer was the thing that drove the franchise even though the original trilogy of films wasn't really about him. Pirates 4 shifted him to a starring role, but, if anything, it would seem we like our Jack Sparrow in smaller doses. Based on the fact that Jack Sparrow is referenced, but never seen in the first teaser trailer, it would seem that Sparrow is back in a supporting or co-lead sort of role. This is probably for the best, right?

Henry Turner

Brenton Thwaites, recently of Gods of Egypt, plays the role that is officially only known as Henry, but Thwaites has seemingly confirmed that the role is that of Henry Turner, the son conceived at the end of, and briefly seen as a boy in the post-credits sequence for, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Henry is on a quest to find his father, Will Turner, and break the curse that he set upon himself that turned him into Davy Jones, the captain of the boat that ferries the dead to the afterlife. The trailer for the new film shows Henry on board a ship that is full of Caribbean colonial soldiers, before Captain Salazar's ghostly crew takes them all down. We see Henry apparently imprisoned on board the ship. At this point, we have no idea what led him to such a predicament, although Henry is apparently part of the Royal Navy, so it looks like they had to throw him in the brig for some reason.

Captain Salazar

Javier Bardem joins the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as the villainous Captain Salazar. We know that the Captain and his crew begin to wreak havoc after the escape from the Devil's Triangle. Since we also know that Salazar has it out for Captain Jack Sparrow and, apparently, all other pirates as well, we can only assume that Jack played a role in getting them all trapped there in the first place. Though exactly how remains to be seen.

Carina Smyth

Kaya Scodelario will play the female lead in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. We know that she's an astronomer who is fighting to be admitted to university, which, of course, she can't get into because this is seventeen hundreds and she's a woman. Somehow, this leads her into a quest for the Trident of Poseidon, we would guess in an attempt to prove its existence and earn her spot at school. She also has some sort of diary full of clues that will lead her and Jack Sparrow to the trident. This makes the story sound a little Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but it's not like that's a bad thing.

Will Turner/Davy Jones

While Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa were the only characters to survive into the fourth installment of the franchise, Orlando Bloom is on board to reprise his role as Will Turner/Davy Jones. When last we left poor William he nearly died, but was "saved" thanks to the curse that turned him into Davy Jones. Orlando Bloom is confirmed to return in the new film, and, until recently, the size of his role was anybody's guess. During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Bloom admitted that his work in the new film basically serves to "bookend it." Obviously, this sounds a lot like we can expect to see some Will Turner only at the beginning and end of the film. We don't have a problem seeing more from him than this, but the film seems to have a lot going on already, and saving him for these small appearances might not be a bad idea.

The Ghost Pirates

Captain Salazar is leading an entire army of ghost pirates. In the trailer, they're able to walk right through solid objects, something that even the undead crew of Captain Barbossa couldn't do. We don't know whether they were all ghosts going into the Devil's Triangle, or if they became such while there. However, it would seem they are near impossible to fight if you can't cross swords with them. The new movie is clearly trying to build on some elements that made the original film a success. Skeletons are simply being replaced with ghosts.

The Black Pearl

When last we left Captain Jack Sparrow's ship, it had been magically shrunk and placed inside a bottle. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ended with Jack off to look for a way to return his ship to its normal size. Will he have already found a way to do this by the time the new film opens? We have absolutely no idea. According to the film's synopsis, Jack Sparrow is at the helm of a ship called the Dying Gull, which isn't much of a ship, so whatever is going on, it appears that Jack either never found a way to get the Pearl back, or, possibly, lost it again.

Other Returning Characters

While we don't know exactly how some other recurring characters will be fitting intro the story, we know that one way or another they will be. Geoffrey Rush will be back as Captain Barbossa. He's gone back and fourth as Captain Jack Sparrow's ally and enemy over the course of the franchise, so it's anybody's guess how he'll fit into things in the new film. When last we left him he had reverted to piracy, following his brief stint working for the English crown, so odds are that's how we'll see him again.

Joshamee Gibbs was last seen alongside his old friend Captain Jack Sparrow and we know that the actor who portrays him, Kevin McNally, will be back in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. We expect we'll find him wherever we find Jack.

The most interesting returning character may be the pirate named Scrum who was played by Stephen Graham. What's interesting is that, if true, Scrum could end up being the only character introduced in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to appear in the new film. As far we know, nothing else about that film is being dealt with or referenced in any way.

Paul McCartney

It's a well-known story at this point that Keith Richards was a major source of inspiration for Johnny Depp's portrayal as Captain Jack Sparrow. While we don't know if Keith Richards will be returning (though we're guessing no), we do know that another star from the golden era of rock n' roll will be appearing. Paul McCartney will probably just have a cameo in the film and almost certainly won't be a main character, but that doesn't mean his role won't be important to the film's overall plot. McCartney recently posted his character's official poster, which shows the music legend looking completely unrecognizable, to his Twitter feed. The fact fact that the film decided that his mystery character was important enough for his own poster might be a good sign that McCartney's role is important, or, of course, it could just be a sign that they thought it would be a good way to promote the film. Either way, we'll know for sure before long.

