Johnny Depp (as Captain Jack Sparrow) on cover of new ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY!

That handsome pirate at left is none other than Captain Jack Sparrow — yes, we’ve heard of him — gracing the cover of the May 13, 2001 issue of Entertainment Weekly; the headline reads “How to Build a Better Pirate: Depp Brings ‘New Blood’ to Pirates 4.” The article, by Adam B. Vary, contains a new interview with Johnny where he explores the “burden of responsibility” he felt to the loyal POTC audience. “Depp exercised increased authority over the film at the script stage to avoid some of the swollen and muddled story lines that critics felt waterlogged the last two movies,” Vary reports. According to Johnny, “With this one, in terms of story, my involvement was a little more just because I felt if we were going to do a 4, that more than anything we owed the audience a fresh start, without all the complicated mathematics of 1 colliding with 2 and 2 colliding with 3. [. . .] I felt it was very important to eliminate as many complications as possible.”

Johnny describes “his mission for the fourth movie” in these words: “Let’s give them something character-driven. Something fun and irreverent. Hoops of fire and whatnot. New blood, as it were.”

The May 13th issue of Entertainment Weekly goes on sale on Friday, May 6th. The Zone thanks AnaMaria and Emma for sharing the news, and Theresa for the cover photo. To see a larger version of the EW cover, CLICK HERE. You can read more on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

“We smashed the formula and came in with all cylinders firing”–Johnny Depp talks about ON STRANGER TIDES

In an interview with Screenslam at the Los Angeles press junket, Johnny Depp talked about the reboot of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise in On Stranger Tides. The goal, says Johnny, was to “do something fresh and deliver something fresh to the audience. Basically, to kill the formula . . . to kill any sort of formula that might have existed in terms of the pirate genre. We smashed the formula and came in with all cylinders firing.”

The key, says Johnny, is “experiencing new characters, and old characters in new situations [. . .] in areas we haven’t traveled before. [. . . ] So I feel like the new blood in Penelope and Ian McShane and Astrid and Sam added a whole new element to the piece.”

You can watch Johnny’s interview here:

Many thanks to Corinna Ortiz of Screenslam.com for sharing the video with the Zone. We love seeing Johnny talk about his work! You can find much more from the Pirates of the Caribbean:On Stranger Tides press junket on the Zone’s News & Views and discussion forums.