With Gore Verbinski proudly walking the plank off the $2.6 billion franchise, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is looking for a new captain. Reportedly, it might be Rob Marshall, the director of Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, and this year's upcoming Nine.

Variety reported recently that the choreographer-turned-director was one of "a number of" prospective helmers meeting with Jerry Bruckheimer in Disney is the past few weeks. While nothing has been confirmed just yet, the publication made a note that things must be in motion enough, as the studio is starting to cast new characters for the film. Apparently Bruckheimer and Disney are trying to get things moving so Pirates of the Caribbean 4 can be made with Johnny Depp before the actor stars in The Lone Ranger.

For more information on Pirates 4, check out this earlier article that explores the direction that the franchise is headed.

When it comes to directing action-adventures, the name "Rob Marshall" doesn't come to mind immediately. However, he is more than deserving of a fair shot, considering the success he's had with Chicago, and Geisha. He could have another hit with his possibly Oscar-tastic Nine, which comes out in November and stars Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day Lewis, and Marion Cotillard.

Still, I wonder what other directors Disney and Co. have in mind.

What do you think? Do you think that Pirates is doomed without the mind of its original leader, Gore Verbinski? Who do you dream of directing a Pirates film? For some reason I imagine Tom Tykwer (The International, Perfume) would make an interesting Pirates movie, if only he were game for doing something very Hollywood and hardly artful.

Source: Variety