The Directors

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the Hollywood feature film debut of a couple of Norweigan directors named Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg. The pair have previously directed a couple episodes of the Netflix series Marco Polo as well as several films in their native Norway. They made their feature film debut with the movie Banditas starring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek but it was their 2012 film Kon-Tiki which is most notable. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and as the film itself was a high seas adventure. It's credited as the reason the pair got the directing job for the new Pirates movie rather than the several others who were in the running.

The Writer

The screenplay credit for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is being given to Jeff Nathanson. Nathanson has written and co-written several films, including Stephen Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can and The Terminal, as well as several films for Brett Ratner including Rush Hour 2 and 3. Nathanson hasn't been involved in the writing of any other films in the franchise. In fact, this will be the first one in the series not co-written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. Perhaps the new blood is the thing that the series needs.

Albert Einstein left such a legacy as a scientist that any show based on his life has the potential to become a major hit. His contributions to science led to the development of the atomic bomb that hugely affected the end of World War II, and warfare has never been the same since. Nat Geo's decision to showcase Einstein in the upcoming series Genius could result in big ratings for the relatively small network. The variable that had the potential to make or break the show related to who would play Albert Einstein. Luckily, Nat Geo has landed the perfect actor to bring him to life. Geoffrey Rush will tackle the role of Albert Einstein for Genius.

Geoffrey Rush will star as Albert Einstein in the debut season of the NatGeo anthology series Genius, according to Deadline. Rush will actually be only one of two actors playing Einstein; Johnny Flynn will portray Einstein in his early years before fame claimed him. Geoffrey Rush is set to play Einstein after he became a big name in science.

Season 1 of Genius will explore how the brilliant and imaginative young Albert Einstein struggled with a menial job that did little to challenge his intellect. His life changed when he unlocked the atom and developed the theory of relativity. In the years following his breakthroughs and the development of the atomic bomb, Einstein became a controversial figure on non-science fronts. His complicated personal relationships and political activism will be highlighted in Genius in addition to the science to give a more nuanced look at the life of Albert Einstein.

Genius is Nat Geo's first scripted series, so a fair amount of pressure will be on Geoffrey Rush to anchor a compelling first season. Fortunately, Rush has experience in many genres over the past 45 years that should guarantee a stellar performance as Albert Einstein. He's no stranger to period projects or biopics thanks to roles like Shine and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. He's perhaps best known nowadays for his role as the pirate captain Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, although he earned a place in the more serious spotlight thanks to his role in The King's Speech in 2010. Rush has spent much more time in film than television, so it should be interesting to see him in a biopic role that lasts for more than a couple of hours. The first season of Genius will run for ten episodes.

Geoffrey Rush should have plenty of source material to consult for research. The Einstein chapter of the Genius anthology will be largely based upon the 2007 biography Einstein: His Life and Universe, which included several personal letters written by Einstein himself that had been unreleased for decades. Filming was set to begin in Prague this summer, but we have no news just yet of when we can expect to see Genius hit the airwaves on NatGeo. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you'll be able to watch in the meantime. A very different version of Albert Einstein will be turning up on Legends of Tomorrow, so it could be worth tuning into The CW for an hour to compare.

When it hits theaters this weekend, the gonzo fantasy epic Gods of Egypt may have built up the most hype for being the latest Hollywood blockbuster to whitewash history. Like Exodus: Gods and Kings a couple years back, it cast predominantly white actors as ancient Egyptians, which has caused a bit of ruckus. In addition to that, however, it also looks totally bonkers, and just when you didn’t think it could look any crazier, here comes a new clip, one that features spaceships and Geoffrey Rush bursting into flames. That’s not something you see everyday.

Yeah, that’s, a spaceship, which is something I have to admit that, when I sat down to watch this clip, I did not expect to see. And beyond that, I was not expecting to see Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush burst into flames and get into a sword fight with Gerard Butler. Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly glad to have witnessed such mayhem, but it was certainly not what I initially imagined. And holy crap, Gods of Egypt looks gleefully ridiculous.

This is also a bit of something different than what we knew of Gods of Egypt and ups the lunacy factor a few degrees. We’ve seen gods and monsters and multiple copies of Chadwick Boseman all running around doing errands or whatever; that all looked plenty strange on its own, but when you throw this new footage into the mix, things are just getting silly now. And I love it.

