Two pieces of PotC4 news that make me unreservedly ecstatic
Note: Everything here is either a.) easily available elsewhere on the internet or b.) pure speculation on my part. Still, if you're trying to stay utterly spoiler free for the fourth movie, (or if you wish the whole franchise would just die already and stay dead....) I wouldn't suggest reading further.
Bit of news the first:
Groves is going to be back for the fourth movie! *does a happy little dance* I had resigned myself to the probability that none of the original three Navy boys I loved so much from the first movie were going to be in the fourth... so finding out that not only did Theo not drown after the whole debacle with the Endeavour but that he's also going to be appearing in the 4th film? Pretty much made me feel like a kid at Christmas. And he's listed as "Lt. Theodore Groves," which makes me happy. If he actually shows up in the credits of the movie that way, I'll be even happier because it'll be a case of his fanon first name becoming officially recognized canon.
I was wary of the news at first, seeing as how the first two places I found it were imdb and a site that I'm pretty sure uses imdb for its information. (Imdb is a notoriously unreliable source of casting/character news for movies that haven't been released yet. Any PotC fan who was around for the "Cora Sparrow" speculation pre-DMC knows that.) I didn't want to get my hopes up and flail to everyone I know only to be wrong and bitterly disappointed. So, after a little (ok, a lot...) of looking, I... well... stumbled across the actor's facebook and twitter in which he mentions movie 4 filming, and though I felt kind of like a creepy stalker, at least I was a creepy stalker with good information. (And besides, actors with public facebook/twitter accounts have them so their fans can keep up with them, right? Right?)
Now, from what I've heard of the plot, I'm not quite sure how Theo/the Navy/the EITC is going to fit into all of this. So... here are some possibilities.
The Navy is still giving Jack Sparrow trouble as he chases after the fountain of youth. Plausible, but the whole "Navy chases Jack Sparrow" has been done before. I don't see the writers muddling up all of the new plot lines they've got going by rehashing something they've done before. The major plus here, though, is that Theo looks snazzy in blue, gold, and white. ;-)
The EITC is out for revenge, and Theo is still working for them for some reason. (I never did like the fact that he was working for Becket, and the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get at the writers' seeming inability to differentiate between the company and the Navy.) Hmmm... maybe they're after the fountain too? That would be interesting... The plus here? Well... I may not be a huge fan of the mustard yellow EITC waistcoats, but Theo did look rather dashing in his in AWE... and besides, the idea of Theo competing with/chasing Jack even as he obviously admires fanboys wildly over him is fun.
Theo is out of work and out for himself. I kind of like this idea, as long as he doesn't turn into Bitter!James Part II. It would be fun to see him briefly teaming up with Jack for his own reasons... though I doubt this is what happens, mostly because of the "I don't see how it fits with everything I've heard about the plot so far" argument.
Theo turns pirate. I am of two minds about this. The Navy fangirl in me thinks it's a horrible idea and wonders why on earth I would ever wish such a fate on an upstanding *cough* officer in the King's service... but the part of me that's a Theo fangirl, loves Greg Ellis to pieces, and wants him to be in as many scenes as possible thinks it's a fantastic idea. And also, honestly, I never did understand why this didn't happen in AWE. It's so obvious. The writers had Murtogg and Mulroy turning pirate at the end, and I kept holding my breath that the pirates would pull a slightly bedraggled Groves on board as well (even for my Navy!fangirl, pirate > dead.), but they didn't, and I pouted. The fact that I already have visions of Pirate!Theo with a little gold hoop earing and fewer... layers of clothing does nothing at all to squelch my enthusiasm for this option.
Bit of news the second:
MERMAIDS! All of the fans who were speculating about mermaids were right. Pretty much everyone who knows me is aware that I love mermaids. I love to write them, collect them, watch them... Creepy mermaids, friendly mermaids, downright terrifying mermaids, sweet red-headed Disney mermaids... they're all interesting or fun in their own way. So, mermaids + Jack Sparrow = so much potential for awesome. (Yes, I recognize there is potential for epic fail as well, but I'm trying to stay positive here.) Apparently, one of them even has a name already, and looks to have more than just a one or two line role... She's French, and I think she's very uniquely pretty. They also apparently got this lovely blonde Australian model playing another mermaid... *grin* I really hope one of them slaps Jack. At least once.
(Also, anyone who is ever at our house for in-characters games will understand me when I say that if Theo is ever even so much as in a scene with a mermaid, I'm going to die of either laughter or happiness. Probably both.)
And... there's a whole bunch of other news out there, so here are some links to the things I found most interesting.
Jack has a new sidekick. I kind of hate the word "sidekick," but I see potential here. With no Will or Liz this time around, they had to introduce some new characters... As long as they do it right, I'm willing to go along for the ride.
As if Will Turner wasn't innocent and earnest enough, one of the new characters is going to be a missionary. And a young one, at that. Jack does like shaking up the worldviews of those who think they've got it all figured out... I can hear the shippers laughing maniacally already.
Pictures of Blackbeard's ship! I have to admit... I think these look pretty awesome. I like the red.
A pretty detailed press release with plot details. I'm really iffy about Blackbeard's daughter being "a woman from Jack's past," but I'm also still willing to withhold judgment until I see it. (I read somewhere that her name was going to be Angelica, but now I can't find it again, and I'm not sure how "official" that was. I kind of hope it's not.)
And in other amusing news...
Someone found a copy of the PotC4 script that had been left behind in a cafe in London and turned it in without reading it. All I have to say is... Disney is so lucky the fan who found it was honest. All I could think of was the poor Apple worker who left his prototype iphone in a bar in California a few months ago. The person who found that sold it to a tech website/magazine for thousands of dollars and Apple had to threaten legal action to get it back. The story about the script makes me proud of Londoners as a whole... I miss my adopted city!
Johnny Depp swears he's not selling out by doing three sequels. And I believe him when he says he just loves Jack. I think it's sweet how much he obviously relishes the idea of getting back into that costume and that character.
And... one last bit of squee completely unrelated to PotC. As I was fishing around for confirmation about Theo, I ended up on his actor's imdb page... So... there was this show that ran very briefly on the CW about a year and a half ago called Valentine. It seemed kind of reminiscent of Charmed, and there were Greek gods living in modern day Southern California(?), and I thought it looked mildly amusing at the time but never watched it... I should have. Because Greg Ellis is Ares. After cracking up a lot over someone who looks like Theo being anything even resembling divinity, I youtubed a couple of the scenes he's in, and a.) he looks smashing in a suit, b.) they let him keep his accent, which is lovely, and c.) Why is this not on DVD yet? For now, I'm having to rely on *ahem* less official means of getting my hands on it.