Good things are happening for director Rob Marshall: not only did his most recent feature, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, gross more than $1 billion worldwide, but he has also just signed a two-year deal with Disney, for whom he will direct Stephen Sondheim’s classic Broadway musical Into the Woods. Also on Marshall’s schedule is a remake of the Dashiell Hammett mystery classic The Thin Man for Warner Bros., to star Johnny Depp and the (still uncast) luckiest actress in Hollywood as married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles.

No cast is yet attached to Into the Woods, which intertwines several familiar fairytale characters, including Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood, with the story of a baker and his wife’s attempt to have a family. According to the Hollywood Reporter, James Lapine, who co-authored the musical with Sondheim in the 1980s, “is at work on a script, which Marshall expects to feature new songs by Sondheim.” Wow!

Presently Marshall “is at his home base in New York, collaborating extensively on Woods and Thin Man, uncertain which will go first,” writes the Hollywood Reporter’s Stephen Galloway.

“Usually the movie tells you. I’ve been working with Billy Ray on Thin Man and he’s writing as we speak,” Marshall said. “We are very close to having a first draft.”

Apparently both The Thin Man and Into the Woods are likely to be filmed before any future installment of Pirates of the Caribbean; Marshall reports that Terry Rossio is currently at work on a new script. However, says Marshall, “You want to make sure you are asking the audience to come back to see an exciting adventure and it has to reach that caliber, and if not there’s no reason to do it.”

The Zone thanks Theresa for sharing the interview with Rob Marshall; you can read more on the Zone’s Porch General Discussion forum. Stephen Galloway’s article is available HERE.