The plot of Gods of Egypt revolves around Bek, a mortal man played by The Giver star Brenton Thwaites. He has to save the world from dark forces and rescue his true love in the process, so, you know, no stakes or anything like that. He’ll have to face off with the evil Set (Gerard Butler), the god of darkness who has taken over the throne of Egypt, and to even the odds a bit, Bek enlists the help of the powerful, but banished Horus (Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau wearing an eye patch). Along their way they must battle all kinds of nefarious creatures and soldiers, and cross the heavens, earth, and the underworld. Sounds like quite an undertaking.

We haven’t seen it, so we don’t know if it is going to be good or bad, but regardless, Gods of Egypt certainly promises to be a full scale spectacle to behold. Hell, it very well may be worth seeing just for this spaceship sequence alone, and that’s only one small piece of a 127-minute movie, imagine what they’re hiding. We’ll get to see the madness for ourselves when Gods of Egypt opens everywhere this weekend.

Everybody, step away from your computers and double-check that we haven't stepped into a wormhole in the 90s. This new trailer for The Book Thief, which you can watch in HD at Apple, seems to have been lifted directly from the 1996 Oscar season, the kind of vaguely European-seeming awards bait that would have played as a trailer in front of Life is Beautiful or The English Patient. It even stars Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson, two fixtures of 90s Oscar ceremonies-- Rush won Best Actor for Shine in 1997 and was nominated for 1999's Shakespeare in Love, and Watson was nominated for Best Actress for Breaking the Waves in 1997 and Hilary and Jackie in 1999.

And even the one-sentence plot description feels incredibly 90s Oscars: "Based on the beloved bestselling book, THE BOOK THIEF tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a new family in World War II Germany." Everybody knows that nothing gets awards attention more than the Holocaust, unless it's an adaptation of a beloved bestselling book which also features an adorable kid. The kid in question here is played by Sophie Nelisse, who was in the acclaimed French-Canadian film Monsieur Lazhar. That's right, even the kid in this movie has a serious pedigree.

The Book Thief is set to open on November 15, which-- you guessed it-- is also prime time for Oscar hopefuls. It already has plenty of competition for awards buzz, with Lee Daniels' The Butler already out there and a slew of other contenders poised to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in just a few weeks. Can this heartwarming Holocaust saga even make a mark with so much going on? By the power of Geoffrey Rush and his Oscar, they're at least gonna give it a shot.

Much like Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, the film Divine Rapture is one of those legendary films that is famous for not existing. While production actually began in the summer of 1995, with an amazing cast that included Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, Debra Winger and John Hurt, it was eventually revealed that the escrow account for CineFin, the production company behind the movie, didn't exist. With no money to continue and only 24 minutes of footage shot, production was halted and never started up again. But nothing lasts forever, right?

The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that Divine Rapture may actually get a second life. Producer Barry Navidi, who worked for six years to get the project off the ground in the mid-90s, is now saying that within the next six month he plans to try and make the film once again. There is a catch, though: ""It will be essentially the same story but this time called Holy Mackerel and with different stars," Navidi said. In fact, the producer already has one actor in mind, as he wants to cast Geoffrey Rush in the role that Brando was to play (getting Brando to come back was always going to be a bit difficult, but since 2004 those odds have decreased dramatically). The comedy, which is about a priest who believes in miracles, plans to return to Ballycotton, Ireland - where they filmed the first time.

It's kind of scary how many parallels there are between Gilliam's failed project and this one. Both had documentaries created about the problems with production - Lost in La Mancha and Ballybrando - and Johnny Depp was even rumored for Gilliam's reboot that was announced a couple years ago. Speaking of which, do you remember what happened to that reboot? It tanked just like the director's first attempt at making the movie. What I'm trying to say is that neither you nor Navidi should get their hopes up about resurrecting Divine Rapture.

Though Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow is the face of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Geoffrey Rush’s Hector Barbossa is unquestionably one of the most important pieces in the franchise. Through three movies, capping off with this weekend’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (it’s hard to count Rush’s cameo in the second film), Barbossa has undergone the greatest amount of change and, one could easily argue has the most interesting arc. That certainly continues in On Stranger Tides when he gives up his pirating ways and becomes a privateer in the King’s navy.

A couple weeks ago I was invited to sit down with Geoffrey Rush for a one-on-one interview, in which we discussed the scale of the enormous scale of the new film, collaborating with Rob Marshall in the direction of his character, and comparing the experience of working with Marshall in contrast to Gore Verbinski, who directed the three previous Pirate films. Check out the interview below.

These huge press days must be pretty exhausting to get through.

Look, the scale of this film is big. It’s big in its execution and its preparation and in its promotion, everything happens, I don’t think for false sense of grandeur, it’s just that that’s the scale of what it is. I know when we were shooting it, there were days where you’d look around and think, well you’d see on the call sheet, “Eight hundred people for lunch,” you know, in the middle of a tropical island or something, and you think, okay, that’s kind of, that’s where these budgets go. You’ve got marine teams who just have to ferry a huge number of cast and crew on and off in boats, or thirty miles out at sea. You’ve got stunt doubles, you’ve got a hundred and twenty background pirates who are all gonna be made up. It’s kind of jaw dropping.

