For some reason, the tweets from industry magazine Production Weekly have become a must-read for anyone interested in movie news; we’ve lost count of the number of projects or bits of casting news we’ve been alerted to through this relatively low-key outlet, and this Friday evening is no exception.
First up, the tremendous British actor Stephen Graham has been cast in Disney’s blockbuster sequel “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” Graham broke through as Jason Statham’s sidekick in Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch,” before unforgettably playing racist skinhead Combo in Shane Meadows’ “This Is England;” a performance that, in a world where The Playlist decided such things, would have picked up every award going. He’s since appeared in “Public Enemies” and “Season of the Witch,” and plays Al Capone in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming HBO show “Boardwalk Empire,” but a role in the nautical blockbuster should bring him to his widest audience yet.
He’ll apparently be playing the role of Scram, which, at a guess, will either be a sidekick to Ian McShane’s villainous Blackbeard, or some kind of comic relief, of the kind played by Mackenzie Crook and Lee Arenberg in the original ‘Pirates’ trilogy. Say what you like about the series (and this writer maintains that, despite their countless flaws, there’s more good ideas to be found even in the ‘Pirates’ sequel than in 90% of blockbusters), but with McShane, Graham, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Penelope Cruz on board, the cast of the fourth installment is shaping up nicely, even if director Rob Marshall (“Chicago,” “Nine”) is likely, on previous form, to stage all the action sequences under a proscenium arch.
