Wednesday
24Sep2008
Greengrass Sailing the High Seas with 'Blackbeard'?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 12:58AM 
Back in May,
it was
reported that we'd get another big time pirate movie. Maybe it
wouldn't do a gazillion dollars in business like Pirates of the Caribbean,
but at least
Blackbeard wouldn't be starting from scratch.
People know the name, if not the legend.
Blackbeard was Edward Teach, a former British naval
officer. After tensions with the Spanish subdued, Britain slowly began reducing
its navy. Teach was one of many who felt betrayed by this and turned to piracy
to not only make a living but also exact some revenge and embarrass the crown at
the same time. That story would play into the new movie, and according to
Mania,
writer David
Franzoni will bake into that synopsis some made-up bit about the
British hiring one of Blackbeard's proteges to track him down.
Sounds interesting if they keep the betrayal in check.
Rather than just having a one-dimensional pirate terrorizing the seas, if he's
given a reason, there's some potential. Adding to that potential is the new
assertion by Mania that Universal, also heading to the seas with a
woefully
inept Moby Dick reimagination, wants Bourne director
Paul
Greengrass at the helm.
This project seems a little lightweight for Greengrass,
let's be honest. But maybe he's game for something new. I have no doubt he could
pull it off and I'm confident he'd make sure this project had a lot more
sustainability from the characters out rather than from the cannonballs in.
It's still just a swirling rumor at this stage, but if
we're not just making a pirate movie because we think it can make a ton of
money, and if we're making it to take the story seriously, then Greengrass is
your guy.
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