There were two-year gaps between the first three films, but a four-year gap between the third and the fourth. Did you ever get the sense that, while there has always been demand for another one, did you ever feel like you’d never get to play Hector Barbossa again?

Yeah, they were talking about that at the press conference the other day and I hadn’t really thought about the time gaps. I think when we did 2 and 3, which they shot simultaneously, mostly 2 but they did some 3 because of locations we were on at that time, just logistical reasons. I think at the end of that it felt like it had come to a conclusion, except that the writers have always written a sort of old Saturday morning serial cliffhanger. That’s almost part of the genre. The fact that the map came into existence, I suddenly felt I had it, and I opened it, and there’s a great, it’s a Bing Crosby/Bob Hope movie, you know what I mean? I’m looking through the map going, “Sparrow, do you think, the door is open...” But at that stage there was never any feeling of, you know, keep yourself available in the next eighteen months, we’re getting ready to roll. As Jerry explained the other day, the writers had really mined, and exhausted I would say, every mythological, every legendary, every historically based notion of the pirate world. We’d been off the end of the world, we had the East Indian Trading Company, we had Davy Jones for god sakes, we had the Kraken, we’d been to Singapore. I thought, what’s left? Mermaids! Which I think is worth the price of a ticket. It’s such an astonishing sequence.

I’m curious, there’s obviously been that before but there’s four movies, albeit your role in the second one is a bit smaller, how much input do you have in putting your character during your performance?

I’m not, I mean, both Gore and Rob are very collaborative directors. There’s a massive structure on top of that and that’s mostly the finessing of the screenplay. You know, I mean, Ted and Terry write and fine tune and they move bricks around very carefully to make sure that the narrative stays in place and the whole thing doesn’t crumble. They try and keep it as entertaining as possible, and I think in this one there is such a fantastic blend of screwball comedy and high action adventure and a great fragile love story, all which Rob has marshaled into one kind of tone, which is really good. So I think it took longer on this one to just kind of explore it further and get it right, to take the opportunity of creating two major new characters, Ian and Penelope. That made it not feel like we were in a sausage factory. When you know that Penelope Cruz, who, to me delivered in Vicky Cristina Barcelona a performance of highly skilled high comedy, and then you see an Almodovar film and you go, no, she’s the world’s greatest dramatic actress. You go, we’re gonna get that on the Pirates, how fantastic! McShane was telling me yesterday, I said to you, for some reason I had said that I’m celebrating forty years, we were talking about looking films you had made ten years ago, he said, “Darling, I can look at films made in 1962!” So he’s no slouch, he’s been around. I said what was it, he said it was The Wild and the Willing. He said, “John Hurt and I were playing young students, can you believe it?” [laughs] It’s good.

In terms of, as you mentioned, you’re working with Rob now after Gore for three films, and you as you mention, they’re both collaborative directors, but did you find key contrast between their style?

I suppose they’ve both got a deft sense of servicing and comedy, and they’re both really sharp at carefully mapped comedy where the build and the tension and the rhythm, they’re both masters of tempo I think. But I would say, Gore comes from more of a comic book, rock and roll background and Rob comes from a musical theater and musical film choreographing background. But the overlap, the Venn diagram overlap on that is still kind of really rich. Ted [Elliott] and Terry [Rossio] give you the great dialogue, I mean you’ve got heightened dialogue to match the size of the characters, the size of the personalities. I think in this film there are some absolute zingers. When I first saw the trailer online and I saw there are three distinct journeys in this film, so I didn’t see any of the Queen Anne’s revenge stuff, I didn’t see any of the Philip and Syrena and all that, so when I saw the trailers with Keith Richards saying, “Do you think this face looks like it’s been to the Fountain of Youth…” that’s a bloody good line!

In addition to this film, you’re also in another blockbuster later this summer, you’re voicing Tomar-Re in Green Lantern, how did that, did you come to that project?

When my agent phoned up and said, “Do you know the DC Comics thing?”, I said I was a major Superman fan when I was a kid, obsessed by it. The double “L” syndrome – Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, all of that. I said, “No, I don’t know the Green Lantern at all.” He said, “Are you interested?” and I said, “Haven’t they made that film?” He said, “Yeah, yeah. But this is a completely CGI character. He’s got some nice stuff to do, would you be interested?” I said, “Sure, send me the artwork and the script and everything.” Because they sent the artwork, I just identified so heavily with his torso [laughs]. I voiced an owl in Legends of the Guardians and I did a pelican in Finding Nemo, I think it’s time to add half fish, half lizard, to put that arrow in my quiver.

