‘Pirates 5’ Gets a Director…Or Two

You’d be excused for not realizing the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is still rolling along, particularly given that director/producer combo Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer have, by all appearances, made Pirates gone western in this summer’s The Lone Ranger (complete with Johnny Depp as the wonky sidekick to the straight-laced lead). But fear not – or maybe be very afraid – for Captain Jack Sparrow sails onward to a fifth installment, and the film now has a director. Two, in fact.

Norwegian directing team Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, fresh off the Oscar-nominated Kon-Tiki, have been tapped to head Pirates 5 according to a Deadline report. As the report notes, this could be a major step for Ronning and Sandberg; past work includes Banditas, starring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, and the World War II drama Max Manus: Man of War, but while neither of those films were exactly low budget this is the first time they’ve been handed the metaphorical keys to the kingdom.

The pic is expected to start shooting late this year or early 2014. No cast outside Depp have been announced yet, but Catch Me If You Can and Tower Heist veteran Jeff Nathanson is at work on the script.