And then I got on line with Martin Campbell, I was doing a play in Sydney and I was in the studio there, and he was in LA, then I was involved, we did some over at Burbank the other day. It’s a fun thing. I’ve yet to meet Ryan Reynolds, you know? But having voiced cartoon/animated stuff before, you know that you’re in good hands. I was always blown away that Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres met at the premiere [of Finding Nemo]. It sounds like they improvised off each other, riffing, but, you know, the creators of those worlds, they get lots of alternate takes, they let people off the leash, and then they have to kind of… because I don’t think much ever hits the cutting room floor in those films. They’re beautifully storyboarded and stuff.

Easily one of the finest actors working today and coming off a performance in The King's Speech that earned him an Oscar nomination, Geoffrey Rush has the power to accept and turn down any project that he chooses. Naturally, then, it was rather surprising when it was reported that Rush would be providing the voice of everyone's favorite Xudarian, Tomar-Re, in this summer's Green Lantern. Wanting to know more about his involvement, I took the opportunity to ask him about how he came to the film while interviewing him one-on-one earlier today.

Starting off, Rush confirmed that he does have an area of expertise in the comic book realm, having been "obsessed" with Superman when he was a kid and what he calls the "Double L Syndrome" (the fact that characters in the Man of Steel's universe, such as Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and so forth all have L.L. as their initials). When approached by his agent about Green Lantern, however, he confessed to knowing nothing about that part of the DC Comics universe. but was interested and asked to be sent over artwork and the script. Half joking that he was drawn in by the character's oddly-shaped body ("I just identified so heavily with his torso"), Rush also said that he sees the Tomar-Re as an evolution from the animated characters he's voiced previously.

After accepting the gig, Rush then began talking with director Martin Campbell and started his recording sessions (apparently they aren't done yet, as Rush said he just did another one the other day). Just like in the case of many animated films, though, the Australian actor has yet to meet the person with whom he shares a great deal of scenes: Ryan Reynolds. That said, he is in no way concerned about how the chemistry between the two characters will work.

Green Lantern is set to arrive in theaters on June 17, while Geoffrey Rush's next film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, will be released on May 20. Stay tuned later this month for my full interview!

Geoffrey Rush is joining the cast of The Green Lantern and if it seems kind of late in the process to be adding new actors, it’s because it is, if you were going to see him on screen. Rush won’t actually appear in the film, but his voice will, coming out of the mouth of Tomar-Re.

Tomar-Re is another one of the alien Lantern characters. Like the Hal Jordan character played by Ryan Reynolds, he has a ring of power and is a member of the intergalactic Green Lantern police force. He’ll also likely be rendered entirely in CGI since he looks like the answer to the question: what would happen if a salmon had sex with a cockatoo?

The character of Tomar-Re is a scientist and an instructor who teaches Hal Jordan the ways of the ring. This probably doesn’t matter, because Geoffrey Rush’s voice sounds great coming out of just about anything. This is the second voice casting on Lantern in as many days. Yesterday we learned that Michael Clarke Duncan was on the verge of being hired to voice Killowog.

Here’s a look at Tomar-Re as he’ll be in the Green Lantern movie:

The addition of Rush is expected to be officially announced by the WB on Thursday, in the meantime this less official story originates from the LA Times.

Ballots for this year's Academy Awards were turned in on Monday, which means it's too late for anything to change how things will turn out at Sunday's Oscar ceremony. Everyone behind the The King's Speech has got to be hugely relieved, then, that only yesterday did evidence emerge that their posh movie about British royalty was filmed on the same set as a gay porn. Yes, in that same torn-up room where Bertie and Lionel Logue practiced speech therapy, you can watch two men first play pool together, then really go to town. Relatively SFW photographic evidence is below (via Queer Click); for a distinctly NSFW clip of the porn, called Snookered, you can visit UK Naked Men. Seriously, you've been warned.

It's hilarious, yes, especially because director Tom Hooper and stars Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush have frequently joked that the movie is kind of a bromance between the King and his therapist. But it also raises some questions about the film's art direction, which could quite possibly win an Oscar for production designer Eve Stewart. At In Contention Guy Lodge has compared information he got from the manager of the historic house where both films were set, 33 Portland Place, to what Stewart said in an interview about creating that torn-up wall that's so heavily featured in the film. Did she exaggerate how much she actually did to change it? And did it really take a gay porn to reveal this?

None of this will affect how The King's Speech fares on Oscar night, but I dare you to ever even look at the film's poster again without thinking about gay porn. That's right, you can't.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sends Captain Jack Sparrow out into the world without his Elizabeth Swan/Will Turner safety net. That doesn’t mean Johnny Depp is the only returning member of the cast. Geoffrey Rush will be back as Captain Barbosa, and that’s good news since he’s easily the most underrated part of the franchise. Actually why hasn’t Barbosa gotten his own, spinoff movie? That’s a direction this franchise should have gone in.

Instead Barbosa will spend time crawling around in greenery with Jack, if these two new photos from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides images are to be believed. Take a look:

For more info, trailers, and images from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides visit its page in our Blend Film Database

December is my favorite movie month. In addition to seeing the releases of some of the best films of the year, the ones aiming for Oscar glory, the 31 days prior to the new year are peppered with trailers for movies that will likely be the biggest hits of the following year: the summer blockbusters. We saw trailers for both Transformers: Dark Of The Moon and Thor last week, and now we’ve got a little Jack Sparrow for you.

Disney has released the first trailer for the fourth installment in the Disney franchise, known formally as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Directed by Rob Marshall, replacing Gore Verbinski, who directed the first three films, the newest movie in the series sees the return of Johnny Depp as the Keith Richards-esque buccaneer as he and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) go on a search for the fountain of youth. What they don’t know, however, is that the infamous Blackbeard is also going after the treasure.

Check out the trailer below.

Obviously the big hope here is that this movie will be able to get the franchise back on track after two sequels that didn’t really live up to the original. As expected, Johnny Depp is his normal, witty self and just seems at home in Jack Sparrow’s skin. That said, nothing about the trailer really blew me away. Sure, it was nice to see Keith Richards in there, but it all seems a little too busy and the one-liners are more smile-inducing than laugh-inducing. The chemistry between Depp and Penelope Cruz seems fun, with a lot of back and forth (and a nice dose of sexual innuendo at 1:45).

What did you think of the trailer? Will this be the best Pirates of the Caribbean film since The Curse of the Black Pearl? Let me know in the comments section, and for a more detailed look at the Pirates 4 trailer check out more than 80, high-res screencaps here.

Tom Hooper already proved recently to audiences that he has a knack for telling historical stories with warmth, humor and humanity, directing the HBO miniseries John Adams to 13 Emmy nominations and universal acclaim, even from people who thought they'd seen enough of our Founding Fathers. Now he's back across the pond in his native England but doing it again as the director of The King's Speech, a film about England's King George VI and the debilitating speech impediment he overcame just as his country was on the verge of entering World War II. It sounds stuffy, sentimental and over-serious but The King's Speech is the opposite of all those things, a dynamic and frequently thrilling story about friendship and duty and a man who would have been ordinary except for the extraordinary circumstances of having to become King. George was forced to take the throne when his older brother David (played by Guy Pearce in the film) abdicated in order to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson; George's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, went on to succeed him as Queen after his death in 1952.

I talked to Hooper a few weeks ago, both in a 1:1 interview and a roundtable conversation later on, where he proved that it takes whip smarts, careful consideration of everything and a willingness to embrace humor to make a film as engaging and enjoyable as The King's Speech. Check out our conversation below, and see The King's Speech opening in limited release this Friday-- though, given the amount of Oscar buzz the movie has garnered so far, you'll definitely be hearing more and more about it in the coming weeks.

How do you access historical stories like this in a way that doesn't make it feel like history?

I don't see it as history. To me this story is pretty present. The writer David Seidler was born in 1937, still remembers these speeches during the war. David had a stammer as a child, and he used to listen to King George VI on the radio to assure himself he could overcome it. I've never thought they weren't human beings. I don't understand that there's a way to look at them apart from human beings. When I did John Adams I was aware that American children thought these founding fathers were so on a pedestal that they found it hard to imagine them as flesh and blood. Since I'm not an American I had the freedom to not be inhibited by that.

Were you more inhibited telling the story of the King then?

No, because we still don't know that much about him. And in some ways he's been a little neglected in the public consciousness. I certainly think, I was pretty vague about whether he had a stutter or not, and certainly no one knows about the story of the speech therapist. I appear to be drawn to iconic characters and what they reflect back to our cultures. It's not why I did it, but I certainly think it's interesting that the English are quite conflicted about the monarchy; on one hand they're revered and loved, they're like a national soap opera. On the other they enshrine an idea of class difference and privilege in a modern, progressive democracy. I think what's so fascinating about the story [in The King's Speech] is it debunks any simplistic notion of privilege. George VI's story properly understood is not a story of privilege; his upbringing was so nightmarish that he got a stammer as a result. When he became king, clearly that was a nightmare because of his stammer, because of the coming of radio as a technology. So if he's not privileged, the monarchy has to shift as a result. And you understand the current Queen if you understand her father, that sense of duty and that sense that it's the opposite of a hedonistic approach to power. It's very much about his idea of duty, which I don't think we have particularly strongly in our culture anymore.

How did you pick Colin Firth to play King George VI?

When I first met with Colin, my reservations were that he was 10 years too old. And Colin's a big strapping lad of 6'2, and the real king was smaller and more sickly looking. The more I thought about it and spent some time with Colin, though, the more the spiritual similarity was more important than the physical thing. Colin is nice to his core, and he's tremendously gentle, he's got a tremendous humility. And the real king, from my research, seems to be that. It's no surprise Colin isn't cast as a testosterone-fueled action hero. He doesn't get cast as the bad guy. It's not in his DNA. The physical side in a way came out of that. Thanks to Tom Ford he was the slimmest he's ever looked, and then I worked on his body language. We sat in a chair and he would shrink into it, collapse into himself. When he stood he stood in a more awkward way. I tried to get out of him his physical confidence in his posture. The most extraordinary day for me was the first day, the first day they meet, that long 10-minute scene that always plays so well in the theater. We'd had a three-week rehearsal, which is incredibly intense. To see Colin and Geoffrey inhabiting their characters from day one of the shoot. There's always that doubt wondering, "is he one of the greats or is he just very good?" That day I knew he was one of the greats.

And how about Helena Bonham Carter?

I fell in love with Helena in A Room with a View when I was a teenager. She's a great classical actress, and I thought it was sad that she hadn't done classical acting for so long. I thought people would be hungry to see her do that again. I grew up with a picture of her on a poster on my wall in A Room With A View, though I have to admit the photograph of the Panavision platinum camera, that was on the same poster, was far bigger than she was. And her research was amazing. Every time I went to her and Tim's house there would be another royal historian having supper with her. What's extraordinary is two minutes in you accept that she's the Queen Mother.

And what did Geoffrey Rush add to the cast?

He's great to work with because he's got this extraordinary enthusiasm. He's got the energy of a five-year-old child. You work with someone who's completely tireless in their pursuit of excellence We had a three-week rehearsal partly because Geoffrey called me up and said, "I"m not doing anything, why don't we get started?" All while his agent was defending him coming up only a week before. He wanted to get started. It was interesting working with these two men, because Colin is very funny but he's quite reserved, and Geoffrey has this great dynamism. There was such an energy going on. Geoffrey was there for four weeks and then he left to go do a play, and Colin was kind of in mourning. It was very sweet. Helena got very jealous, 'Oh, you're sad because Geoffrey's left.' She was making jokes that it was a love story and wasn't with her.

How did you work in the younger Elizabeth, and have those little reminders of her relationship with her father, and her becoming Queen?

If anything I lingered on it a bit more in the edit, I tested the film and particularly American people didn't make the connection, didn't realize it was the queen. I think it's a shame if you don't realize it's the queen, and I think it's a shame if you don't realize that's her father, because there's something interesting in being reminded that's her father. I just made sure the camera gave her more status and gave people that reminder.

Are we supposed to have negative feelings about Wallis Simpson at the end of the movie?

I wanted to connect with the story from the younger brother's point of view. If you're Elizabeth and Bertie, what David did was shockingly selfish. And we know from the history books that he never sat down to talk about his decision to abdicate in advance. I wanted to connect with the story from their point of view. Both men had these strong relationships with women who dominated them. With the Queen Mother I think the dominance was benign, and with Wallis it was a slightly darker flavor. Guy Pearce and I thought there was a strong driver there with the notion of sexual jealousy. The great mystery is why he had to marry her. I know that sounds strange, but Edward VII, his grandfather, had a string of long-term mistresses. So you kind of go, no one would have batted an eye if he kept Wallis as his mistress his entire life. The clue is that during the abdication process Wallis said, "Let's break up, it's crazy for you to do this," and that enraged him and made him more determined to marry her. Which suggests he wanted the kind of closure, to make her safe and to own her. That's my own reading of it, but I think of that famous shot of them in later life, and they look so sad.

The cinematography, and the way the camera is place and the colors, there's this interesting thing going on that I couldn't quite put my finger on. The way characters are placed within the frame, it feels less stuffy and in the past.

Well partly it's that I chose to shoot the close-ups in the consulting room and on Bertie on relatively wide lenses. Normally you shoot close-ups on these long lenses, in Hollywood. By placing the camera close, it's quite brutal on the actor. It's very forensic, there's nowhere to go. You have this sense that it's very brutal photography. You don't go long lenses, it's not romantic, it's not soft focus. I did it because I thought Colin's face should be framed in relation to negative face, and Geoffrey should be framed in relation to cluttered domestic backgrounds. In the first consulting room scene, Colin's up against this blasted wall, he's in the bottom left and the wall is dominant. His face is in dialogue with negative space in the frame, and that was because I wanted to find a way to talk about absence and silence. If you have a stammer it's about inhabiting these painful absences and silences. That would be a visual metaphor for what stammering is like. But when you go around to Geoffrey, he's got the fireplace and the chairs and the clutter and the pictures, and it's kind of cozy. Also shooting wide on people brings the environment constantly into the frame; people don't escape their environment. There's probably a modernity in that that I quite liked. I'm always trying to find ways of making this feel present tense to people. In John Adams there's lots of stuff, like the handheld photography and the roughness of the photography. I wanted the filmmaking to feel very not reverential.

R But in The King's Speech the framing is also very formal, and has well composed frames. Is that reflecting the royalty element?

You're right, there's a constraint in them. THere's a huge amount of intention in my farming. I frame things myself, and there's very strong choose made. And I liked putting Colin in these frames that felt decisive, because he's in this box himself.

What are your thoughts on the MPAA giving an R rating?

i think it's really bizarre. You can kind of go, "One fuck means PG-13, two fucks means an R." And they don't go "One guy shot in the head means PG-13, two guys means R." It's an argument that you can quantify language and can't quantify violence, and I find that highly suspect. Language is highly contextual, and here we've got the F-word being used in speech therapy. It's been used purely as a mechanism to free someone from a stammer. David Seidler, the writer, encountered this technique as a child in the 1940s. You think, OK, it was a OK in the 1940s for a kid, it's possibly OK in 2010.

Have you been able to soak in any of the early Oscar buzz?

Call me old-fashioned, but this still hasn't made a dollar at the box office. I'd like to get to the release, have it try and make sure people go and see it, and then worry about that next year. I've sat down in audiences, and it's such a fun film to see in a big group. I want people to see it in the cinema en masse as a common experience, and not wait for the DVD.

I really, really regret missing The King's Speech at the Toronto International Film Festival last week, not just because everyone I know who saw it loved it, but because it's suddenly been slapped with the "Oscar frontrunner!" label among the dozen or so media people who have seen it. If you doubt that can be true, take a look at the film's first trailer, which debuted today at Yahoo!. It won't even take you until the Nazis show up to realize this is one of those movies the Academy is going to go nuts over.

It helps that I hear the movie is actually good, because honestly, this trailer is so polished, sentimental and downright stuffy I'd otherwise be willing to write it off entirely. By all accounts Colin Firth is spectacular as the English King George VI, and Geoffrey Rush is his equal as the Australian speech therapist who helped the royal overcome his stammer. Helena Bonham Carter also shows up as the Queen, and it's at least a relief to see her playing something other than Harry Potter's Bellatrix Lestrange or whatever other monstrosity Tim Burton has cast her as lately.

Anyway, check out the trailer below and keep in mind that critics are loving this thing-- and not just the kind of critics who always love stuffy British period pieces-- before judging it. It won the Audience Award at Toronto, like Slumdog Millionaire before it, and therefore there must be plenty here that we're not quite seeing on the surface.

With the early summer start date for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sailing ever closer, casting directors are feverishly trying to fill out their cast. Some key roles have already been filled by the obvious players --Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush-- as well as newcomers to the series Ian McShane and Penelope Cruz.

But what if you need to fill a scene with scantily clad women showing off their bodacious breasts? Well send out a casting call of course. Moviehole got their hands on a casting breakdown recently shipped out to agencies in hopes of landing some ladies who will wear the film's extensive wardrobe better than others. The call reads as follows:

So if you've spent money attaching softballs to the front of yourself, navigate away and forget this even happened. Your self esteem will be better for it. But if you're rockin' what the gods gave you in a big way and are willing to show off your curves in some fancy pirate outfits, get yourself an agent and get your rack to L.A.

Now if only I could send out casting calls like this for Friday nights. Ladies?

Colin Firth, who has made a career out of playing the slightly nervous love interest, may be headed for an Oscar nomination with a new kind of role in A Single Man. But when that's over, he will be playing one of the most famous stammering, nervous men in history-- King George VI, the British royal who took over the throne when his brother Edward abdicated, and eventually gave birth to the current Queen Elizabeth II.

In The King's Speech, Firth will play the young George as he struggles to overcome his speech impediment, with Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, the King's speech therapist. Today's Variety announces that a whole slew of people have joined the cast as well-- Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Guy Pearce, Derek Jacobi, Timothy Spall and Michael Gambon will all be part of the proceedings as well.

If you're counting-- and I know I am-- that's three Harry Potter regulars on that list, giving us a chance to see Bellatrix Lestrange (Carter), Peter Pettigrew (Spall) and Dumbledore himself (Gambon) in an entirely new context. And that's ignoring the fact that this is an impressive lineup of Brits (and two Aussies and an American!), meaning this movie will be on our radar no matter how good it turns out. A king overcoming his speech impediment isn't exactly the most traditional source for a movie, but most of us long ago decided that we'll see Firth in anything, so let's see where he takes us.